# Honey in coffee - hot, or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [September 24, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708 "2012-09-24T20:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Luk3112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Luk3112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luk3112)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/21 "2012-09-25T12:30:26Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > Possibly a scientific question rather than artistic, but surprisingly I can’t find anything useful about it on the internet - so let’s ask the men and women of The Straight Dope, who are unusual because they _aren’t_ the internet, they’re _real people_. Spirits in the material world. Born into the material world; worn out in the material world. You know, when I was a kid I assumed that Madonna was singing about actual _material_, e.g. clothing fabric. 'cause in the video she wears clothes. And she was a fashionable woman. I’ll stop waffling in a bit; I’m nervous. Try to get it together. > > I’m going to put some honey into my coffee. Is it best to let the coffee cool a bit first? My worry is that if I put honey into really hot fresh coffee, the honey will just dissolve and go fizz and I’ll end up with a scum of honey on the top. I don’t drink enough coffee to do proper tests. But I figure that _you_ probably drink a load of coffee, because you’re American. Americans love to drink, and they love to drink coffee. They’re big, boisterous people. But do they have honey in their coffee? I imagine Americans having hot, black, harsh coffee, because their society is the opposite of sweet. Like in _The Iceman Cometh_. Or _Death of a Salesman_. The only thing Americans put in their coffee is the tears of a woman who was attractive once, twenty years ago… she married the man of her dreams, but her dreams were wrong. > > I’ve always assumed that alcohol is tough enough to withstand hot coffee, but honey is different. It’s made from bees, who are only strong on the offensive. Apart from their stinger they’re quite soft, cuddly almost. No, there’s no almost about it. Bees are cuddly. Imaging putting a bee into coffee! It’d get waterlogged and drown. You’d feel guilty and try to hook it out. Give it mouth to mouth. Perform CPR, or that electric shock thing - but you’d have to use a tiny watch battery. Do bees have hearts? Nah honey in green tea ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/22 "2012-09-25T13:23:17Z")
Well, I for one, am almost out of sugar at my house and if I forget to stop by the store in the next few days, the only thing that I will have available to sweeten my coffee will be honey.\* When\* that happens, I will return and report. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/23 "2012-09-25T14:12:18Z")
I don’t like the Taste of Honey (apologies to Herb Alpert), but I love agave syrup in my coffee and tea. It has a “brighter” flavor than honey. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/24 "2012-09-25T18:25:46Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > On weekends, though, I put molasses in my coffee. My mouth sat up and paid attention when I read that. I’m going to try that next time I make coffee. It sounds perfect. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/25 "2012-09-25T18:57:31Z")
I quit sweetened coffee in my late teens. I guess honey would be good in coffee. I prefer mine black. I do drink hot tea with honey. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/26 "2012-09-25T19:27:55Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > [molasses:](http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5573/2) > "This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin B6 and Potassium, and a very good source of Magnesium and Manganese > > [honey:](http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5568/2) > This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. Kind of like how lard is very low in sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/27 "2012-09-25T19:31:09Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Well, I for one, am almost out of sugar at my house and if I forget to stop by the store in the next few days, the only thing that I will have available to sweeten my coffee will be honey.\* When\* that happens, I will return and report. This has happened to me. It all worked out quite well, the honey dissolved, didn’t leave any floaters, even after I added milk. I purposely used honey instead of sugar when I’ve been feeling ill since honey has miraculous healing properties - or so I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/28 "2012-09-25T20:02:49Z")
I tried honey in coffee and didn’t like it much. Maple syrup is the most wonderful sweetener I have ever had the pleasure to take in my coffee. Brown sugar is good as well. Also, milk substitutes (such as soy milk or almond milk) taste better in coffee than regular milk, since they’re sweeter. I can’t stand black coffee. ---
**Author:** ![SmithCommaJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@SmithCommaJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmithCommaJohn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/29 "2012-09-25T20:20:08Z")
I’ll put honey in my coffee every once in a while. It’s not bad, especially with cream. ---
**Author:** ![DiscountEddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@DiscountEddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiscountEddie)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/30 "2014-04-24T17:47:22Z")
I found this thread because I was doing a search for putting honey in coffee. I have a tickle in my throat that won’t go away, and as an American I’m not going to go scrounge up tea when I have a perfectly brewed pot of coffee in front of me. So, I thought that maybe putting honey into the coffee would help coat my throat and get rid of the tickle. But I wanted to make sure that putting honey into the coffee wouldn’t ruin the coffee somehow, so I did a google search. Anyway, I landed here, and it bothered me that while there is GREAT information about putting honey in coffee, no one actually answered the OP’s question. I realize that this thread is several years old now, but I really just had to make sure that OP had the information she was looking for. So the answer, Ashley, is yes bees DO have hearts. The heart of a bee is a series of contracting muscles that keep the blood flowing and is a much more primitive organ than the hearts of mammals, but there is, indeed, an organ responsible for pumping a bee’s blood through its circulatory system. For more information about the anatomy of bees see: [Internal anatomy of a bee - Visual Dictionary](http://www.infovisual.info/02/042_en.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/31 "2014-04-24T18:01:46Z")
**DiscountEddie** , I hope you enjoy your coffee and stick around! That was a nice first post. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/32 "2014-04-24T18:18:56Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > Bees are cuddly. Imaging putting a bee into coffee! It’d get waterlogged and drown. You’d feel guilty and try to hook it out. Give it mouth to mouth. Perform CPR, or that electric shock thing - but you’d have to use a tiny watch battery. Bees are cute and fuzzy and scientifically interesting and economically important, but they do not respond well to being rescued from a watery (or coffee-ey) grave. Rather than show the proper gratitude, they sting the finger that saves them, and consequently die anyway. This is because bees are cute and fuzzy and scientifically interesting and economically important and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/33 "2014-04-24T18:32:56Z")
I’m not sure what the OP was putting in her (his?) coffee, but whatever it is, I want some. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/34 "2014-04-25T20:51:20Z")
I just wanted to chime in and say “I don’t know what kind of honey you’re using, but it’s not going to leave some sort of ‘honey scum’. It’s going to dissolve, which is what you want it to do.” So without further adieu: I don’t know what kind of honey you’re using, but it’s not going to leave some sort of ‘honey scum’. It’s going to dissolve, which is what you want it to do. Oh, and also, I have tried honey in iced coffee, and I could not for the life of me make it dissolve - it just stuck to my stirring implement - so don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/35 "2014-04-25T21:19:27Z")
[Cafe Miel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coffee_beverages#Caf.C3.A9_miel). Delicious! And I think I’m going to try molasses in my coffee tomorrow morning. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708/36 "2014-04-26T00:01:03Z")
I tried molasses once. Maybe I used too much, but it was not good. Maybe with some sugar added it would have been ok, since I like brown sugar in my coffee as a treat. Generally I prefer unsweetened, but with some flavor like plain cocoa or vanilla is good on occasion. I was thinking the molasses would be a good compliment, but it wasn’t. I’ll have to try again with just 1/4 teaspoon maybe. (I think I tried a whole teaspoon, it was a while ago.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-in-coffee-hot-or-not/635708.md?page=1)