Should You Put Honey in Hot Tea?

Yes, you can put honey in hot tea. There's no good evidence that a spoonful stirred into a cup turns harmful, but very hot tea dulls honey's flavour and aroma. Let the tea cool for 2 to 3 minutes, until it's comfortable to sip, then stir the honey in.

What heat actually does to honey

• Flavour and aroma fade. Honey's floral smell is delicate. Stir it into scalding tea and you taste "sweet" more than "honey".
• Some heat-sensitive compounds drop. Honey contains small amounts of enzymes and other compounds that break down with heat, more so at higher temperatures and over longer times.
• HMF rises with heating and age. Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) forms slowly in honey during storage and faster when it's heated. Food standards use it as a quality marker: the Codex honey standard sets a limit of 40 mg/kg (80 mg/kg for honey from tropical regions) to flag overheated or badly stored honey.
• The sugar stays the same. Hot or cold, honey is mostly sugar.

Is heated honey toxic?

You may have read that honey turns "toxic" when heated. Ayurveda traditionally advises against heating honey, and plenty of Indian families follow that.

Modern research is less dramatic. HMF turns up in plenty of everyday foods besides honey, and scientists say safe intake levels for it aren't clearly established, since most of the studies have been in the lab or on animals. There's no evidence that the brief warmth of a cup of tea turns honey into something dangerous. For most people, the practical issue is flavour, not safety.

If your family follows Ayurvedic guidance, letting the tea cool before adding honey respects that and costs nothing.

How to add honey to tea

1. Brew your tea as usual.
2. Take it off the heat and let it stand for 2 to 3 minutes, until it's hot but sippable rather than scalding.
3. Stir in about 1 teaspoon of honey per cup. Taste before adding more.

You'll taste more of the honey itself, and you'll probably need less of it.

Which teas go well with honey?

• Black tea without milk, with a slice of lemon
• Ginger tea on a rainy day
• Cardamom or clove tea
• Green tea, where honey's floral notes come through

Honey is less common in milk tea because the milk hides its flavour, but it works if you like it that way.

Mistakes people make

• Boiling honey into the tea on the stove. This is the one habit worth changing. You lose the flavour you paid for.
• Treating it as sugar-free. Honey counts as sugar. Cutting down means using less, not switching to more of it.
• Heating a crystallised jar on the flame. If honey has set, stand the jar in warm water and stir instead. Our post on why honey crystallises explains why this happens.

Who should be careful?

• Babies under 12 months should never be given honey, in tea or any other form, because of the risk of infant botulism.
• People with diabetes should treat honey like any other sugar and check with their doctor.

For how honey compares with table sugar, see honey vs sugar.

Trying it at home

Our Naadan honey comes from beekeepers around Adimali in Idukki, and it pairs well with our black tea granules taken without milk.

Sources

• BMC Chemistry: HMF levels in honey and other foods, and effects on human health
• CDC: Foods and drinks to avoid or limit for infants (honey)