For the most part, I try to avoid adding sugar to things. Especially when natural sweeteners like honey can be added to, say, a grapefruit (seriously, baked grapefruit with honey is divine), I see no reason to overload my food or drink with that refined white stuff.When it comes to coffee, though, I had a hard time giving up my sugar. I switched to Turbinado sugar for a while, but found that it was too sweet and took forrrrrrever to dissolve. Then, I tried adding maple syrup to my coffee. Although I had my doubts at first, it turned out beautifully (but you must use 100% pure maple syrup...none of that Aunt Jemima trash). A friend uses agave nectar, and swears by that, too.
I ran out of maple syrup the other day, and was dying for something natural to add a little flavor to my coffee and cut the bitterness. I've always admired the coffee purists who can drink it black (and who sit in coffee shops, reading poetry and wearing fancy shawls all day), but that's not me. Being too lazy to go buy more maple syrup, I tried grating a little nutmeg and sprinkling some cinnamon into my coffee grounds. The clouds parted and the heavens opened, and I managed to drink a whole cup of coffee with no sugar, no weird sugar replacements (don't even get me started on Sweet'N Low and Splenda)--no sweetener of any kind!
The moral of the story? If you're looking for a way to avoid putting sugar in your coffee, or if you want to add a little flare to the regular cuppa joe, try some cinnamon (maybe a teaspoon) and some ground nutmeg (maybe 1/4 teaspoon) to the grounds before you brew.
Trust me, I'm a...writer?
Been to Turkey lately?
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