Sugar in coffee and tea

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lordburnside

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I know its a sin but I put one third of a teaspoonful of sugar in my coffee or tea. I do not like either without some sugar.
Yesterday I bought Stevia sweetener to try. One tiny lump represents one teaspoonful. I found it was too sweet!
I don't think its possible to cut one tiny lump into 3 to represent my usual dose of sugar. It tastes better in coffee than tea.

Does anyone know if one Stevia (at one spoonful in a lump) is better than one third of a spoonful of sugar? Or is there a more controllable alternative?
I drink 3 cups of green tea (Twinings Orange) and 3 mugs of black coffee (Gold Blend) a day so my daily intake of real sugar is two to three teaspoonsful.
I realise this is no great problem in the scheme of things but someone will know the answer I am sure.
 
lordburnside said:
I know its a sin but I put one third of a teaspoonful of sugar in my coffee or tea. I do not like either without some sugar.
Yesterday I bought Stevia sweetener to try. One tiny lump represents one teaspoonful. I found it was too sweet!
I don't think its possible to cut one tiny lump into 3 to represent my usual dose of sugar. It tastes better in coffee than tea.

Does anyone know if one Stevia (at one spoonful in a lump) is better than one third of a spoonful of sugar? Or is there a more controllable alternative?
I drink 3 cups of green tea (Twinings Orange) and 3 mugs of black coffee (Gold Blend) a day so my daily intake of real sugar is two to three teaspoonsful.
I realise this is no great problem in the scheme of things but someone will know the answer I am sure.
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! teaspoon if sugar is 5g carbs, so about the same as a small clementine or a malted milk or nice biscuit.
I suppose it is your choice about what you 'spend' your carbs on.
I find Stevia has an aftertaste. You could gradually reduce the sugar to a quarter of a spoon then try again without. Don't forget the sizes of 'teaspoons' do vary so you may be actually having more sugar than you think. 1 tsp =5g sugar =5gcarb.
 
I used to have sugar in my tea and in my coffee but have weaned myself off both. After a while I got so used to not sweetening them that I can't imagine why I did so in the first place.
 
In coffee I use Matteo's Barista Style Sugar Free Coffee Syrup. You can buy it in a variety of flavours. I get it from Amazon and find that I don't need to take milk with it. If you really can't live without sugar, you could try Half-spoon which I found very sweet so didn't need much of it at all.
 
Martin.A said:
I used to have sugar in my tea and in my coffee but have weaned myself off both. After a while I got so used to not sweetening them that I can't imagine why I did so in the first place.
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Same here @martin A. I gave it up in September 1964 and never looked back.
 
I have truvia, which is granulated like sugar, so it it possible to put in a tiny amount
 
I've never had sugar in tea, but I weaned myself off sugar in coffee (at dentist's recommendation before I became diabetic) by flavouring it with something "sweet" for a while (e.g. vanilla essence).

Alternatively, stevia and other sweeteners are available in granulated form
 
Why not try some powdered sweetener so that you can gradually reduce the amount?

To be honest I’d probably just take a couple sachets next time I had a coffee out, rather than buy a whole bag, and then reduce the amount I added gradually over a few days until didn’t need any
 
lordburnside said:
Thanks all for your advice. I will try the powdered variety and cut down on that.
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Avoid the powdered ones with maltodextrin or dextrose as the bulking agent. They have the same effect as sugar on blood glucose. Read the ingredients list.

There are good stevia powdered/granulated options, usually mixed with erythritol. There’s even liquid drops out there.
 
Like Martin I weaned myself off, cut it down to about a quarter of a spoon, and pretty much dropped it after that. Think I was still in school then, or just out of school. Never had sugar in hot drinks since.
One side benefit, if someone else ever makes you a drink, it's never too sweet or not sweet enough, it's always just right :D
 
I only had sugar in my tea when I was very young, I think it was because I wanted to be like my Dad. I soon decided I preferred my tea sugar free, even when I had chai in India which really confused the locals.
I drink tea milk free too - a consequence of living in Germany where the only milk they provided in the tea room was condensed milk. Black tea without milk was preferable and I have stuck with it ever since. I never tried to explain this to the chai wallas.
Now, I usually drink herbal tea (without any added sugar). I have just started a pack of Spiced Apple and discovered it contains Stevia. I am not a fan but hate waste so we will see how long I persevere.

I never drink coffee - the smell puts me off.

I know, I'm weird 😎
 
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I use Pure Via, which comes in different forms - caster, demerara, icing, etc - and is fine for cooking, which allows me to have the occasional homemade pudding without giving my meter an attack of the vapours.
 
I have a pestle and mortar, so I ground down some tablets and just touch the tip of a teaspoon into the powder if I want to sweeten something - I drink hot lemon juice made with whole lemons and it needs just a little sweetness.
 
I'm a sweetex girl personally. Didn't like it to start with, but after a few goes I got so used to it that I prefer it to sugar.
 
helli said:
I only had sugar in my tea when I was very young, I think it was because I wanted to be like my Dad. I soon decided I preferred my tea sugar free, even when I had chai in India which really confused the locals.
I drink tea milk free too - a consequence of living in Germany where the only milk they provided in the tea room was condensed milk. Black tea without milk was preferable and I have stuck with it ever since. I never tried to explain this to the chai wallas.
Now, I usually drink herbal tea (without any added sugar). I have just started a pack of Spiced Apple and discovered it contains Stevia. I am not a fan but hate waste so we will see how long I persevere.

I never drink coffee - the smell puts me off.

I know, I'm weird 😎
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I know what you mean about it being weird to not like coffee, it’s seems like we’re the only ones in the entire world! I love the smell of coffee but hate the taste!
I also drink my tea black and sugarless.
 
Martin.A said:
I used to have sugar in my tea and in my coffee but have weaned myself off both. After a while I got so used to not sweetening them that I can't imagine why I did so in the first place.
Click to expand...
Me too, I went cold turkey in 2011. Drastic but I got used to it quite quickly
 
snowball12 said:
Me too, I went cold turkey in 2011. Drastic but I got used to it quite quickly
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When I was 14 my grandmother told me that when my father was born, she was given a cup of tea without sugar, and from that day she never took sugar. So I did exactly the same and have never taken sugar. I use Truvia to sweeten things like Oatibix or porridge.
 
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