Honey in tea is not only an amazing sugar replacement for sugar but it is also a way to multiply the health benefits of this everyday drink.
Also, depending on the type of honey and tea you use, you can create countless flavor combinations.
But what is the best honey for tea? To find the best honey for tea consider the type of honey you are buying and read the ingredient list to make sure it doesn’t contain any additives. Additionally, consider the tea variety you drink often and what honey flavor would go best with it.
Continue reading to learn about the benefits of drinking tea with honey and what are the 9 best honey for tea. We have also included a buyer’s guide for honey to help you make a choice.
Why Drink Tea With Honey?
Both honey and tea have immense health benefits. Honey does not only substitute sugar in tea but also makes it a lot healthier.
If you have never tried drinking tea with honey, here are a few reasons why you should.
- Tea with honey has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and is one of the best natural remedies for bacterial infections.
- Both honey and tea are rich in antioxidants. Drinking tea with honey is an amazing way to boost your immune system.
- Tea with honey efficiently treats a sore throat.
- Honey with tea can also be used as a natural remedy to soothe an upset stomach.
The key rule to follow when you are making tea with hiney is to let your tea cool for a little bit until you mix in the honey. Adding the honey to tea that has cooled to 120-140°F helps maintain all the nutritional benefits of honey.
How To Choose The Best Honey For Tea
There are so many honey varieties to choose from. Which one you should get depends on a few things. Here’s what to consider when deciding which honey is best for tea.
Honey Variety
Honey labels can get very confusing if you don’t know a lot about different types of honey. But learning about them will surely make it easier to choose honey for tea.
Raw honey is the type of honey you should buy if you want to get the healthiest honey variety. Raw honey is not processed.
As a result, it contains the highest amount of antioxidants. Put simply, raw honey is honey in its purest form.
Pure honey, unlike raw honey, may be exposed to heat. But it doesn’t contain any added ingredients either, such as syrups and artificial additives.
Honey can also be labeled as filtered and unfiltered.
Filtered honey is smooth and clear as goes through a heating process which improves the consistency of the honey and creates a uniform color.
But this process also removes many health benefits of honey as it kills the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in it.
Unfiltered honey, on the other hand, is minimally processed. While it is not the same as raw honey, it is also not as processed as filtered honey.
Honey Flavors
There are different types of honey and they all have different flavor profiles. Honey flavor notes may range from mild and sweet to rich and bitter.
You can choose honey for tea based on the flavor profile you want the honey to have.
- Mild. Honey varieties with a mild flavor profile include clover, orange blossom, alfalfa, tupelo, and fireweed honey. Thanks to their delicate flavor, honeys with a mild flavor profile pair nicely with various tea varieties.
- Sweet. If you are trying to substitute sugar in tea with honey, try using honey with a sweet flavor profile. This category includes the widely popular acacia honey. Clover, sourwood, sage, locust, and wildflower honeys are also on the sweeter side.
- Deep and rich. If mild-flavored honey is not something you like, go with the varieties that have a deep and rich flavor. Blueberry, blackberry, avocado, dandelion, and eucalyptus honeys all have a rich and deep flavor profile.
Ingredients List
It is very important to check the ingredient list of honey before buying it. If you are looking for the best quality honey, you should buy pure honey without any additives.
The ingredient list of honey should contain only one ingredient: honey (unless it is flavored honey, such as hot honey, cinnamon honey, vanilla honey, and so on).
Don’t buy honey the ingredient list of which has sugar, corn syrup, glucose solution, artificial additives, and other harmful ingredients.
Tea Variety
If there is a specific tea variety that you drink, it is good to consider the honey flavors that pair best with it and only then make a purchase.
For example, black tea has a rich flavor and strong aroma. Thus, it is best to use strong-flavored honey with it. Green tea, on the other hand, is best paired with honey with a mild flavor profile. The same goes for white tea.
The rule of thumb is to use mild and sweet honey varieties with mild-flavored teas, and rich and strong-flavored honeys with darker teas. With this said, you can always experiment and find tea and honey combinations you enjoy.
Packaging
While the packaging honey comes in is not the most important criterion when it comes to choosing high-quality honey for tea, it does make sense to consider it too.
Popularly, honey comes in either glass jars or plastic squeeze bottles. While it is said that honey keeps better in airtight glass jars, squeeze bottles are a lot easier to use.
The 9 Best Honey For Tea
We have picked the 9 best honey for tea you can buy. While all of the options in this list have different flavors, none of them contains any additives.
Continue reading to learn more about the best kinds of honey for tea and what tea they pair best with.
| Rank | Product | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nature Nate’s Organic Raw Honey | Raw organic honey, unfiltered, full-bodied |
| 2. | Amazon Brand Happy Belly Clover Honey | Pure filtered clover honey |
| 3. | WHOLESOME SWEETENERS Organic Honey | Pure organic wildflower honey |
| 4. | Dickinson’s Pure Honey | Pure Grade A honey made from clover nectar |
| 5. | Gideon Spring Avocado Blossom Honey | Pure raw unheated avocado honey |
| 6. | Honey Pacifica Sage Honey | Raw unfiltered sage honey |
| 7. | Wild Maine Blueberry Honey | Organic Grade A blueberry honey |
| 8. | Gideon Spring Eucalyptus Honey | Pure raw unfiltered eucalyptus honey |
| 9. | Galil Natural Orange Blossom Honey | Pure honey from mixed citrus nectars |
1. Nature Nate’s Organic Raw Honey
Raw and unfiltered honey is said to be the healthiest honey variety you can get. And it’s twice as good when the honey is also organic.
If this is what you are looking for in honey, then Nature Nate’s raw unfiltered honey is what you should get.
Nature Nate’s 100% organic honey is a blend sourced from protected Brazilian rainforests.
Aside from being sourced from an area where no pesticides are used, this honey is also free of any preservatives and added ingredients.
Nature Nate’s raw honey doesn’t undergo any filtration and has the pollens intact. Hence its dark amber color and thick consistency.
As for the flavor, Nature Nate’s raw unfiltered honey has a unique full-bodied flavor. You can use it to add natural sweetness to not only tea but also coffee, oatmeal, yogurt, etc.
Best paired with: Full-bodied teas, such as Irish breakfast tea, English breakfast tea, or Puerh tea.
2. Amazon Brand Happy Belly Clover Honey
Clover honey is a good choice for people who like mild-flavored honey.
The sweet mild taste of clover honey is the main reason why this honey variety is so popular.
Clover honey also has a pleasing flowery flavor and pairs nicely with mild-flavored teas.
This honey by Happy Belly is a great choice if you are looking for filtered clover honey with no added ingredients. Moreover, this is Grade A honey which means it has great flavor and clarity.
Happy Belly clover honey has a light color and is clear. While the consistency is thick, it comes in a squeeze bottle which makes it very easy to add the honey to teas and other drinks.
Best paired with: Chamomile tea, green tea, lemon tea, and mint tea.
3. WHOLESOME SWEETENERS Organic Honey
Wholesome Sweeteners organic honey is sourced from pesticide-free areas of the South American forests.
The honey bees that make this organic honey are away from GMOs and pollutants. And to ensure that the honey is always high-quality the brand regularly tests the honey.
The flavor of Wholesome Sweeteners organic honey has floral notes.
As this honey is made from wildflowers, its flavor is richer and deeper compared to clover honey. Wildflower honeys tend to have a rich flavor while being fruity and not overly sweet.
You can use this Wholesome Sweeteners wildflower organic honey not only to sweeten your tea and coffee but also to drizzle it on biscuits and pancakes, add it to your cheeseboards, etc.
Best paired with: Earl Grey.
4. Dickinson’s Pure Honey
If you love clover honey, then Dickinson’s pure honey is something you should give a try.
This premium-quality honey comes in small glass jars that are perfect for serving alongside a cup of tea.
Made from clover nectar, this Grade A pure honey has a mild floral and sweet flavor and delightful golden color.
This honey doesn’t contain any added ingredients and is Kosher.
If you are not sure what honey flavor to get to use for tea, we highly recommend you go with clover honey. It has a mild flavor and pairs nicely with a number of tea varieties.
Best paired with: Green tea and lemon tea.
5. Gideon Spring Avocado Blossom Honey
Avocado honey doesn’t taste like avocados. So, if you don’t like avocados, it is not a reason to skip on avocado honey too.
The flavor of avocado honey is reminiscent of the flavor of molasses. But unlike molasses, avocado honey doesn’t have any bitter notes.
As for the texture, avocado honey is quite creamy, just like an avocado. Aside from its distinctive flavor, avocado honey has a unique amber color.
Gideon Spring avocado honey is raw and unheated. It is sourced from avocado groves in Israel and is pure honey, unfiltered and unheated.
Gideon Spring avocado honey comes in a glass jar. You should seal it tightly after each use to make sure the honey maintains its flavor.
Best paired with: Green tea.
6. Honey Pacifica Sage Honey
If you have tried tupelo honey and liked it, you will most likely enjoy sage honey too.
Sage honey has a sweet flavor with fruity notes and a hint of butterscotch. The aftertaste of sage honey resembles the flavor of clover honey.
This sage honey by Honey Pacifica is pure raw honey coming from Southern California.
As this honey is not pasteurized, filtered, and treated with heat, you get honey that tastes and feels as if it is right from the hive.
You can use this sage honey to sweeten your favorite tea. This honey is also good drizzled on cakes, pancakes, yogurt and granola, etc.
Best paired with: Black tea.
7. Wild Maine Blueberry Honey
Blueberry honey is one of the more rich and bold-flavored honeys. Blueberry honey doesn’t taste like blueberries and it is certainly not blue.
The flavor of blueberry honey is deep and earthy. It is sweeter than mild honey varieties, with tangy and playful notes.
Blueberry honey has a light amber color. It pairs nicely with such dark teas as Earl Grey while also making a wonderful combination with green teas.
This blueberry honey by Wild Maine is grade A honey sourced from the wild blueberry fields of the Downeast Maine.
As it has a stronger flavor compared to other honey varieties, start by adding a small amount to your tea and add more only if you feel like you need more sweetness and honey flavor.
Best paired with: Earl Grey and green tea.
8. Gideon Spring Eucalyptus Honey
If you love unique flavors and have tried all of the popular honey varieties, we recommend you give a try to this eucalyptus honey. It has a mildly sweet flavor with a distinct herbal note.
Tea with honey is a natural remedy for fighting cold and flu.
But eucalyptus honey is the most potent when it comes to alleviating the symptoms of respiratory illnesses. Tea with eucalyptus honey is also an amazing cough remedy.
Gideon Spring makes the best eucalyptus honey you can find online.
This monofloral honey is raw and unfiltered and doesn’t contain any added ingredients. It doesn’t undergo any heat treatment which means that it is high in enzymes.
Because this honey is raw and unfiltered, it is natural for it to crystallize over time. Crystallized honey is still healthy and delicious and will melt in tea nicely.
Best paired with: Irish breakfast tea.
9. Galil Natural Orange Blossom Honey
Orange blossom honey is another great option if you prefer mild-flavored honey varieties. Orange blossom honey is sweet with citrusy notes.
Orange blossom honey by Galil is 100% pure. It comes from mixed citrus nectars and has a pale amber color.
Territory-wise, this honey is sourced from the US, Canada, and Argentina.
Orange blossom honey pairs particularly well with black teas as the citrus notes in it brighten the rich and dark flavor profile of black teas.
Best paired with: Black teas.
If you’re looking for some additional ways to use your honey besides tea, here are some great recipes that use this sweet ingredient!
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