How to Reduce the Bitterness of Coffee Without Sweetener
When it came to coffee, I’ve been a milk-in-cheese girl for ages. One bag maximum, and ideally half a bag, but that was the absolute minimum amount of crystals needed to make it tasty. (Prior to that, I hesitated between Sweet ‘n Low and Splenda, two artificial alternatives that I never liked, both because of how easy it was to overdose on the sweetness when consumed and because of their unpleasant potential health effects . I mostly didn’t like the taste.)
Probably due to the fact that I grew up in a Cheerios and popcorn type house that didn’t have a single plate of Cap’n Crunch or Twinkie, I never completely agreed with Sugar in the Raw, despite his claims of unbleached , tropical “dampness” and modest paper packaging. When I found out that it’s no better for you than white sugar (and since the new natural sugar substitute has climbed the rankings), I jumped at it too.
Introduce stevia: a plant-based sweetness that comes from a member of the chrysanthemum family that grows wild in Paraguay and Brazil? Sign me up! But after using it in my coffee for most of a decade, its aftertaste began to take its toll on my taste buds. Oh, and I have frequent headaches . When I noticed that they tortured me several times a week, I decided to eliminate the stevia to see if they improved. Of course they did it.
So what should a person who loves a cup of joe do but doesn’t like drinking black (and also hates all sweeteners)?
Use cream to neutralize bitterness
When my brother-in-law told me that half and half fat and cream can neutralize the bitterness of black coffee, I was skeptical. Seriously, can an increased amount of milk do the same for my coffee as sugar did before? Note: He was not talking about coffee creamers , processed fancy-tasting powders and liquids that can contain up to 5 grams of sugar per serving . He was referring to plain, pure heavy cream, or half and half (which contains milk and cream in equal proportions).
And he was right. After several years of using this method, I am 100% satisfied and never look back. My half and half daily dose not only smooths out the acidic aftertaste of black coffee, but also gives it an almost buttery richness and some nutritional value.
Isn’t heavy cream (and half) bad for you?
While many insane diets over the years have demonized fat as the enemy, fats perform many vital functions within the body, such as building cell membranes and helping blood clot. Plus, healthy fats can increase your body’s ability to burn fat and keep you feeling fuller longer. Of course, there are negative consequences if you eat too much fat, but a tablespoon or two of the cream in their coffee will never harm a person’s health. Plus, if you use heavy cream, you don’t need to worry about any negative consequences if you are lactose intolerant: lactose is a type of sugar found in milk, and cream contains almost no sugar .
Bottom line
Not only do I not miss sugar, it has become an unwelcome intrusion into the serene velvety taste of my coffee. (Reluctantly but desperately, I recently resorted to skim milk and sugar while at my father’s house and ended up throwing out the entire cup.) a thick and textured beverage. This article states that you can achieve similar results with salt and cinnamon, but you’ll have to try it yourself – and report it.