Sugar Cubes
I like demera sugar cubes personally, instead of white sugar, but either one will work. These are the quintessential addition to a proper tea party. Alexander Pushkin put it best: "Ecstasy is a glassful of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth."
[via howzey]
Ginger Syrup
Another wonderful product from the Ginger People, this sweetens teas with ginger in them quite nicely. Or if you want to add a ginger flavor to your tea. What can I say except that: a) it's sweet ginger, and b) I love ginger in pretty much anything. The Kitchn recently did a review of this syrup as well.
Superfine Sugar
Also known as castor sugar, it dissolves easily in hot or cold tea. This is essentially just plain white sugar that's just easier to stir in. Not much to say about it, other than to note that it's too sweet for some people. Definitely add it little by little, instead of all at once, mixing and then tasting after each new addition.
Simple Syrup
Quite simply, simple syrup is one part sugar to one part water. I bought a bottle of it from Trader Joe's, which has a strange chemically aftertaste, so from now on I'll make my own. This is easier to use with iced tea than sugar in crystal form, because it doesn't take as much work to incorporate it. You can use either white sugar or raw sugar (I'd use the latter). If you boil it, the syrup will be thicker, but you can also just mix sugar into water. Easy enough.
[via Vermont Lenses]
Honey
Ah, a classic. Most people use honey in its' liquid form - or crystallized form if your honey has matured a bit - but I recently discovered Honibe honey drops. Honey drops are individual packages of semi-solid honey that melt into gooey messes in your teacup. It's nice to have for tea on the go. Don't even get me started on the different types of honey (i.e. lavender, black sage, clover, etc); I refuse to be that hoity-toity. The one thing I will say is that I've heard very good things about tupelo honey. But personally, I just buy plain old clover honey. Unless I can find cinnamon honey. Then I'm all over that.
Condensed Milk
I've never tried this one, but if Vietnamese coffee is anything to judge by, it would be really good and really sweet. I suspect this would need a strongly flavored black tea to stand up to the overwhelming sweetness of the condensed milk. The Kitchn recommends pairing it with almond tea or masala chai. I think that, used in moderation and with a strongly flavored tea, this would be stellar.
Agave Nectar
When I discovered agave nectar three years ago, I was very into it. After reading The Kitchn's words of warning, I am not so into it. Apparently agave nectars on the market are often not actually made from the agave plant and have more harmful stuff in them than high fructose corn syrup (the big bad wolf that everyone seems to be talking about). After reading the articles linked in the references section, and doing some other poking around, I chucked my agave nectar. Besides, I found it to have quite a strong flavor that I wasn't fond of.
[via Jordan Shugart]
Hibiscus Syrup
I'm a fan of flowers in tea. Even more so when they're candied. Having not tried this one personally, I can't tell you as much, but it's on my to-do list given the reviews. I imagine hibiscus syrup would be sweetly tart, so it would go very well with fruity tisanes; I have a strawberry kiwi tisane from a local company that's languishing in my cupboard and I think it would go beautifully with this type of sweetener (if, of course, it needs it at all). Torani also makes a hibiscus syrup, though then you'd be without the actual petals.
Obviously there will be some things I didn't mention (case-in-point: stevia leaf). Feel free to tell me about other options in the comments! I also wanted to highly recommend the "Some Like It Sweet" series from World Tea News, by the very talented author of VeeTea. My top picks for sweeteners at the moment are definitely the ginger syrup and the sugar cubes.
References
- The Appetizer on Hibiscus Syrup
- Food Renegade on Agave Nectar
- Natural News on Agave Nectar
- Some Like It Sweet (part 1)
- Some Like It Sweet (part 2)
- Some Like It Sweet (part 3)
- Travel Lady Magazine on Honey
- VeeTea on Honey
- The Weston A. Price Foundation on Agave Nectar
Taken from http://thatpourgirl.blogspot.com/
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