No Sugar Tonight in My Tea

It all depends. In some strong preparations such as chai which are served with milk or where the tea leaves are “cooked”, a little bit of sugar is appropriate and can sometimes enhance the flavor. But in general, I avoid adding any sweeteners because for me it ruins the delicate flavors of the tea.

Personally, I add nothing to my teas. It’s not a matter of health benefits, for me it’s a matter of taste. I will occasionally add honey to my iced teas. I sometimes make a latte, where I need milk & some type of sweetner. And if I accidentally over brew something I will add a chunk or two of rock sugar.

I normally add sugar or agave to my black tea, but recently I’ve felt like I should try them without before I add anything. (Of course that means the stuff that I brew strong to take milk & sugar tastes like being punched in the mouth…)

I find that white and green teas tend not to need sweetening, along with some herbals.

Like many members here, I believe if you can do whatever you want as long as you enjoy the tea. As for me, I only sweeten blended black teas such as English/Irish Breakfast, Yorkshire, and Earl Grey, and sometimes I add honey to chamomile. I’ll never ever put sugar in a rooibos, green, white, oolong, and puerh tea. It just seems so odd to do so. Honestly, I used to be snooty when I came to this sort of thing: I have a friend whom I once saw put sugar in her oolong and I expressed something that was not so nice, as I can now see. Yeah, some people are purists (not me anymore xP), others not. Long story short – you do what you think is best for your enjoyment! :)

I add an extremely small amount of sugar to all the black teas I drink. 1/4tsp per 400ml, which is about 1/8tsp per cup. I feel the small amount brings out the flavor in the tea. I am also particular about the Japanese sugar I use. It’s made by Mitsui and has absolutely has no other flavors to it besides the sweetness.

I never add sugar to all other teas. Oolongs, Rooibos, and Green tea.

it would be cooler to say that i’m a purist but…i’m just lazy to add anything haha.

So…no else else had to zip over to YouTube to watch No Sugar Tonight by the Guess Who? Or are all of you too young to know that song?

Just a side note here – If you check your history books (or wikipedia), it was common for Southern Sweet Tea to be made using green tea prior to WWII. So I have history and tradition on my side.

I’m backwards, as usual. I never add sweetener to iced tea. I rarely add it to hot tea, usually only teas with chocolate. I don’t use milk. But I would not be offended by how someone drinks their tea. You should do what you like.

There is no “correct” way to drink tea. Whether or not to add Sugar is a personal choice. However, with some delicate teas, Sugar could possibly mask some of the subtle notes. I personally never add Sugar in my tea. :)