New to rock sugar and want to learn more

1. In my opinion, it does taste different than other types of sugar/sweeteners. Generally, rock sugar is suppose to sweeten without adding additional taste, ie- honey adds sweetness but also has a honey taste to it, etc. The change is only worth it based on your preferences. You would have to try it to see if you like it. I use brown rock sugar for some things, white sugar for others, brown sugar for others, etc.
2. My most recent batch of rock sugar came from Teavana because I bought it when it was on sale. You can try looking at bulk ingredient stores.
3. This really depends on your preferences again. I would suggest that rock sugar tastes different than white sugar, but the differences are subtle to me.

An important note: not all products described as rock sugar are truly brown rock sugar. Do a bit of research before you purchase.

Good to know I’m not the only one that puts sugar in (just about) every tea they drink. At least to try.
I tried using rock sugar when I went to a tea tasting at an Adagio location and I wasn’t that impressed really. It takes quite awhile for it to dissolve into the tea, and if it doesn’t, you get weird little sugar lumps at the bottom of your cup. And you have to add alot of it before it begins to sweeten your te? At least, that’s how it seemed to me. I definitely prefer my Truvia.
It was fun to just try them to crunch though. Lol.

1. I notice a taste difference. It is more flavor neutral, though the brown stuff adds a bit of warmth flavor, but not like your typical granulated brown sugar. Plain rock sugar I found sweeter, brighter taste closer to regular sugar. I quite like the german rock sugar and I like having it on hand. However, I use various sweeteners depending on the tea. My favorite is a german rock sugar / honey combo.
Some teas work better with the maple profile of agave so you need to experiment.

2. Georgia Tea Company was the last place I purchased it from during a sale. Lots of sellers sell it very close to the same price (The Persimmon Tree / Teavana) It is cheaper to buy in bulk off amazon, but just a pound lasts awhile so maybe if try and split with a friend if buying more than that.

3. I use less than regular sugar, but find I use even less when using agave syrup.

Bonus: to make sure the rock sugar dissolves, add it to your tea while it is steeping. For cooler temperature teas like whites/greens, I try to pick out the smaller sugar lumps.

Thanks guys!
I’m glad to hear that teavana’s rock sugar gets a pass here, as it’s nearest to me and I can sample some of it without actually ordering any online. And I might be convinced to try butiki’s crystal sugar as well.
And shadowfall, definitely a fellow sugar lover here! (I often put milk/cream in my tea as well, while we’re admitting things). It’s just how I like it, and it’s hard to argue with preference haha.

I don’t tend to sweeten my teas but I too heard so much about rock sugar that I picked up a small amount from Butiki teas. My main issue was that I couldn’t get it to dissolve. Was I supposed to grind it up first or something? Yeeps, it just sat there. I think I will slowly use it in baking or snitch small pieces. I used to love rock candy suckers when I was a kid.

The odd tea that needs sweetening to be drinkable will get honey from me because I am adding the sweetener to take something from awful to okay and honey does that in spades.

I use Teavana’s rock sugar and I find it to be perfect. I usually use 3/4 of a tsp to 1 tsp of rock sugar per 16oz of water, and I put the rock sugar in with my leaves and pour the water over the combination. (With this method, I’ve never had a problem with it not dissolving. However, the few times I forgot about it and added the sugar shortly after the water, it did dissolve more slowly.)

Like others have mentioned, what I notice with the rock sugar is that it seems to make the flavor of the tea sweeter and smoother. It doesn’t taste like you’ve added sugar, but rather like you’re subtly enhancing the tea. I’m pretty devoted to the rock sugar and never use any other sweetener (I have no complaints; although I don’t put it in everything, it’s only ever improved the teas I’ve made it with). I highly recommend it.

I don’t use it often. It’s usually the rock sugar from Persimmon Tea Company (that came with my samples), and I just use it for black tea.

While I don’t use it in tea, you can make it yourself. We used to make it when I was a kid. You make a supersaturated solution of 2 parts sugar (we used white) and 1 part water, dangle a piece of kitchen string in it suspended from a pencil laid across the top of the glass (or a wooden kebab skewer) and let it sit. The water evaporates and if you leave the glass undisturbed the crystals can get quite big. You don’t have to use the string or the stick, either. Those just make the crystal formation happen a bit more quickly and make it easier to eat like a sucker. :)

Probably easier and faster to buy it from somewhere, though. :)

It’s not actually something that you can make yourself (unless you are referring to the candy form of rock sugar that you sometimes see sold to kids in candy shops or in some tea rooms), but it isn’t something you have to get from a special place either. It’s just something that has had good marketing by companies.

“Rock sugar” or “German rock sugar” as it is being called by some tea companies is generally just beet sugar, or sugar made from sugar beets instead of sugar made from sugar cane plants. They are almost the same in most ways chemically speaking as they are both sugars, but they do have some differences (since beets are a root and cane is essentially a grass). Most people only care about these if they do a lot of baking because cane sugar caramelises better, and when you heat a lot of beet sugar, it can often turn into granules instead of syrup, especially if you’re using brown sugar. White cane sugar and beet sugars are very similar, but the brown sugars are refined quite differently, so that is where you’ll find a lot of the differences. The molasses the comes from beets is vastly different from the molasses that comes from sugar cane and isn’t considered high enough grade for human consumption, so it’s used only for animal feed, whereas sugar cane molasses is used in brown sugar. Any molasses in brown beet sugar has to be added to it in a secondary process, which is why it can have a very different texture and taste.

Part of this whole “rock sugar” thing is also due to the sugar industry and marketing and a lot of history with which I don’t want to bore everyone. Basically, beet sugar is generally much cheaper to produce than cane sugar, but cane sugar is by far the more common sugar historically in the US for a variety of reasons. In Europe, beet sugar can be more common. However, beet sugar production has been on the rise in recent years in the US as well because it’s so cheap and because sugar beets grow so well in different climates.

So…you really don’t need to buy any kind of fancy marketed sugar. It’s caramelised beet sugar (which is why it doesn’t dissolve as well). If you just like the taste, just go buy some generic beet sugar and save yourself the money and hassle. If the presentation of rock sugar appeals to you and is part of what you enjoy about your tea ritual, then keep getting it and enjoying it all the same. Just don’t let marketing convince you that you are getting some kind of special sugar you can’t find anywhere else :)

Wait, Wikipedia was wrong about something? No way… :) Interesting info on the beet sugar.