Brown Sugar Vs White Sugar: Which Is Better For Coffee?

As great as coffee is, it can be a bitter pill to swallow on its own. This, of course, has been excellent news for the secretive coffee chain industry, which keeps developing all sorts of wild coffee drink concoctions in order to give us our caffeine fix in a tastier form. 

Now, that's not to say people don't enjoy plain, old normal coffee, too. Nothing wrong with that, and if it tastes weird, it might be simply because you've been making coffee wrong your whole life. Some are perfectly happy to brave the black stuff as it is. Others add some milk and cream to reach their preferred taste sensation. And then, of course, there's sugar. Coffee and sugar are age-old companions, seeing as the latter's sweetness is the perfect accompaniment to the former's acidity — as well as a handy antidote to the too-bitter taste of that office coffee. The problem is that sugar is everywhere, and it's not exactly great for you, especially in high amounts. 

So, assuming that you don't feel like cutting sugar from your coffee intake altogether, is there some other way to be health-conscious about it — like, say, switching to brown sugar? Is switching from white to brown sugar an upgrade for your morning cup? Let's find out! 

Brown sugar is already a common sweetener, and if you ask Crazy Coffee Crave, you should definitely go for it over white sugar. In fact, they say that honey, maple sugar, and other sweetening agents are all superior to the white stuff, as well. 

White sugar is a highly refined product that has basically one property, which is sweetness. Meanwhile, brown sugar has a rich flavor of its own, which compliments coffee and makes it taste a bit earthier and "heavier." The drink's color will also be deeper, thanks to the sugar's own color. Oh, and while there are probably better places to look for your minerals than sugar, the molasses in brown sugar means that it contains far more calcium, potassium, and magnesium than white sugar.

That being said, if you hate the taste of the stuff, you probably shouldn't power through brown sugar-sweetened coffee for health reasons alone. The myth about brown sugar being healthier than white is just that — a myth. The nutritional properties of the two are roughly the same, so if you want to keep using white sugar in your coffee and brown sugar in your cooking, hey — it's all sweet.