Looking for the best way to sweeten kratom tea?
Steeped kratom tea isn’t nearly as bitter as kratom powder. Still, like black tea or coffee, it has a naturally bold and earthy taste. Some people love it straight up. Others, not so much…
Depending on your taste preferences and whether you’re brewing hot or iced tea, there are plenty of ways to cut the bitterness and upgrade your brew.
Here are nine of our favorite ways to sweeten kratom tea.
9. Granulated Sugar
Sugar is simple and easy. Unrefined sugar varieties (like muscovado sugar, coconut sugar, or jaggery) don’t cause your blood sugar to spike as quickly as white sugar does.
One downside to note: cane sugar doesn’t stir into iced tea very well. Liquid sweeteners are your best bet if you chill your tea prior to sweetening it.
8. Coffee Creamer
If you love creamy drinks, this one’s for you. We especially recommend adding creamer to chai kratom tea or kroffee, our caffeine-free kratom coffee recipe.
If you don’t have a big sweet tooth, you can find lightly sweetened options. And even an unsweetened creamer can be used to reduce kratom’s initial bitterness.
7. Fresh Fruit or Juice
You can sweeten your tea with a splash of fruit juice like pomegranate, orange, or apple. Or add sliced berries or citrus fruits to your thermos or pot and steep them with your tea bags.
If you’re buying store-bought fruit juices, take a good look at the ingredients list. Fruit juice is often filled with hidden additives and extra sweeteners, despite marketing like “100% natural” or “100% juice.”
6. Herbs & Spices
If you want to avoid added sugars and sweeteners, you can still balance the strong flavor of kratom tea by adding in certain herbs and spices. These are our favorites:
- Cinnamon sticks
- Ginger root
- Red bush tea
- Holy basil (tulsi) leaves
- Mint leaves or peppermint oil
Honeybush boasts a wide variety of potential health benefits. Though relatively few human trials have been conducted so far, researchers have been interested in honeybush’s polyphenols (antioxidant-rich nutrients) for their potential for type-2 diabetes management.
download the free kratom tea recipe book
5. Stevia and Monk Fruit
Monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii) comes from a vine native to southern China, and stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is an herb native to South America. They each contain compounds that are very sweet (yet zero-calorie).
Stevia and monk fruit extracts are both widely available at grocery stores. Just watch out for products with extra fillers and additives that may not be healthy to consume long-term.
4. Flavored Syrups
Sweetness + flavor all in one product = less hassle when you make your tea. Our rec for original kratom teas are citrusy syrups (like orange, yuzu, and lemon). For chai kratom tea or cacao kratom tea, try syrup flavors like vanilla or hazelnut.
3. Maple Syrup
Maple syrup isn’t just for pancakes. This classic sweetener has a deep, caramel-like sweetness that pairs surprisingly well with the herbal notes of kratom tea.
It’s especially great in fall and winter blends (try it with chai kratom or cinnamon-spiced brews), and you can easily stir it into iced teas.
2. Agave
Agave has a very similar flavor to honey. Its mellow sweetness reduces kratom tea’s bitterness but doesn’t completely obscure the flavor of kratom. Try adding lemon in addition to agave for a really simple, tasty brew.
1. Ice!
We know, we know, ice clearly isn’t a type of sweetener. But it’s still #1 on our list of ways to sweeten kratom tea, because while it doesn’t add sweetness, it reduces kratom’s bitterness by a large margin.
Iced kratom tea is much less bitter than hot kratom tea. You can add ice to freshly brewed tea (this will dilute it a bit, which will also reduce bitterness), or transfer your tea to a heat-safe jar and put it in the fridge for 30 mins to chill.
If you like your drinks sweet, you may still want to add one of the sweeteners listed above, but you’ll probably need less of it in iced kratom tea than you would for hot kratom tea.
Why Don’t We Have Honey on the List?
Honey is one of the most popular sweeteners for tea, but we actually tend to avoid it.
The most important reason we avoid buying honey is that honeybees wreak havoc on native ecosystems. They often outcompete local pollinators for resources, which has serious ripple effects on biodiversity.
Supporting regenerative agriculture with native pollinators (and avoiding industrial agriculture and industrial pollinators when possible) aligns more closely with our values of reducing harm for the humans and other animals we share the planet with.
Another reason we don’t buy honey is that a huge percentage of what’s sold as “pure honey” in grocery stores is actually diluted with corn syrup or other additives. Unless you’re buying from a small, trustworthy local source, it’s hard to know what you’re really getting.
We would instead recommend reaching for agave or organic cane sugar.
There’s No Single Best Way to Sweeten Kratom Tea
There’s no single “right” way to sweeten kratom tea. It all comes down to your flavor preferences, your wellness goals, and how much time you have in the kitchen.
Whether you’re after a light touch of fruit juice or an ultra-rich kratom chai latte with creamer and spice, the key is to experiment until you find a brew that feels good and tastes good.
Got a favorite sweetener or recipe tweak we didn’t list here? Share it with us! We’d love to feature your go-to method.
