We’ve talked about adding creamer and coffee syrup to coffee – the ‘normal’ things. Then we’ve also talked about adding butter, eggs and even mixing coffee with Japanese Calpico. So now, we bring you salt. Should you put salt in coffee?
There’s a bit of a debate about adding salt to coffee. Some haven’t heard of it before and are intrigued and willing to try it. Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, others abhor the thought of even putting the words salt and coffee together.
Have you had a cup of coffee with salt in it? Should you be one of those people who do it if you haven’t tried it already?
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We found 6 facts about adding salt to coffee:
1. Salt Makes Coffee Taste Better
Well according to some people it tastes good. While some say even when they put just a pinch of salt, they can taste the saltiness, others think it helps improve the taste of coffee. This may be because salt can enhance sweetness.
Salt suppresses bitter flavors in food, which makes any sweet flavor seem stronger. When adding creamer and sugar to coffee, it balances out bitterness. And salt does the same by balancing and cutting out the bitterness according to Jennifer McLagan, author of a book all about cooking with the misunderstood flavor, Bitter: A Taste of the World’s Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes.
2. Alton Brown Puts Salt in His Coffee
Perhaps one of the most famous people who puts salt in coffee and who is possibly responsible for making this idea popular is Alton Brown. If you don’t know who he is, Alton Brown is the host of the Good Eats cooking show, a cookbook author and appears on several Food Network shows like Food Network Star and Iron Chef America.
Here’s a video “Alton Brown Makes Perfect Coffee” where he shows you how to brew the perfect cup using a French press, and of course adding a pinch of kosher salt. Skip to 2:20 if you want to see and hear about adding salt into coffee.
3. Salt Smooths Out Stale Water Taste
Have you ever put a glass of water by your bed and the next morning found that the water tasted different? Well, apparently water does go stale overnight. One of the reasons for this is the carbon dioxide in the water dissolves as the water sits. Alton Brown states, “your coffee will never be better than your water,” and mentioned that adding salt to coffee will help smooth out a stale water taste from water.
4. Health Benefits of Adding Salt to Coffee
There are many types of salts. There’s kosher, table salt, sel gris, Himalayan salt, sea salt and more. They differ in texture, flavor and how it’s processed.
The bottom line is that they are all salt so they share some of these benefits. Salt is beneficial for your thyroid, promotes healthy hydration levels, prevents low blood pressure and can help those with cystic fibrosis (source.) And not having enough salt intake can also result in heart disease or failure, high LDL cholesterol and insulin resistance (source.) Additionally, Himalayan salt is thought to be a more balanced and healthier choice of salt because it’s not as heavily processed as regular table salt. Its possible health benefits include improving respiratory problems, aiding in digestion and can clean air (with a Himalayan salt lamp.)
Read More: Is Coffee Good For You?
5. Salt in Coffee is Present in Literature
Putting salt in coffee (whether by accident or on purpose) isn’t something new. In 1886, Lucretia Peabody Hale published the children’s classic, The Peterkin Papers. The book is a collection of stories about the fictional Peterkin family and one of the stories is titled The Lady Who Put Salt in Her Coffee.
It was a mistake. She had poured out a delicious cup of coffee, and, just as she was helping herself to cream, she found she had put in salt instead of sugar! It tasted bad. – Lucretia P. Hale, The Peterkin Papers (1886)
It’s a humorous short story you can read online here. It probably never crossed Mrs. Peterkin’s mind that salt could’ve made her coffee taste better. (She also probably put way too much salt and not the recommended pinch of salt!) Meanwhile, in Tom Clancy’s first Jack Ryan book, The Hunt for Red October published in 1984, he mentions something called traditional navy coffee where a character had added a pinch of salt on purpose into a cup of strongly brewed coffee.
6. Adding Salt to Coffee is Popular in Taiwan
There are always more ways to enjoy coffee and we can get those ideas from learning about how coffee is enjoyed in various countries. For example, sea salt coffee is popular in Taiwan, Reuters has reported. One of the largest coffee chains in Taiwan, 85C Bakery Cafe offers a coffee with a thick cream that contains melted sea salt. Apparently the Taiwanese people like lots of flavor, so the cafe created this drink as an addition to their menu. It’d be worth a try!
How much salt should you put in coffee?
So you’ve decided you want to try adding salt to coffee. How much should you put? Start with just a pinch, about ⅛ teaspoon. You don’t want to overpower your coffee and make it taste too salty. You want just enough to counteract any bitterness your coffee may have.
Read More: How to Measure Coffee
Should you put salt in coffee grounds or after brewing?
You can do it both ways – either in the coffee grounds or directly into the liquid. Alton Brown puts a pinch of salt in his coffee grounds. He puts a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt to every 6 tablespoons of coffee grounds.
Final Thoughts: So should you add salt to coffee?
We don’t on a day to day basis, but it might be worth a try to see if it’s something you prefer or another way to enjoy coffee instead of coffee creamer, syrup or any type of sweetener to change up the taste. The bottom line is if you have high quality coffee beans and brew it correctly (read: how to make black coffee not bitter), you really shouldn’t need to add salt to your coffee.
