Should You Put Salt in Your Coffee?

Many people like to add a little bit of sugar or cream in their coffee first thing in the morning. But did you know that there are people who add salt instead?

Salted coffee recently became a trend again, and many people wonder if it benefits the beverage in any way. As it turns out, salted coffee indeed has some benefits.

In this article, we will explain why you should try to put salt in your coffee too.

The “Alton Brown Trick”

Alton Brown, a famous cookbook author and food science expert, suggested in a 2009 episode of his show that adding a pinch of salt to a cup of coffee can neutralize the bitterness. He insisted that for every cup of water that you use to make coffee, you should mix two spoons of ground coffee with half a spoon of kosher salt.

Brown also further explained this method on his Facebook page (1). He said:

Most of the mainstream media picked this up, calling it the “Alton Brown coffee trick.” As a result, putting salt in coffee has sparked the curiosity of coffee lovers around the globe. However, Mr. Brown wasn’t the first who put salt into the coffee.

For those of you who prefer visual explanations, here’s our fun animated video on the topic:

Other Instances of Salted Coffee

There are many records of different cultures salting their coffee. This practice is an integral part of the coffee-making tradition of Hungary, Scandinavian countries, Siberia, Turkey, etc.

There are coastal places where salty seawater mixed with fresh water from the rivers. Here, it was normal for people to use slightly salty water while preparing their coffee (2).

Also, there are various stories about people in the army adding salt to their coffee to make low-quality, bitter coffee better.

The Benefits Of Putting Salt in Coffee

There are several ways how adding salt to coffee can improve your drinking experience.

Reduces Bitterness

It is a scientific fact that sodium, a major component of salt, neutralizes bitterness (3). This happens because the taste buds will react to salty flavor instead of bitterness. So, sodium might even be more efficient in covering up the bitterness of coffee than sugar. Sugar can only mask it a little bit, while salt neutralizes it completely.

Specialist pediatric dietitian Clare Thornton-Wood explained this (4) in an article for the Royal Society of Chemistry:

It’s just one simple effective hack (of few) to reduce bitter coffee fast.

Improves Stale Water

Salt will make the water better. As Mr. Brown said, the water that stays in your coffee maker for a long time can become stale. And since your coffee can only be as good as your water, brewing it with stale water will certainly reduce the quality. If you include salt, it may thus improve water quality. It will also make the water denser, giving your coffee a thicker texture.

Enhances the Flavor and Replaces Sugar

Salt will certainly enhance the taste of coffee. The best thing about salt is that it enhances the flavors that are already there. Also, if you need to limit your sugar intake but the bitterness of the coffee is too high, salt can be a viable replacement.

P.S. If you’re curious about low acid coffee, read this article.

What about your health?

Coffee itself already has a bunch of benefits since it contains some important nutrients like magnesium and a lot of antioxidants to boot. Moreover, drinking coffee helps to fight some brain-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Regular coffee will increase your adrenaline and energy, as well as help you burn fat (5).

However, if you fill your coffee with sweeteners, syrups, and cream, you will remove many of these benefits. At the same time, you may gain weight and experience further health complications as a result of high sugar intake. Salty coffee can replace all these additives. And while it won’t make your coffee taste sweet, it may suppress the bitterness and keep you healthy.

Researchers have also found that drinking an excessive amount of coffee causes your body to lose sodium (6). James DiNicolantonio, doctor of pharmacy and a nutrition expert, says:

However, adding a bit of salt to your coffee grounds will stop you from losing sodium at all.

Health Downsides of Salty Coffee

When it comes to health, there aren’t any major downsides to drinking salted coffee. All the cons are similar to those of taking regular salt. For example, you shouldn’t drink it if you are sensitive to sodium.

Adding salt will also increase the overall sodium intake, meaning that certain conditions such as inflammation of stomach lining can appear. Also, while eating salt in moderate amounts is good for your heart, consuming it in larger quantities may lead to heart-related issues (7).

Now that we’ve talked about mixing salt and coffee, here are other things you can mix with coffee:

• Honey and Coffee
• Butter and Coffee
• Coffee and Lemon

Final Thoughts

Adding salt to your coffee may not seem like a good idea at first, but a quarter of a teaspoon can do a lot more good than harm. You should always keep in mind that high-quality coffee is not as bitter and harsh as low-quality one. So, if you are always enjoying the high-end varieties of this beverage, you might not need to add salt.

However, drinking a type of coffee that would require a lot of sugar or cream is not healthy. Also, some types of coffee have such high acidity that prevents many people from enjoying their daily fix. In both these cases, adding salt may do the trick.