When you learn how to make black sugar syrup, you’ll end up with a tasty, unique and stand-out syrup for your cup of coffee.

Black sugar has a different taste and a much better flavor profile and nutritional profile. The only difficulty that you may have is sourcing the black sugar, but don’t worry, I’ll point out where you can find it.

Keep reading to find out how to make black sugar syrup for coffee.

What Is Black Sugar?

While we all know what sugar is, and we are familiar with white sugar and brown sugar, but black sugar – wow, that is a rarity, an exotic rarity that is more popular in Japan and Korea.

It’s been a popular product in Japan since the 1800s and is a specialty in Okinawa and is, unsurprisingly, made from the same sugarcane plant and is less processed than brown sugar and even less processed than white sugar.

It has a very different flavor and a much better nutritional profile. For most, you’ll need to buy online from Amazon or a specialty retailer online. Your local Asian supermarket or Japanese specialty shop will sell it.

Read: What brown sugar syrup does Starbucks use?

How To Make Black Sugar Syrup For Coffee – A Japanese And Korean Delight!

The Japanese use black sugar syrup (Kuromitsu 黒蜜) on pancakes, ice cream and Japanese desserts like kuzu mochi, Anmitsu and warabi mochi, and you can use it for sweetening your coffee also. 

You can buy black sugar syrup on Amazon and from your local Asian supermarket. It is sold in powdered form or in blocks.

You can also make it at home without any difficulty. It is easy to make. The biggest difficulty that you may have in finding black sugar.

Black Sugar Syrup For Coffee – Ingredients

You only need three ingredients to make black sugar syrup, which are:

• 100 grams (3.33 oz) black sugar.
• 100 grams (3.33 oz) of regular sugar.
• 100 ml (3.33 Oz) water.

Black sugar can be bought online and from your local Asian supermarket, particularly if they have a Korean or Japanese section. If you cannot source it, you can replace it with Muscovado or a very dark brown sugar and omit the use of regular granulated sugar.

Do try to get black sugar as the flavor profile is different.

Read: Starbucks brown sugar syrup ingredients

Instructions – Making Black Sugar Syrup For Coffee

Making black sugar syrup for coffee is just as easy as it is for making any coffee syrup.

Add all your ingredients to a saucepan and mix well while on a medium heat. Keep mixing, keep stirring. When your solution has boiled, let it simmer for 15 to 20 min and stir until all the sugar has dissolved.

When you have an ideal consistency take your black sugar syrup off the boil and let it cool down.

When ready, pour into a glass container that has an air tight lid.

Flavor Variations

To make your black sugar syrup stronger, use more of the black sugar and less of the refined white sugar. If you can of course use only black sugar, this creates a VERY strong taste that is perhaps not ideal for the coffee that you want to make.

(The use of regular sugar in the recipe above tones down the flavor and makes it more versatile and able to use in a number of different coffee beverages.

If you want a more caramel taste, use brown sugar instead of regular sugar; mixing brown and black sugar produces a very nice, rich taste with notes of caramel.

You can also add a cinnamon stick to bring an additional flavor. Adding nutmeg is a great idea too.

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Make Black Sugar Syrup

What Is Black Sugar Syrup?

Black sugar is a very dark sugar syrup, referred locally as Black honey (黒蜜 – Kuromitsu) which is made from unrefined kurozato which translates to black sugar (黒砂糖). It’s thinner and milder than molasses but still fairly similar. Kurozato is mineral rich and unrefined like palm sugar. 

Is Black Sugar The Same As Brown Sugar?

No, black sugar and brown sugar are distinctly different. While they are processed differently, the main difference between brown sugar and black sugar is the amount of molasses.

Black sugar contains all the molasses while brown sugar has a controlled amount expressed as a ratio of the molasses to sugar crystals.

The result is two different sugars that not only look very different and taste different, they also have a different nutritional profile with black sugar being more nutritious.

To claim that there is no real difference and to base it on a literal translation from two Asian languages to English is incorrect and not at all based on fact (which is what some websites claim).

What Does Black Sugar Syrup Taste Like?

Black sugar syrup has a taste of raw sugar and is quite earthy while delivering a sweet caramel flavor with notes of molasses.

Is Black Sugar Better Than White Sugar?

Black sugar is nutritionally better than white sugar and has a much better taste. There are only slightly fewer calories when compared to white sugar, and thus it is better for you and tastes better.

Read: How to make brown sugar syrup

Can You Get Black Sugar?

Yes, black sugar, white cane sugar and brown sugar all start off as the same but are processed differently. The result of the slightly different process of elaboration of the raw cane sugar produces a sugar that tastes different and has a better nutritional profile due to having more vitamins and minerals. 

Do You Have To Refrigerate Black Sugar Syrup?

No, black sugar syrup does not bode well when you refrigerate it. It can become more solid and hard, making it difficult to serve and pour into your coffee.

Final Thoughts – How To Make Black Sugar Syrup

If you have read this far you know how to make black sugar syrup for your coffee and have an exotic and different simple syrup and one that is tasty and healthier for you due to the nutritional profile.

Try it!

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