I like having my tea with honey.
I always buy unpasteurized honey rather than pasteurized honey, to benefit from the healthful enzymes it contains that are destroyed by the pasteurization process.
I have heard that unpasteurized honey should not be heated to a very high temperature, because that will (just like pasteurization) destroy the enzymes.
So, my questions are:
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What is the temperature to which it is safe to heat unpasteurized honey without destroying the enzymes in it?
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Is there a rule of thumb for how long I should let my tea cool to reach this temperature? I do not add anything else (like milk) to the tea that would accelerate the cooling.
Best Answer
Well, after a cursory look online, it looks like the honey shouldn't be heated above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, or what a "natural temperature" of a bee hive would be. Assuming you're drinking black tea, you are boiling the water, so it starts off at around 212 degrees Fahrenheit (near sea level). How long it will take for the tea to cool will depend on what the tea is in and how cool the room you are in is. So, in other words, there really isn't a rule of thumb for the cooling part since the environment the tea is in will dramatically affect how long it takes to cool.
I'd just use a thermometer and check it the first couple of times you make the tea.