Green Tea Turns Black After Adding Honey

[johnny627]

Why does green tea from Twinnings tea tag turn black when I add honey to it?

I was making green tea from Twinnings brand, and I added honey to it, and it made the green tea turn dark color.

What is the reason for this phenomenon? Or possible reasons?

[Phi for All]

Is the honey darker in shade than the tea? If so, it would naturally make the tea darker.

You mention it turns "black", but you also say it turned a "dark color". Which is correct? Not all dark colors are black.

[Strange]

I have noticed that some types and brands of green tea go brown quite easily. This seems to be more common with Chinese green tea (which I think Twinings is). And also seems more common with hard water and when the water is too hot (green tea should not be made with boiling water).

Not sure why honey should make a difference. But many honeys are slightly acidic. This could well be a factor.

Update: it is tea time so I just tried adding some honey to my green tea. It did not change colour. So there must be other factors at work. 

(Also: adding honey to green tea should be illegal anyway!)

[Phi for All]

5 minutes ago, Strange said:

(Also: adding honey to green tea should be illegal anyway!)

Perhaps this is Twinings way of helping the police put these criminals behind bars, like dye packets in the money from bank heists. Green is the new black.

[CharonY]

3 hours ago, Strange said:

I have noticed that some types and brands of green tea go brown quite easily.

Well green tea generally should have a yellow to brown colour but if you are using crushed leafes in tea bags (which I feel should also banned for green tea) they can extract much faster than loose leafs. 

[lovetruth]

You probabil added a more acidic honey than the other people

This can happen with acacic, linden or rape honey :)

This can be an indicator of the quality of some specific honey: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.0c05070?cookieSet=1 

[bangstrom]

Tannic acid turns dark black in the presence of soluble iron compounds. Tea contains tannic acid, and if the honey contains traces of iron, that could explain the reaction.

I did a quick check and honey can be a good source of iron but it varies with the type of honey.