Honey and Coffee Better Than Oral Steroids for Persistent Cough

I have never tried coffee and honey together before, but I’m totally going to do it now. I also have a persistent cough.

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Just an update 3 weeks later. It annihilated my cough. I went from coughing every 1-2 minutes to nothing for ~4 hours. I did it for ~4 days and it really helped me heal quickly.

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Glad to hear it!

I see it mentions honey as being a healing ingredient forever, but was the coffee also a component? Could it be replaced with tea or herbal infusion?

Hmmm, maybe coffee is a component:

In 2011 Nosáľová et al identified an arabinogalactan-protein extract from instant coffee that does have an antitussive effect.10 There have been suggestions that coffee or the caffeine in it might act as a bronchodilator and so improve the cough. Yet, the small amount of caffeine used in these studies is probably not adequate to cause bronchodilation.11 [Author’s note: for readers who might ask whether decaffeinated coffee would work, we don’t know the answer yet as it is unclear whether the caffeine is essential for this mixture’s efficacy.]

Whatever the case, the combination of honey and coffee (see the recipe in the Appendix) appears to be more effective than either substance alone and is certainly worth a try for persistent cough.

Herbal tea and honey is still probably better than nothing for kids.

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When I used exactly what was described, the caffeine in that small amount of instant coffee is pretty small. If one of my kids coughs got really bad, I may try it.

I didn’t realize oral steroids were a thing, let alone used a lot:

One in five American adults in a commercially insured plan were given prescriptions for short term use of oral corticosteroids during a three year period, with an associated increased risk of adverse events.

I believe Prednisone is the one I’ve seen the most. I had to take it when I had a case of mono, to help combat my extremely sore throat.

My Grandmom was on it for over 8 years, the doctor not giving a damn that it’s really harsh on your system. It destroyed her bones, she shrunk like 6 inches. It definitely contributed to her death in 2012.

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what!!?? last month, i was prescribed Prednisone for my swollen toe (when they thought it was gout) to reduce swelling and pain, and taken off it the day after when blood test results came back and said 1. i probably don’t have gout and 2. i was still at “elevated levels” for all four of the EBV antibodies. that steroid is “one of our strongest anti-inflammatories, but it is also a very strong immune system suppressant, so let’s have you not take it if you still have an active EBV infection & mono after five months.” so to hear that you were prescribed it FOR mono is mind-boggling. i guess long-term is different?

anyway i do still have a sore throat, and had never heard of this before, so i’m putting honey in my coffee now. =P

thank you, discourse “suggested topics” feature!

um what?!?! D: i am sorry you had to find out that way, but glad you know and are telling talkgroup now.

Honey and coffee: 20.8 g of honey and 2.9 g of Nestle instant coffee per 1 T dose taken 3 times per day;

is 20.8g honey * 3 times a day a lot of honey? i think i’m putting like 1g in my coffee right now

I cannot wait to hear your experience! This is still my goto when I’ve got a really persistent cough.

I just did a generous spoonful, and stirred it in. That seemed like a lot to me as well. But ~20g of honey is ~1oz of honey, which isn’t bad. Then again, I was raised on Winnie the Pooh, so I am biased.

@tim, when you first described this I asked for clarification, privately I think. Could you let us know the kind of coffee and how much you used?

I recall making a todo to get trader joes instant coffee for this.

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I used Nestle Tasters Choice regular, and I used ~1 teaspoon.

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This is old, but I’m curious! Did the honey + coffee help your cough?

We’ve referenced this time and again, but I’m not sure we ever utilized it. We use honey all the time, and certainly as part of remedies. But I can’t say we ever user honey+coffee to this effect.

honey+coffee = cute cafe name!

We don’t have instant coffee, so science is hard in this scenario. :slight_smile: How about you? We get bad coughs (as a family), maybe once a year or two.

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I have used it twice total, and it has been very effective both times. I believe we implemented it with one of the kids once and it was also very effective.

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Alright d00d, I need the specs. This may be a matter of cooking craft levels between us, but I can’t see the ratios or ingredients for this.

The thing that would help me is a photo of the ingredients measured out; literally: this much of this stuff that looks like this, and this stuff that is regurgitated bee food. :grimacing:

  1. A not-heaping spoonful of instant caffinated coffee, dump in cup
  2. pour same amount of honey on the spoon, put spoon in cup.
  3. pour in ~6-8oz hot water, stir with the honey-covered spoon.
  4. pledge your soul to Nescafe, King of the Underworld! Hail Nescafe!
  5. slowly sip here and there and kiss your cough goodbye.
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This is much better than the journal article!

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