Pure natural honey has long been a favorite sweetening ingredient for beverages such as tea and coffee. But it’s a sticky substance that can quickly make a mess of things. Enter The Honey Drop from Island Abbey Foods of Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The Food Channel Taste Panel put this sweet new product to the test.

Island Abbey Foods proclaims the Honey Drop as “the world’s first 100% pure, no mess, nonsticky honey product—honey you can hold.”

Inventor and entrepreneur John Rowe first conceived the concept of no-mess honey after several “liquid honey accidents” in the 1990’s. Rowe thought that dried honey would be the ideal solution. After many years searching, he realized that an all-natural, dried honey product did not exist. “I have seen many dried and candied honey products, however, they all contained sugar, corn syrup, or other additives,” Rowe says. “In my search for a natural, non-messy honey, this was simply unacceptable. I did not want corn syrup in my tea. I decided to take measures into my own hands, and the honey drop is the result.”

The Honey Drop has no artificial coloring, flavoring, or preservatives, and comes in two flavors: pure honey and pure honey and lemon. We sampled the pure honey flavor in the kitchens of The Food Channel.

The little octagon shaped drops come in an attractive octagon-shaped box containing 20 drops. Each drop is individually wrapped in a foil and plastic packet. The packaging is really pretty cool. You peel away the foil and pop out the honey drop into your beverage.

One of our tasters immediately classified the honey drop as a “neat” idea. Precisely the point. The honey drop keeps things nice and neat. Although we found them to have some stickiness to them, they are a major improvement on basic liquid honey—far less mess.

The honey drops dissolve in a hot beverage rather quickly as you stir, perhaps slightly slower than liquid honey, but fast enough.

Each drop is supposed to be equivalent to a teaspoon of honey, and the sweetening potency appeared to be about equal to a teaspoon—adding a somewhat subtle, naturally sweet honey flavor. Those who like their tea or coffee on the sweeter side will probably want to use two drops per cup.

Some people around The Food Channel have popped the drops directly into their mouths, sucking on them like hard candy or lozenges. One person commented, “The honey drop is a fantastic replacement (to hard candy) for an afternoon sugar hit.” But we’re pretty sure that’s not their intended use.

Our bottom-line reaction: these little golden “stop signs” will put a put a stop to sticky situations. We recommend you give them a try.

For more information, you may visit their website.