Your Tutorial - Coffee in Details
Saturday, October 25th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Flavored coffee - the gourmet coffee of coffee beans
Some coffee aficionados enjoy an occasional cup of flavored coffee but won’t coffee cup admit this to any coffee purist friends for fear of being considered plebeian. We buy our flavored coffees from our specialty roaster at odd times when retail traffic is at a low, hoping no one will notice us as we surreptitiously pay at the register. If caught by one of our coffeehouse buddies, we vehemently deny that the coffee is a purchase for ourselves: “Oh, this? It’s for my aging aunt Martha. She doesn’t get out much anymore.”
I think it’s about time the flavored coffee fans stood up and unite. Who cares what anyone says about our coffee-drinking habits? If it tastes good, why not enjoy it?
“Tasting good” is the key with flavored coffees. Although the aromas emanating from the coffee bins smell great, many wonder what flavors are actually delivered in their cup and how do the flavors get there?
Adding flavors to coffee is not as innovative a concept as one may think. The Arabs were the first coffee drinkers who added spices such as cinnamon to their coffees. Other Middle Easterners followed with the addition of cardamom, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, allspice and even ground nuts. Later came the addition of citrus peels, spirits and chocolate. When coffee was introduced to the Western world, they added cream and sugar to enhance the coffee flavor. These natural flavorings were added to the coffee either while brewing or once it was in the cup.
Today, flavored coffees get many of their tastes from chemical solvents which mimic natural flavorings and which are added to the whole bean while it is still warm from roasting.
Flavored whole beans are usually separated into four categories:
vanilla-based flavors
which includes the creams (such as French vanilla or Irish cream) and the nut-based flavors (such as macadamia nut or hazelnut)
chocolate-based flavors
such as chocolate mint
fruit-based flavors
such as raspberry or coconut
spice-based flavors
such as cinnamon
Of these four groups, the vanilla-based flavors are the most popular (with hazelnut being the best-selling within this category). Second runner up is the chocolate group with the fruit then spice groups following.
Conclusions
I hope I’ve convinced the timid and closeted flavored coffee drinkers to openly enjoy your aromatic cups of java. And for those persistent Doubting Thomases, you’ll never know what you’re missing until you give it a try.
So, the next time you are out with your friends for a spotajava, rock your world by boldly stepping up to the counter and asking for a cup of hazelnut coffee and a biscotti. Your friends may be shocked but, who knows, you might inspire a revolution.
P.S. Useful guidelines for choosing best espresso coffee maker.
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