Flavoured coffee: good or bad?
Craig, a member of our Autopilot Coffee Club, emailed:
I have a question about flavoured coffee. Let me start by saying that I'm not a fan of flavoured coffee - not passing judgment, just not my thing.
After sampling your Kick Start blend that has *so much flavour* I got wondering about the difference between flavoured and not...
And coffee lover Nadean asked:
I would like to know how they make "flavoured" coffee? Are they adding essence of something? I am curious as flavoured coffees are popular but don't taste very good.
Great questions! And whether flavoured coffee IS your thing or not, I’m here to share how flavoured coffee is made. And why some coffees are just more flavourful than others!
How Flavoured Coffee is Made
Commercially Flavoured Coffees
Nadean guessed correctly. When you pick up a cup of hazelnut vanilla Jamaican rum cherry flavour-of-the-day coffee at your local cafe, it is almost always flavoured by adding a flavour essence to the coffee beans.
When coffee is taken out of the roaster, it is cooled down and then sprayed or tumbled in a big container with a flavour essence. These are typically made of concentrated flavour compounds plus a solvent (water, vegetable oil, alcohol, propylene glycol, something like that). The beans are stirred or tumbled to evenly coat the coffee with the flavouring. That's it!
The solvent evaporates or dries leaving just the flavouring behind.
Its interesting and helpful to know that the flavour compounds may be labelled “natural” flavours but they are almost always chemical compounds and almost never actual the actual thing it tastes like.
So your “pumpkin spice coffee” has the same spicy flavours made by food scientists in a laboratory and not by adding actual cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon.
The Good
A nice thing about commercially flavoured coffees is that the flavouring adds zero calories, gluten, nutrients or anything except flavour to the coffee.
You can drink up and not worry about counting calories, breaking your fast, triggering your metabolic system or whatever. That’s true as long as you don’t doctor your cup with cream and sugar, of course!
Another good thing about flavour essences is that they are allergen-free. For example, if you have an allergy or sensitivity to hazelnuts, you can safely have hazelnut flavoured coffee because no nuts are used to get that flavour.
And if you are a teetotaller and don’t drink alcohol, your Jamaican Rum or Irish Cream Liqueur flavoured coffees are alcohol-free.
Why Do Flavoured Coffees Taste Bad?
If you like flavoured coffee, there are some great ones out there! There is no reason that a flavoured coffee HAS TO taste bad.
However, there are a couple economic and practical reasons why flavoured coffees often DO taste bad.
Fake Flavours
I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand strawberry-flavoured things but I LOVE strawberries. There’s something about “strawberry flavour” that I do not like. I love a good quality strawberry ice cream made with real strawberries. But most strawberry candies? Yuck!
Although food scientists are pretty good at getting the essence of whatever, it isn’t always the same as the real deal spice or food item. And some flavours are easier to capture the essence of than others.
Sooooo… flavoured coffees often don’t taste great because the flavour compounds are simulated. Or the maker picked crappy quality flavourings that don’t quite nail the purported flavour.
Mediocre Beans
The bigger reason that flavoured coffees are often not great is that the coffee beans used are not premium quality.
Because the flavour essence masks the true coffee flavour, this is an opportunity for roasters to get rid of cheaper, substandard, stale or otherwise mediocre beans.
In fact, coffee suppliers have been using flavouring to improve mediocre coffees for eons. Sometimes additives were used to make a batch of coffee go further - and taste better - when coffee was in short supply or crazy expensive. (Yes, that’s the origin of New Orleans’ chicory coffee!)
Flavoured Coffee Drinks
Instead of flavouring the coffee beans, flavour can be added to the brewed coffee.
This is the Starbucks approach whereby a flavour syrup is added to transform a basic latte to a hazelnut-caramel-pumpkin-spice-vanilla-frappa-capa-ccino. Scroll down for our tips on how to make your own flavoured drinks at home.
Boozy, Spirit-Infused, & Barrel-Aged Coffees
In the last while, you may have noticed coffees with boozy flavours. Sometimes they are called “Barrel-aged” or “Spirit Infused” or just “Liquor Flavour” Coffee. An example is the special edition FOCUS Canadian Whisky Infused Coffee that we made a while back.
Some of these are infused in a similar manner to other flavoured coffees but using the actual liquor - rum, whisky, brandy, etc. instead of a flavour essence.
The beans are soaked in or sprayed with a small amount of the spirit or liqueur which then evaporates or is roasted off, leaving the flavour and aroma but not any actual alcohol.
Other times, the beans get their extra flavour from being kept in a barrel that was used in making a spirit.
Literally, the coffee absorbs some flavour from the barrel. In this case, the coffee roaster has far less control over the resulting flavour and the coffee will take on some flavours of the wood as well as the spirit made in the barrels. It’s just like an oaked chardonnay vs an unoaked. Both taste like chardonnay but one has additional flavouring from the oak barrels.
Do It Yourself Flavoured Coffee
If you love vanilla or hazelnut and want to add it to your coffee, it's pretty easy to make it yourself. You can do this by adding your fave flavouring:
to your grinds before brewing for ground flavourings such as cinnamon or other spices
to your bag of beans in the cupboard for whole spices or crushed nuts
to your cup for liquids like maple, honey, liqueurs
What coffee to use?
When you’re adding flavours to coffee, it generally will taste best if you use a medium to darker roast coffee.
A lighter roast coffee will get overwhelmed by most flavourings and will take weak and weird and not coffee-like once you’ve doctored it up with strong spices or even a big shot of creamer.
Pick a medium or darker roast coffee with a strong traditional coffee flavour (not super fruity or acidic, more chocolatey and richer) to complement warm spices or creamy type flavours. Something like our Deuce Coupe or Special Blast are what I recommend.
And check out our Cafe de Olla recipe for a delicious, easy to make sweet and spicy Mexican coffee.
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