How To Make Your Own Flavored Coffee

September 26, 2017|Russell Volz|Brewing And Drinking

I love gourmet coffee. No, seriously, I do. And I’ll bet that you do too. I mean real soul satisfyingly smooth fresh roasted coffee beans, like they used to make 100 years ago. Back then; coffee was smooth, naturally sweet, with subtle flavors. The coffee was so good, that you’d never even think of buying flavored coffee. The coffee just didn’t need flavoring

Coffee Additives

Unfortunately, over the last 100 years, large industrial coffee companies have ruined coffee. To choke down what passes for coffee today, we add milk, sugar, artificial flavorings, whip cream, corn syrup, and sprinkles. I suppose, if I drank industrial coffee, I’d add all that crap too.

Now that being said, I like variety as well as the next guy. So, sometimes I add a tablespoon of cream. Occasionally, I’ve even added a touch of natural sweetener.

Pick Me Up

What prompted this article is a cup of coffee. I know, who would have guessed, right? I was board and decided I needed an emotional pick-me-up. So I made a cup of coffee. Ok I’ll admit, this was a full-on self pity party, so I needed more than just a cup of coffee. I said to myself, what would my sister Karen do?

You too probably have your own “Karen”. You know, that one kid in the family who got all the creativity genes in the family. So, I opened the spice cabinet. I saw a jar of “Madagascar Vanilla Extract – Double Strength”. Yeh! Double Strength, that’s for me! I put 4 drops into my coffee. Then I noticed a bag of “Indonesian – Cinnamon Sticks”. I thought, “What the heck. Why not?” I tossed in about 1 inch of a stick.

Your Own Flavored Coffee

Guess what? Dang! This is good. Real good. It tastes a little nutty and earthy, but I can still easily taste all the coffee. I think I’m in love! But don’t tell Karen. She’s already Mom’s favorite. No sense giving her a big head.

The question is, why make your own flavored coffee? Well to begin with, do you know how the industrial coffee companies flavor their coffees? In a couple of words, they make flavored coffee with chemicals and solvents. These are the same guys that make decaffeinated coffee with a chemical that’s very similar to formaldehyde.

Besides, making your own flavored coffee is easy, cheaper, healthier, and better tasting. As a master Spokane Coffee Roaster, I suggest just opening your spice cupboard and get creative. Go easy at first. Just a little goes a long way.