I went to Coffee Bean the other day to meet up with some friends, something which I hadn’t done in a while, and I was surprised at the fact that I got a bit confused as to what to order. I usually get something basic – brewed or a latte – but then I saw flavored coffees. I still got my usual – a latte – but it got me curious about how they make the flavored coffees, so I did some research.
Obviously, in many coffee shops, they add the flavor after brewing the coffee. The most common way is to add shots of syrup, depending on the flavor that you want. You can have vanilla, strawberry, hazelnut, and so on. Alternatively, you can flavor your own coffee by using natural products such as cinnamon sticks or its powdered form; same thing with nuts and other flavors that you may fancy.
But did you know that some people add flavor to the coffee before brewing it? Check out the coffee beans at the grocery store and you will find various packaging of flavored coffee beans.
What they do is to add the chemicals to the beans. The flavoring can take the form of either powder or liquid. These chemicals are usually added to the beans right after they come out of the roasting drum.
You ought to know, also, that purists simply abhor adding flavor to the beans while or after roasting. Some even hate the addition of flavors after brewing! While I am not particularly fond of flavored coffee, I am not really against it either. How about you?
Photo courtesy of http://blog.promoindie.net/
Originally posted on October 28, 2009 @ 10:57 am