15 Ways To Add Extra Flavor To Your Coffee

While many coffee drinkers will prefer to take their brew black with no additives or lighteners, the fact is that not everyone can handle the strength and bitterness.

Hence, for a majority of coffee lovers, coffee is not complete without adding some other flavors to make it more bearable and even make the taste more pleasant. And while there are many ways to add extra flavor to your coffee, it is important to choose what appeals to your specific preferences.

Whether you like to drink spicy coffee or have a sweet tooth and want yours to be as sweet as possible, there is something out there for you. Below we highlight some of the most popular ways to flavor coffee.

15 Ways to Add Flavor to Your Coffee

If you are drinking coffee just for the caffeine fix or are the kind of coffee lover that wants to experience all the natural flavor notes and aroma in coffee, you are better of sticking with good old black coffee. But, if the taste is also equally important to you like most other coffee drinkers, here is how to make flavored coffee at home.

1. Vanilla

Vanilla makes everything taste better, and so it should not come as a surprise that it is one of the best coffee additives out there. Better yet, it is widely available and affordable and it will help give you a more cost-effective method to add flavor to your coffee.

Besides enhancing your coffee flavor, vanilla also has some health benefits as it has been in use for medicinal purposes for many centuries. In some societies, it is believed to be a brain superfood that can boost mental performance and your overall mental health.

You can add a few drops of vanilla extract to your coffee after brewing or even add a few vanilla beans to your coffee grounds before grinding to ensure you infuse the flavor before you brew coffee.

2. Cocoa Nibs                             

If you love chocolate and everything about it, you can still bring the same experience to your coffee by adding cocoa nibs to it for flavoring. But cocoa nibs are not the same as the chocolate you would buy in a store as they are small chunks which are processed into chocolate.

Cocoa nibs will be more black than they are brown and they have a 100% cocoa composition. But the best thing about them is that adding them to your coffee will give you a richer taste and also have a slightly chewier and nuttier texture that can be quite pleasant.

For those that love both black coffee and dark chocolate, this will be the perfect way to spice up your coffee. And for the best taste, you should add around 1/4 cup of the cocoa nibs to every cup of coffee beans before grinding.

3. Cinnamon

Coffee drinkers have been adding cinnamon to their Java for a long time, and so if you are a true coffee aficionado, the chances are that you have tried it at some point. And of all the spices you can add to coffee, cinnamon has the highest concentration of antioxidants, and it is also best known for its ability to reduce inflammation.

Many coffee drinkers will prefer to sprinkle cinnamon on their mug of ready brewed coffee but there is an even more effective method to do it. This method will entail adding a stick or two of cinnamon to your coffee beans and then grinding them together.

By adding cinnamon to your coffee beans, you will give the spice enough time to blend into your coffee which makes it even more flavorful.

4. Ginger

While not everyone is a fan of ginger as a spice, if you enjoy ginger tea, you can also almost be certain that you will love "ginger coffee". But be careful with the quantity you use as this spice can be a little too overpowering when used in large quantities.

Ginger not only makes your coffee more flavorful but will also aid in digestion, soothe your sore throat and ease colds. And to add it to your coffee you will only need to mix thin slices of it with your coffee grounds and as the hot water passes through it will infuse the ginger flavor into your brew.

5. Lavender

Lavender is the coffee flavoring to turn to if besides flavor you are also keen with the aroma that you will get from your coffee as its scent is just blissful.

This spice seems to marry best with coffee made with fruitier roasted beans, but it can still help to add flavor to almost any other coffee type.

With lavender, you can either add a few sprinkles of dried lavender to your coffee grounds before steeping them or add a few drops of lavender essential oil to your brewed cup of coffee.

6. Nutmeg

Coffee also goes well with some nutmeg, and this is more so if you want to bring out the earthiness in your coffee.

With nutmeg, you get a bit of sweetness and earthiness in your cup and the taste is quite unlike any other spice, and so once you get used to it, you will probably get hooked on.

And while for some coffee lovers a pinch of nutmeg is enough to give them the sweetness they want, others want more. Hence, if you are using it for the first time you should experiment with different quantities until you get the taste you desire.

7. Clove

Clove is one of the oldest spices available, and it has been in use in different parts of the world for many centuries. Adding clove to coffee will be particularly pleasant for those that have smoked at some point given that it is often added to the tobacco mix by many cigarette companies.

But while clove might be very flavorful, you need to use this spice sparingly as it can easily be overpowering if you use too much of it on your coffee.

For many coffee drinkers, adding a couple of cloves to their mug of coffee should provide enough flavor. However, if you still prefer something stronger, you should grind the cloves with your coffee beans so that more flavor can be extracted from them during brewing.

8. Peppermint Oil

Peppermint oil is one of those things that will probably be on most people’s minds when trying to figure out how to flavor coffee as it is a multipurpose essential oil that always seems to make everything smell and taste better.

During holiday seasons, many coffee shops will have a peppermint-flavored latte or any other coffee on their menu but you can still make one at home. And to make thing even better, peppermint oil will supply the body with a variety of minerals and vitamins and also has anti-inflammatory properties.

If you use chocolaty dark roasted coffee beans, peppermint oil will be great, but it can also work well for other types. Just add a few drops of peppermint oil to your ground coffee when brewing or to a cup of brewed coffee, but be careful with concentrated peppermint oil as it is quite overpowering.

9. Butter

Chances are you have already heard about bulletproof coffee and have even tried it at some point. If not, you are truly missing out on one of the most interesting ways of making coffee.

Bulletproof coffee is a rather strange combination of coffee and butter that originates from south-east Asia. But if made correctly, it can be a highly flavorful and refreshing beverage.

All it takes to flavor your coffee using butter is adding 1 or 2 teaspoons of some organic butter to your steaming hot cup of Joe and you will end up with a smooth cup that is also characterized by a rich texture and a truly unique buttery depth.

10. Raw Egg

Raw egg is another unlikely way to flavor your coffee but as odd as it might sound, it can still help you make some more flavorful coffee.

While adding a raw egg to coffee might not appeal to everyone, the one of kind flavor that it creates will leave most taste buds asking for more coffee. And despite giving your brew a denser and creamier body, it does not mask the coffee's natural flavors and aromas.

There are different ways of adding a raw egg to your coffee, but the simplest and most popular one is the Vietnamese coffee that entails adding egg yolks to condensed milk and mixing until it foams before adding the mixture to your coffee.

11. Star Anise

The flavor that you get with star anise will not appeal to every coffee drinker, and some might even find the coffee unbearable. However, for many other coffee lovers, star anise will just be an amazing addition to their brew.

Besides its sweet, floral note, star anise is also famed for its stronger licorice flavor that takes some getting used to but will pair amazingly well with most dark roasted coffee beans.

To get the best flavors with star anise, you should add a few of them to your whole beans before grinding and then brew as you would normally do. And given that this is quite a strong spice in flavor, use it sparingly because even about 3/4 clove can be enough for a couple of cups of coffee.

12. Cardamom

Cardamom is a common spice among coffee drinkers in the Middle East, and it will always be one of the key ingredients for them when making their favorite cup of coffee. What makes it popular is that it gives the coffee a truly exotic flavor that is more like what you would get with ginger.

Like ginger, cardamom also packs a myriad of health benefits key among them being that it helps to counter caffeine’s stimulating effects. And besides being low in calories, it is also loaded with fiber and several essential minerals.

You can sprinkle a pinch of cardamom on your already brewed coffee to make it more flavorful, but if you want a richer flavor you should add a few whole cardamom beans to the coffee beans before grinding.

13. Rum

It is common to mix coffee with alcohol in cocktails, and so for coffee lovers looking to add some nice flavor to their coffee and do not mind a little alcohol should try using some rum.

Rum gives the coffee a nice kick and will be perfect for those looking to make a more interesting beverage that breaks away from the norm.

While there are different recipes that you can use for your rum coffee, most will entail first sweetening the coffee with a few sugar cubes before adding the rum and finishing off with whipped cream at the top. But you need to be careful not to add too much rum as it can easily overwhelm the coffee.

14. Cheese

Coffee with cheese is a tradition that originates from Northern Scandinavia and is slowly catching on among coffee lovers in different parts of the world, and it is quite similar to bulletproof coffee except for the ingredients involved.

This coffee can be quite delightful and creamy, and it will entail adding a few cubes of cheese to your hot coffee. The cubes then absorb the coffee like sponges and will also give your coffee a nice round, nutty and buttery flavor.

Hot coffee and cheese will leave you with some nice cubes of cheese at the bottom of your mug that will have a smoky and delicious coffee flavor which you can then enjoy after the coffee.

15. Ice Cream

Ice cream seems to go well with almost anything including coffee, and it might just be what you need to spice up your cup of Java or at least make it more interesting.

The coffee and ice cream combination is also fondly referred to as affogato, and it is a heavenly combination where hot meets cold to give you a nice treat that will boost both your energy and spirit to face the days ahead.

With ice cream as a coffee flavoring, you should play around with different flavors and portions until you find that perfect recipe for your ice cream coffee.

Conclusion

Good old black coffee might give you a nice caffeine mix and allow you to enjoy all the rich and bold flavor notes in your coffee, but the truth is that after some time it becomes boring. Hence, you need to find ways to add extra flavor to your coffee.

But, this should hardly be a worry for you as there are countless things you can use to spice up your coffee from spices like ginger, cardamom, clove and cinnamon to other rather odd things like ice cream, egg, butter, and cheese.

And while using these methods can create some highly flavorful coffee, they will not all work for everyone because what appeals to your taste bud is different from what works for the next coffee drinker. Hence, the wise idea is to try out as many of these methods and settle for the one that appeals most to you.

Sources

1. 9 Surprising Things to Add to Your Coffee - Kitchn
2. 12 Ways to Amp up Your Coffee without Butter - Men's Journal