In most high street coffee shops, you’ll have noticed the rise of flavoured coffees. Most establishments now offer a sophisticated ‘coffee menu’, which features not only old favourites like cappuccino and latte but also house creations such as caramel or chocolate-flavoured coffee.
If you’d like to try these relative newcomers to the world of coffee, a simple way is to invest in some flavoured syrups, which will give you an intense, sweetened hit of flavour at the tip of a bottle. It’s also possible buy coffee beans that are themselves flavoured, normally by being sprayed with flavouring oils after roasting.
For a slightly more time-consuming but more natural approach, you can flavour the coffee yourself with spices and other natural ingredients.
Method
There are two easy ways of adding flavour to your coffee at home – either adding ingredients to the coffee grounds before brewing, or adding them to the brewed coffee itself. The method you choose depends on your own personal taste, and also on the ingredients you use, as coarser ingredients will need to go through a filter process.
Here are a few ideas to try.
Take a handful of whole almonds, and roast them in a hot oven, turning occasionally to prevent them burning. Crush them roughly in a food processor, and add them to coffee grounds in a cafetiere or the filter basket of a drip coffee machine. Serve the coffee sweetened with a little brown sugar, and topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup.
For a refreshing summer drink, try adding fresh orange, lemon and lime zest to the coffee grounds before brewing. Let the coffee cool completely, and serve black and sweetened over crushed ice.
For a winter treat, make a cup of your favourite black coffee, and sweeten it with a little sugar. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, top with whipped cream and add a dusting of chocolate powder and a tiny pinch of nutmeg.
If you’d prefer to buy your coffee ingredients online for added convenience, we stock a wide range of coffee beans and flavoured coffee syrups, ideal for making quick flavoured drinks. Please visit our coffee beans page for more information.