Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A New Tradition of Exotic and Classic Coffee Flavors

By Damian Papworth

You might say that coffee is an acquired taste, as it will often strike people as bitter upon first encounter. For this reason, people will commonly add milk and sugar to a cup of coffee in a an effort to soften the impact or to sweeten the taste. For people with more of a sweet tooth, even that might not do the trick. The process of adding different flavors to coffee drinks -- or even to the bean itself -- is nothing new, but the number of coffee flavors available is increasing all the time.

Prior to recent times, when considering different flavors for coffee, most people would think about chocolate (mocha) as the main option. It took just one small step to add chocolate to an espresso drink, as most of the cafes in Europe serve hot chocolate drinks along with the rest of the menu. While the caf? mocha is a drink that can be found in most of the world?s cafes, other types of flavors have followed suit. Some were formulated to mimic the classic liqueurs, flavors like Irish cr?me or cr?me de menthe. Others were more traditional (orange, hazelnut) and were added in small doses to drinks much like a shot or liqueur would be added to a cocktail.

Beyond that, coffee flavors have been taken all the way back to the bean itself. Coffee is now available in whole bean form in flavors such as hazelnut and mocha. The coffee drinker has to be aware that coffee simply cannot be grown in different flavors, so any way the gets the flavor must by nature be artificial (though the ingredients don?t have to be). If you see coffee being offered in machines with different flavors, you can be assured that you are not getting a natural brew.

Popular coffee flavors include hazelnut, Irish cream, almond, pistachio and white chocolate, just to name a few. If you are looking for more than just a caffeine fix to keep your work day going, you will be able to find a flavor of coffee to match any mood. The latest flavor syrups are even available in organic options.

Enjoying a caf? mocha is in many ways enjoying flavored coffee at its most natural and best. There are varieties of pure chocolate, even in powdered or syrup form, that can be mixed with coffee to enhance the natural properties of both.

Some of the more exotic flavors being marketed in coffee drinks are pumpkin spice and cinnamon varieties.

Adding a variety of different syrups or creams to a coffee drink will certainly make its nutritional properties vary widely from a typical cup off coffee with a spoon of sugar or ounce of milk. Coffee drinkers who grow accustomed to highly sweetened beverages that the fat and overall caloric content will be significant. Keeping it simple will allow a coffee beverage to retain its most beneficial qualities.

For coffee purists, the further you are pulled from the original intention of the coffee bean, the less likely you will enjoy it. However, for those with a sweet tooth who have never been crazy about the basic bitterness of traditional coffee, coffee flavors will add an element of enjoyment which will keep you heading back to the caf?, caffeinated or not.

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