What Are The Natural Flavors Found In Some Coffee Varieties?

If you've ever looked at the ingredients on a bag of coffee, you might have noticed something called "natural flavors." These flavors aren't, as you might think, the taste of the coffee itself. Instead, these are flavor additives that are in your bag of coffee.

Natural flavor additives, despite their name, are actually not so natural. While some of them are extracted from naturally occurring materials, more often than not, chemists create these flavors synthetically. Typically, the chemists will create these natural flavors from foods or tastes that pair well with coffee, such as cocoa, vanilla, and nuts. Then, they're added to coffee to help enhance the flavor.

Apart from making your coffee taste better, these natural flavors can also make your coffee last longer. That's because as your coffee oxidizes, its flavor changes. However, the flavoring oils mask the taste of the oxidation, keeping your beans tasting delicious for far longer.

One thing to note is that not all coffee varieties have natural flavors. Since these are flavor additives, they're found in bags of flavored coffee, such as hazelnut or seasonal pumpkin spice coffee.

Although natural flavors sound like something recently whipped up in a lab, they've been around for quite some time. Thousands of years ago, humans added cinnamon and chicory to their coffee to help enhance the taste.

Then, around the 11th century, people in India and the Middle East began distilling ingredients to produce essential oils. These oils, similar to natural flavors, could then be added to coffee to change the taste of the beans.

During World War II, people discovered how to create flavors, which led to synthetic flavors that were added to not only coffee but other foods as well.

However, a study from the National Institute of Health reports that more health-conscious consumers are upset that the word 'natural' is included since many of these flavors are synthetically created. So, it may not be long before natural flavors take a downfall.

If you don't like the idea of adding synthetic flavors to your coffee, you can step up your coffee game on your own. One way to change the taste of your coffee without purchasing beans with synthetic flavors is to add coconut oil. Coconut oil adds a hint of coconut to your brew while also boosting energy levels and speeding up your metabolism. It's like bulletproof coffee, except it adds a coconut flavor!

Another way you can change how your coffee tastes is to play with the milk you use. For example, oat, soy, almond, and cashew milk change the flavor of your coffee and add subtle notes of each ingredient to the milk. Plus, some kinds of milk, like oat, can make your coffee much creamier!

So, if you're looking to avoid purchasing coffee with not-so-natural flavors, you can still change how your brew tastes on your own. That way, you get uniquely flavored coffee without any synthetic chemicals.