Flavored Coffee Beans
There was a time when coffee was something you would drink straight and it was to serve the utilitarian use of giving you energy and in complimenting a meal. But somehow over the past few decades the prevalence of flavored coffees has permeated our culture to such an extent that even such refuges of last resort coffee, like convenience stores, are offering flavored coffees made from Flavored Coffee Beans. It is not uncommon to find Irish creme, hazelnut, chocolate, and many other flavored coffees pre made and ready to pour at even the smallest convenience store or gas station.
Flavored coffee beans are made by adding specifically designed flavor oils to the bean after it is roasted and cooled. The specific amount of flavor oil that is added is dependent upon the flavor desired, the roast of the bean, the type of the bean, and the strength of the desired flavor. The process is very scientific and has been perfected by each coffee roaster after extensive research and taste trials. It is estimated that for every 100 pounds of flavored coffee the roaster uses 2 to 3 pounds of flavored oils.
The flavored oils themselves are synthetically created using a great deal of food science. While it is known that coffee beans themselves derive their flavor from over 800 different elements the flavor oils can be made to mimic any desired flavor with anywhere from 20 to 80 additional elements. Some of these elements are chemical but many of these elements are naturally extracted from other foods such as cocoa, cinnamon, berries, and any number of other natural sources.
Flavored coffee beans make up a very large percentage of the overall coffee bean market. This is not because everyone likes chocolate or hazelnut coffee, but because flavored coffee beans are also what gives such coffees as a your coffee store Christmas blend its very unique flavors. This means that even when you think you are ordering a straight coffee, you are oftentimes getting a coffee that has been made from at least a small amount of flavored coffee beans.
That creamy, nutty, bold, or smooth taste that you love so much in your supposedly "straight" coffee? Those textures can be derived from the adding of some flavored coffee beans to the overall "straight" blend. So if you think you are a coffee purist by always ordering it "straight and black", you might as well accept the fact that you may have already been compromised. The good news is that once you accept that fact, you too can willingly give some of the other flavors a try without feeling like you have betrayed your identity as a drinker of straight coffee.
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