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I would like to be able to grind my own flavored coffee beans - hazelnut, French vanilla ect.. However, I don't want to buy the coffee beans that are already flavored but would rather try to recreate the infusion method at home. Does it involve soaking the beans, for how long, at what temperature.....

Aaronut
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AttilaNYC
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4 Answers4

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Coffee shops flavor their beans by taking plain roasted coffee, and adding flavoring oils to them. After the oil is tossed with the beans, they are left alone to allow the flavor to soak in for at least 30 minutes.

The coffee flavoring oils are a lot like candy flavoring oils. Although I haven't tried it, I bet you could use those to flavor your beans.

In the land of everything available through the internet, I'd bet you could purchase these coffee bean flavoring oils on-line, and in small quantity. (We bought HUGE jugs of the stuff for the shop!)

I haven't worked in the coffee shop for over 10 years now (since becoming disabled in an unrelated accident), so I can't remember the exact ratio of flavoring to beans. I want to say that for every 1 lbs of beans, we mixed in .03 lbs of flavoring. I don't know what that comes out to be by volume, as we did everything by weight.

Juju
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    As I suspected, you CAN purchase these flavoring oils on the internet. The first hit in a search landed me at a site that allows purchase of flavorings in as little as 2 oz and on up in graduated sizes to gallons. The first hit took me here: http://www.coffeeflavoroils.com/#Home_Roasters – Juju Sep 22 '10 at 00:27
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You can also add flavorings into the coffee grounds when in the filter: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange rind, crystallized ginger, etc. As the coffee brews, it picks up the flavoring.

Jenn
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    This works pretty well. I've also roasted and ground almonds with the beans, which makes a very nice almond-flavored coffee (almond extract doesn't even come *close* to how good this is). – Shog9 Sep 20 '10 at 16:13
  • Oh, that sounds delicious! – Jenn Sep 20 '10 at 19:06
  • I do this with cinnamon sometimes and it is indeed delicious. A tiny pinch will flavor a whole pot. Cardamom is nice too. – Michael Natkin Sep 20 '10 at 19:22
  • From my experience, be careful when using really fine powders like cocoa and cinnamon (especially in an espresso machine). They have a tendency to clump and clog filters, which can lead to a big mess to clean up. As long as you use a reasonable amount and mix them in with the grounds, you should be fine though. – Eclipse Sep 20 '10 at 20:33
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Just add the flavor to the brewed coffee; there is no particular advantage in flavoring the beans in advance. Any good brand of flavoring syrup like you see in a coffeehouse can be added to the pot or cup.

Michael Natkin
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    All flavor syrups are comprised primarily of sugar, the question is based on not wanting to add flavoring after the fact. – AttilaNYC Sep 19 '10 at 21:45
  • In that case, instead of buying syrup, buy pure flavoring extract. Just as you can add a drop of vanilla extract to your coffee pot, you could do the same with any other flavor you fancy. If you really want to toss it on the beans, you can, but I don't see any upside to that. – Michael Natkin Sep 19 '10 at 22:14
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    The advantages that occur to me would be convenience and consistency. A cup - or even a pot - of coffee requires a very small amount of extract or essential oil for flavor, and personal experience tells me that early morning bleary-eyed preparation is a recipe for disaster... Of course, this is why you're better off using a (mostly sugar-water) syrup or (mostly alcohol-water) flavored spirits. But if you don't like starting your mornings out with the sugar-booze Breakfast Of Champions, I could see trying to flavor the beans as a fair compromise... – Shog9 Sep 20 '10 at 16:09
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We've developed a new way to flavor coffee. It's called "INBRU" and it let's you flavor any coffee - dark roast, light roast, decaf.. - in the brew basket. It's made from recycled American rice hulls and it's pretty amazing. Inbru adds no calories or sweetness. Inbru is not a "whitener." It's simply a way to flavor coffee as you desire. You can check it out at inbru.com

Howard
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    Welcome to the site, and thank you for providing a helpful answer! Please check out the FAQ, where you'll see that you must (in your answer) disclose your affiliation with a product if you're self-promoting. You can just edit to add it in. – JustRightMenus Oct 02 '10 at 04:36
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    @JustRighMenus: I thought the use of 'We' made it apparent. – hobodave Oct 02 '10 at 05:51
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    I'm sorry. I didn't mean to confuse or deceive. I created Inbru and I own the company. Thanks for the forum. It's a nice resource. – Howard Jan 28 '11 at 22:34