Infusing a flavour into coffee

[bolb]

Hi all

Here is one out of left field.
Anyone know how they infuse flavours into roasted beans? You know the ones, sambucca, kahlua, vanilla, etc etc. All for those people who perhaps dont really know or like a coffee on its own unless its got another flavour in it.
Personally i am not really into this style of coffee but a friend asked so i said i would ask the experts out in coffee land.
I am just wondering if perhaps the green beans are treated or are the roasted beans treated and with what? An essence?

Any Idea?

Mal

[Javaphile]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

The flavor is in liquid form that the beans are then coated with after roasting in a light version of a cement mixer.


Java "Added flavoring, Blech!" phile

[JavaB]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

Mal,

Have a read of:

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1170054111

Lots of info on flavouring coffee.

[Bill44A]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

Ive seen bottles of various flavours on sale at the Gloria Jean stand in our local shopping centre.

[JavaB]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

Ive seen bottles of various flavours on sale at the Gloria Jean stand in our local shopping centre.

Those essences are added to coffee after extraction (much easier than the method used to flavour beans at the roaster)......

[nunu]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

Those are flavoured sugar syrups. You can easily make them at home if youre keen.

[>SupremeRoasters]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

GJs use the syrups for drinks and sell flavoured beans as well. They have about 10 standard and 10 flavoured beans for retail starting from 200gram packaging.

[rice]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

http://www.monin.com/us/en/new_product.php
http://www.monin.com/us/en/syrup_purecane.phpw
http://www.monin.com/us/en/honey_liquid_sweetener.php

Monin and Da Vinci do a range of flavours, some use natural ingredients.
Sugar heads would appreciate the plain cane sugar syrup from Monin. Really useful at home and beats making your own syrup.

Veneziano sell tha Da Vinci range.

[bolb]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

JavaB
Thanks for the link. I would have replied earlier but i must have misplaced my email notification on this thread.

It was interesting to read that the points of view about adding a flavour in the cup rather than to the bean itself.

All food for thought.

Thanks
Mal

[tempestv8]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee


I bought some GJ flavoured coffee beans, and the oily surface on the beans didnt give me any confidence that Id get a good experience. On closer inspection, I think that the oily look on the beans was in fact the flavouring.

My next concern was that the beans would gunk up my grinder but so far the Rocky seems to have withstood the flavoured beans.

The coffee yielded little crema, so I dont know whether this is normal of flavoured beans, or whether its just not great quality beans.

Personally, Im not sure if Id be going back to GJ for more. Probably not in a long while.

[JavaB]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

tempestv8,

Dont buy flavoured beans... they wont be the best quality to start with and, as one seller of these admitted at the professional machine coffee course I attended.... some of the flavoured beans on their shelf (for sale to the public) were 12 months post roast!!!!! They are a slow moving item.... and generally people who buy these beans dont know what a good coffee should taste like.

If you want flavoured coffee - get the syrups and add them to your coffee post extraction.

[tempestv8]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee


Hmm, kinda like the analogy that I use with cooking.

The nicest cuts of steak get cooked very lightly (seared and pink in the middle) eaten with very little sauce, coz theres all that flavour in them.

The really dodgy old bits of meat are cooked for a long time to get rid of the toughness and often covered in a heavy sauce like curry....

Same for chicken that I see in the supermarket - the freshest wings are sold as is, and the "older" wings get covered and coated in marinade.

[nunu]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

Ive never understood "flavoured" coffees. If you want irish creme flavoured coffee, you simply pour a bit of Baileys in. Same goes with kahlua. Otherwise you use the flavoured syrups in milk-based drinks.

With the cooking analogy, you also have to understand the cost factor. Best cuts of meat are typically the most dear. You dont add much to them 1. because their flavour is already nice (like you mentioned), 2. because it would simply drive the cost of the dish up. Thats why you see a lot of port wine jus (8 bucks a bottle, and all you do is reduce it in a pot until its fairly syrupy).

The "dodgier" cuts of meat, usually joints etc. are cheap as chips. You are forced to slow cook them either by braising or stewing. These sort of cuts you generally reserve as "comfort food" or things youd likely eat in winter, because they tend to be far richer. Lamb shanks or osso bucco are immediate things that spring my mind.

I would really avoid the deli/chicken counter of the supermarket. Those things are sitting exposed to free-flowing air, usually at a few degrees above optimal temperature (seeing deli products and chicken at 8-9C is not uncommon).

Back to coffee, if you want to create flavoured syrups for your coffee, it is really a simple process. You simply need the flavouring essence of choice and a heavy stock sugar syrup (1:1 ratio sugar to water e.g. 100g:100ml).

[Bill44A]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee

A good slug of rum does the trick for me. ;D

[rgow6208]

Re: Infusing a flavour into coffee


My partner is from Peru and her grandmother used to hand roast coffee in a pan for her shop. She added cinamon and orange peel to the beans as they roasted. I tried it at home once, but wasnt impressed with the results.