Believe it or not, the topic of flavored coffee can be controversial amongst coffee snobs and connoisseurs who believe the coffee bean is to be left untampered with. While I can appreciate the authenticity of unflavored coffees, the world of flavored coffee has so much to offer…especially when talking about the best flavored coffee. Since not all flavored coffees are equal, we've compiled the ultimate list of the most popular coffee flavors that are certain to meet the abnormally high standards of coffee snobs. We'll also cover exactly how flavored coffee is made, and why it's worth a try.
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It's worth mentioning that our criteria for what constitutes the best flavored coffee is based on both the quality of the coffee bean, overall flavor, and the quality of the extracts used to flavor them.
The Best Flavored Coffee for Coffee Snobs
Best French Vanilla Coffee
Lifeboost Coffee's French Vanilla is our top choice for best French vanilla coffee for a number of reasons. In addition to being single origin, organic, and low acid, these flavored coffee beans are infused with natural French Vanilla oil extract. These extracts are derived only from their natural sources and ingredients. This translates into a French vanilla flavor that's deliciously distinct but not artificial in any way.
- Derived Only From Their Natural Sources And Ingredients.
- Zero Added Sugar.
- Zero Added Calories.
- Only the Highest Quality Essential Oil Extracts.
- Natural Oil Based Extracts Versus Artificial/Chemical Extracts
Buy Lifeboost French Vanilla
Best Hazelnut Coffee
As one of the most popular coffee flavors, the Hazelnut has won over the hearts of millions of coffee snobs around the world. It's often considered a dessert coffee flavor with its sweet buttery flavor combined with a delightfully nutty aroma.
Fabula Coffee has produced a most impressive Hazelnut coffee. In addition to offering a mildly spicy and balanced Hazelnut flavor, it's low acid to boot so it's very easy on your stomach. This delightful brew is perfectly paired with a sweet dessert with its delicate notes of chocolate and cacao. It's sweetness rests on the tongue and has what we'd call long-lasting character. The coffee beans are sourced from Peru and medium roasted to perfection allowing the natural flavors of the bean to express themselves.
- The flavor of the hazelnut is mildly spicy, with a slight tingle on the side of the tongue.
- Low Acid
- Single Origin
- Very refined and subtle flavor
Buy Fabula Hazelnut Coffee
Best Chocolate Raspberry Coffee
Out of the Grey Coffee is one of many coffee brands on this list who've perfected the art of flavored coffee. Their Chocolate Raspberry coffee is a grand illustration of this. There's just something about merging chocolate and raspberries that excites the senses beyond with either can do alone. Their coffee is a blend of Colombian Supremo, Guatemalan Antigua & Costa Rican Tarrazu beans and only natural flavorings are used. The taste of this coffee is intense and coffee lovers will be treated to both a rich dark chocolate experience matched with a tangy raspberry flavor. These beans are then medium dark roasted to perfection.
- All natural flavors
- Intense & silky flavors of rich dark chocolate topped with tart & tangy raspberries.
- Medium Dark roasted
Buy Chocolate Raspberry Coffee
Best Caramel Coffee
Fabula Coffee once again makes it on our list of best flavored coffees. This time, it's their buttery caramel flavored coffee.
Caramel is easily one of the most popular coffee flavors due to its robustly smooth and sweet characteristics. This decadently rich dessert flavor when combined with the refinedness of a high-quality coffee bean yields an experience that's captured the hearts of coffee lovers around the world.
As with many of Fabula's other flavored coffees, this brew delivers a natural taste that complements the natural flavors of the beans themselves. These Peruvian beans when combined with the sweet buttery caramel flavor make for a match made in coffee heaven. There are even subtle chocolatey notes to accent the experience.
- Nutty, chocolatey coffee with a touch of buttery caramel
- Low Acid
- Single Origin
- Very refined and subtle flavor
Buy Fabula Caramel Coffee
Best Butterscotch Coffee
Coffee lovers with who appreciate the subtle sweetness of butterscotch in their coffee will appreciate this brew by Volcanica Coffee. Butterscotch is a close cousin to caramel, but by no means the same thing. Invented by Samuel Parkinson in Yorkshire, England in the early 1800's, this magnificent flavor is made with butter and brown sugar. The resulting mixture is then carmelized with vanilla, heavy cream, and salt.
If you've ever eaten butterscotch by itself, you might've felt overwhelmed by the sweetness. After all, it's known for its mind boggling sweetness. However, with this butterscotch flavored coffee, you'll be treated to a well-balanced flavored coffee brew where the butterscotch taste is subtle yet distinct enough to appreciate.
- Sweet intense flavor of butterscotch toffee without any of the guilt.
- Notes of caramel
- Medium roasted
Buy Butterscotch Coffee
Best Pumpkin Spice Coffee
Competition for the best pumpkin spice coffee is fierce. It's literally one of the most popular coffeee flavors in the world of flavored coffees. Lifeboost graces this list once again with their natural oil based extracts used to flavor their coffee. This pumpkin spice single origin coffee delivers a mesmerizing flavor of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and even clove essence. While this is considered a seasonal flavor, it's no doubt a taste that can be enjoyed and savored year round.
- Derived Only From Their Natural Sources And Ingredient
- Zero Added Sugar.
- Zero Added Calories.
- Medium Roasted
- Single Origin
Buy Pumpkin Spice Coffee
Best Whiskey Coffee
Fans of flavored coffee would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn't explore the world of whiskey barrel aged coffees…and we say that even if you aren't a Whiskey fan.
The world of Whiskey barrel aged coffees was pioneered by Cooper Cask Coffee. They're a brand that's brought this particular niche' to the forefront of the flavored coffee world. We can say from personal experience that their sterling reputation in the industry is well-deserved. In order to infuse the Whiskey flavor into these premium Sumatran coffee beans, they are left to age in recently emptied Whiskey barrels for up to months at a time. The final result is an explosion of flavor with woody earthen notes and mild sweet tobacco. No list of the best flavored coffee would be complete without Cooper Cask Coffee.
- Barrel Aged: Uprising (Son’s of Liberty Whiskey): Single Malt American Whiskey
- Coffee Beans: Sumatra Lintong
- Medium Dark
- Tasting Notes: Woody Earth, tobacco, tropical fruits, vanilla, caramel
Buy Whiskey Coffee
Best Macadamia Nut Kona Coffee
Royal Kona meets appears on this list of best flavored coffee for the first time with their Vanilla Macadamia Kona Coffee brew. In addition to its natural vanilla and macadamia nut flavorings, the coffee beans are a blend of 10% pure Kona. For those who don't Kona coffee is some of the most exotic coffee in the world and is grown in the world-renown Kona mountain region in Hawaii. This blend will whisk you away to the warm island sands of Hawaii with its unbelievably smooth flavor.
- 10% blend of pure Kona coffee
- All-natural and vanilla and macadamia flavors
- Light Medium Roast
Buy Macadamia Nut Coffee
Best Irish Creme Coffee
If you're a fan of Irish Creme, you'll appreciate Volcanica Coffee's premium flavored coffee offering. Their medium roasted Irish Creme treats you to an amazingly smooth, rich, velvety flavor that captures the authenticity of quality Irish Creme Whiskey. Irish Creme offers a most gratifying coffee experience that I'd highly recommend trying. It's impressively balanced and mellow while teeming with an uplifting taste. Enjoy the classic flavor of Irish Creme without the alcohol but with all the caffeine.
- Ultra smooth and velvety
- Medium Roast
Buy Irish Creme Coffee
Best Pecan Coffee
Boyer's Coffee takes our spot for the best pecan coffee with its light roasted brew. It's perfect for those who appreciate a refined and subtle pecan flavor with enhanced nutty notes throughout the entire tasting experience. This coffee has a mild acidity and a pleasing aroma that's certain delight your senses. Customer reviews tout the smoothness of the coffee and the absence of virtually any bitterness.
- Very smooth coffee with no bitterness
- Light Roast
- Colorado crafted
- Part of profits are donated toward building schools within their growers' communities
Buy Pecan Coffee
Why Drink the Best Flavored Coffee?
Flavored coffee attracts those who appreciate the natural flavors of a coffee bean while also desiring a little extra flavor kick.
From a health perspective, flavored coffee make excellent alternatives to sugar-loaded lattes which are guaranteed to spike insulin levels through the roof. They are also an ideal substitute for those who add copious amounts of syrup to their coffee.
Flavor coffees have virtually no calories. This is particularly helpful for those who are doing intermittent fasting or fasting in general as drinking flavored coffees will not break your fast. Also, for anyone who is on the ketogenic diet (like I am), drinking flavored coffee will not break keto either.
How is Flavor Coffee Made?
Flavor is almost always added to the coffee beans after they are roasted. If flavor was added to the coffee beans prior to roasting, the flavor would dissipate and be lost during the roasting process. The flavor is added while the beans are still warm not long after being taken out of the roaster. The timing is actually very important in this process. If it's done too quickly while the beans are hot, the flavor would burn off. If done too late, the hardened shell of the coffee bean would prevent 100% absorption.
The flavor added to the beans can be either natural or synthetic. Natural flavors tend to taste…..well….more natural. Additionally, when you use natural flavors, you also benefit from any antioxidants or health benefits that come from the natural extract.
The best flavored coffee isn't made by just adding flavor oils to beans. Rather, it's a detailed process that involves sourcing the right beans with a flavor profile that complements the added flavors. It's a formulation more than an afterthought and the best flavored coffee brands out there are intimately familiar with this science.
What are some of the most popular coffee flavors?
Some of the most popular coffee flavors include the seasonal pumpkin spice, hazelnut, butterscotch, peppermint, French Vanilla, and of course, salted caramel. Many of the seasonal or holiday coffee flavors are highly coveted due to their limited availability. In fact, it's not uncommon for coffee lovers to buy their favorite seasonal coffees in bulk in order to have enough supply throughout the year.
Related Article: Best Seasonal Coffee
Adding Flavor to Your Coffee
Aside from purchasing the pre-flavored coffee, you can naturally flavor your coffee at home. For example, try adding cinnamon sticks, clove, nutmeg or cocoa powder to your morning brew. An added bonus is that many of these spices are antioxidant-rich and confer additional health benefits.
Below is a list of ways to naturally flavor your coffee after it's been brewed:
- Raw Honey
- Cinnamon, Vanilla Extract, Clove, Nutmeg Cocoa Powder
- Almond Milk
- Ginger
- Stevia or monk fruit (for those who don't want to spike insulin levels)
Related Article: Unique Things to Add to Your Coffee Ritual
The Best Flavored Coffee: Conclusion
Our hope is that this article offered a solid introduction in to the world of flavored coffees. The best flavored coffee on the market (especially for coffee snobs) will typically be refined and subtle. When done right, the flavoring is naturally full but in no way overwhelming. The list we presented in this article is obviously subjective one being that everyone has a different flavor profile. But we can say for certain that these are some of the most popular coffee flavors available and will certainly help you to expand your coffee horizons.
We'll be regularly updating this list of flavored coffees. If our readers have any suggestions, please comment below.
If you're still not convinced and are simply a coffee purist through and through, check out our list of the best black coffee for some great options.
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