Personally, I like flavored coffee, though honestly I usually stick to the traditional varieties like Vanilla, Hazelnut or a good Irish Cream. I've not experimented with newer concoctions, like blueberry, rum raisin or candy apple.That's just not 'coffee' anymore, in my opinion. I've heard from many faithful coffee buddies that flavored coffees are just terrible. Not because the taste is terrible, but because the whole concept of adding flavors to coffee is disrespectful to the coffee (this is my opinion don’t even to begin questioning it!).Coffee has such a wonderful flavor on its own, why mess with it? How do they get the flavors into the beans, you ask? (The same question that I have been asking, thanks to the Figaro barista, he answered me meticulously)The process usually involves treating the freshly roasted beans with chemical flavorings (sometimes natural, and sometimes not). Since they are going to be treated anyway, quite often the beans are not of the highest quality and the roasting is indiscriminate.The fact that the coffee is processed with chemicals is a point against them. In other words, it may be a delicious drink, but it's still poor coffee.The aromatic nature of the flavors tends to give the coffee a very strong smell, but the flavors don't always translate well into your cup.This is another place where quality comes in. A poor quality flavored coffee may smell great, but it won't have much taste.Many folks choose flavored coffee because it's too time-consuming to actually create a drink with a host of ingredients when you're in a rush. If you enjoy flavored coffee, at least get some that has been made from well-roasted, quality beans.But a shot of syrup can quickly and easily add a new taste to your coffee. Or add some spices to your ground coffee beforehand.A bit of cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, or other powdered spice can be added to your ground coffee. Just brew as usual.
