Categories
3 Reasons To Avoid Artificially Flavored Coffee
Written by: Garrett Oden
Donât you just love lab-developed flavors? Food is so much better when it has been given extra flavor via cool chemicals⌠Not!
Artificial flavors are everywhere we turn. Theyâre in inexpensive restaurant meals, freezer foods, and just about everything wrapped in colorful plastic. And yet, we value the things that are organicâthe things that are amazingly flavorful on their own.
Thatâs why high-end restaurants can charge you dozens or even hundreds of dollars per plate. They source stellar, fresh, and uber-flavorful ingredients for their dishes. They donât need artificial or ânaturalâ flavors made in a lab. They just cook great food.
We believe our coffee should be like this too.
- No flavor oils sprayed on after roast
- No additives made in a lab to cover up the flavors of low-grade beans
- Just well-grown, carefully processed, and expertly roasted beans
But, weâll go ahead and admit it: we understand why flavored coffee became popular.
When the cost of coffee beans shot up in the 60âs, many coffee companies couldnât afford the good stuff anymore and had to buy lower quality beans. To cover the bad, bitter flavors, they started spraying the beans with flavorful oils that tasted like raspberry, cinnamon, and cocoa.
Read: A Brief History Of Coffee Around The World
Flavored coffee became popular because it was affordable. Economically, it made complete senseâbut most of the coffee world has moved far beyond.
Weâve reached the point where flavored coffee isâfor the most partâirrelevant. You shouldnât be throwing away money on flavored beans anymore.
Let me share why.
1. Flavored Coffee Is Almost Always Low-Grade Coffee
This should come as no surprise. You donât mix fine scotch into a fruity cocktail. You donât cook award-winning red wine into your dinner sauce. You donât put expensive Kobe beef steak in your casseroles.
And coffee companies donât buy quality beans and smother them in flavor oils.
Itâs agriculture economics 101: sell the high-end crop for a strong price and let the bottom-feeders buy the other stuff that didnât turn out so well.
This is flavored coffee. Itâs low-quality beans, itâs terrible flavors (unless you enjoy potato-y flavor defects), andâworst of allâitâs a contributor to economic patterns that keep farmers poor.
Read: Skip The Coffee Aisle, Here's How To Find The World's Best Coffee
2. Low-Grade Coffee Hurts Everyone Long-Term
Flavored coffee is the choice of many because itâs so cheap. $8 for a bag of caramel flavored coffee? Nice!
Except, not so nice.
A 2010 study, cited in the Specialty Coffee Association of Americaâs (SCAA) whitepaper titled Hunger In The Coffeelands, revealed that 63% of coffee-growing households in Central America experience food insecurity and malnourishment at some point every year.
Lack of education, inability to pay for healthcare, and many other poverty-related issues arise when the cost of coffee is so low.
Guess how much the farm is getting from the $8 bag of flavored coffee? Every deal is different, but often as low as $1. Or less.
According to Tracy Ging, the Sustainability Director of the SCAAâŚ
âIn countries like Costa Rica, itâs clearly not sustainable, as evidenced by all the beautiful new condos and commercial developments that are steadily taking over former coffee farms in prime growing regions.â
Read: 3 Reasons Buying Cheap Coffee Is Bad For The World
She goes on to say that in places where $1 per bag of coffee can work for short periods of time, most coffee farmers still eventually switch focus to other crops. Because why would a farmer put all his faith in low-profit coffee if he can also try his hand at bananas, cocoa, or another crop that could be better in the long run?
Cheap coffee has been the status quo for decades now, but it doesnât offer farmers a way to adapt, grow, and strategize. It doesnât give farming communities finances to invest in healthcare or education or higher-quality coffee varieties.
This is flavored coffee. Itâs low-grade, itâs not contributing to a better world, and itâs not sustainable for farmers long-term (which means itâs not sustainable for anyone long-term).
For a deeper dive into the destructive nature of cheap coffee, check out this blog.
Letâs get back to good news: your coffee can be uber flavorful without breaking the bank.
Thereâs an alternative thatâs much more delicious, more natural, and that offers hope for an economically sustainable future.
3. The Flavors Of Specialty Coffee Are Diverse And Delicious
Weâve reached a new level of coffee flavor in recent years. The days of bitter, ashy beans are behind us. The days of exotic flavors, rich aromas, and exciting acidities are ahead.
Ever tasted coffee with notes of blueberries, spice, or rose without flavor oils?
We have some of these coffeesâand so do many others.
We donât need flavor oils to achieve incredible flavors anymore. In specialty coffee, we source coffeeâs that are amazing on their own. We find the coffees that are exotic and fun and fascinating, and then we roast them in a way that brings out those stellar flavors.
If flavored coffee is the cheap fast food of coffee, then specialty coffee roasters are the Michelin starred restaurants of coffee.
And the best part is, specialty-grade beans wonât empty your bank account. Specialty beans will often run you between $14 and $24 per bagâand thatâs not much when you consider the gains in flavor and freshness.
But not only will you love your daily brew far more, itâll actually contribute to the world.
According to 2017 research by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, the widespread shift to single origin coffees has provided farmersâespecially smaller, vulnerable farmersâwith sustainable, reliable growth.
Many of our coffees are sourced via the direct trade model.
Basically, our roaster goes to the farm directly and makes a deal in person. This cuts out a few middlemen, lands more money in the hands of the farmer, and gives the community more freedom to invest in services and improvements it needs.
- Weâre passionate about encouraging sustainability with our farm partners
- Weâre passionate about giving them every opportunity to grow and thrive
- Weâre passionate about making the world a better place for everyone
- And sourcing, roasting, and selling specialty coffee is how weâre doing that
Join us on this journey. Give up the low-grade flavored beans and experience coffee the way itâs meant to be enjoyed.
The easiest way to taste the rich flavors of specialty coffee is through our JavaPresse Coffee Club. We send you freshly roasted, specialty-grade beans every other week so that youâre always stocked with stellar coffee.
Check it out - youâll never go back to stale, flavored beans again.