You may have heard that coffee is a great way to start the day. Yet, the flavor of coffee can be tough without sugar and cream, right? Wrong! There are many ways you can add natural flavors to your cup of joe without adding any extra sugar or calories! Scroll down to learn how to flavor coffee without sugar now!
How To Flavor Coffee Without Sugar?
Vanilla extract
If you are a big fan of the creamy taste in your coffee but afraid of the great number of calories along with it, vanilla extract is the solution for you. It will help you enjoy the coffee just as you want.
When it comes to vanilla, people often use it as a great ingredient for boosting our brain health. It helps to improve mental performance, your current mood, and your whole brain in general. Also, vanilla could help to relieve stress and pain in the joints.
To make the best coffee with vanilla, you should add the ground vanilla beans into the coffee grounds before brewing. For each recipe, the maximum amount of vanilla bean is 1 ground.
In case you already have vanilla extracts, just add a few drops when brewing. We suggest that the maximum level of vanilla extract in a recipe is 1 tbsp. Make sure that you do not add excess vanilla extract, as a little drop could make your coffee overpowering.
Although vanilla could add some sweet taste to your coffee, it could not completely replace sugar. The vanilla extract has no calories and no sugars as well.
Coconut oil
Recently, coconut oil is becoming more and more popular thanks to its health benefits – Improving brain function, weight loss, and producing antibacterial properties.
In coffee, coconut oil doesn’t just work as a nutritional boost. It brings you a taste of coconut milk by yielding a delicious creamy texture, as well as a light coconut flavor.
To try coconut oil in the cup of joe, add 1 tablespoon ( 14 grams) to the hot coffee, and stir them all together until the oil incorporates well. If you are in favor of a tropical-style beverage, you could also try blending the oil with the coffee blender.
Butter
Adding butter to coffee has been a growing trend for those who prefer keto or intermittent fasting diets. The coffee will taste creamy with a buttery aftertaste. Be mindful that the butter you choose must be high-quality grass-fed unsalted butter. This ingredient is stated as the most favorable type of butter when making coffee.
The recipe for butter coffee requires a grass-fed butter spoon along with black coffee, plus one MCT oil spoon. Popular brands of MCT oil create the trendy diet of butter coffee, but coconut oil still plays a big portion in the composition of MCT. Therefore, most people tend to add only a high-standard coconut oil spoon to this butter coffee cup.
Read more: Why do people put butter in coffee
Salt
As a small pinch of salt could completely upgrade the dessert recipe, a dash of it could also improve your coffee flavor. To do that, before brewing, add roughly ⅛ teaspoon of salt into your coffee grounds. Saltworks well in eliminating the unattractive bitterness of some coffee. In some seaside areas, the local residents eventually used salted water for coffee as a long tradition.
Moreover, salt is also good for your health as it could replenish the sodium you lose when drinking coffee.
Flavor extracts
Flavor extracts are various in forms, including nuts, orange, and chocolate, any of which could pair with the right coffee. Basically, they are nutritionless – Flavor extracts contain no calories or sugar to liven up your coffee. Just a few drops of flavor extracts are enough for your coffee. Don’t put too much of the extracts, as the high quantity of them may overwhelm the flavor of the coffee!
Cinnamon (ground)
Cinnamon is also a great idea to add to the coffee you should consider. It is regarded as one of the most natural additives with great taste.
We suggest you brew the coffee with a cinnamon stick to infuse the cinnamon in the coffee fully. You should crack the sticks in half, add them to the grounds and prepare the coffee as usual.
On the other hand, if you got the powdered cinnamon, mix it with the coffee grounds or a sprinkle of cappuccino. A ¼ of a teaspoon for each cup is perfect for your coffee.
Read more: How to dissolve cinnamon in coffee
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Unsweetened cocoa powder is a sweet hack for anyone, especially the chocolate lover. Instead of using sweetened chocolate syrup or sugar, or chocolate mix, a spoonful of unsweetened cocoa powder is the best recipe you should have a try on.
Like the cinnamon, you could add this powder directly to your coffee grounds before brewing or stir it well into your brewed coffee. Be mindful that just 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder is enough for each cup of coffee.
Another tip for you: A tablespoon of cocoa powder could add 2 grams of fiber and other antioxidants to your coffee. Indeed, it could lower your blood pressure.
Non-diary milk
Recently, the non-dairy milk industry has increased significantly with various milk products made from oats, soy, almonds, cashews, etc… Each brings users a unique set of flavors, minerals as well as vitamins, but all are delicious and healthy to you. Some examples of non-dairy milk in coffee to name like: almond milk latte, soy milk latte, and oat latte.
To make this unique combination, just simply add it to your coffee based on your taste. You could add whatever flavor you want.
Here is a tip for you: When making a latte or cappuccino, remember to heat it up first and follow the original way of making a latte or cappuccino as usual.
Cardamom
Cardamom is known as a warm spice in the middle east and India, where it has a long history as a coffee addict. People could easily distinguish it due to its ginger-like taste.
Cardamom is rich in antioxidants as it could help to fight against many diseases like cancer, inflammation, and digestion. Amazingly, cardamom could neutralize caffeine addiction. It is such a magical use that people should take full advantage of!
To use this flavor, add the cardamom seeds to your coffee beans before grinding. If you have cardamom powder, just sprinkle a small pinch of it into your coffee until it fits your taste.
Cayenne pepper
Could we make cayenne pepper as a flavor for your coffee? – Yes, although this may shock you a lot.
Cayenne is a type of moderately hot chili pepper, which is common in many Central American and Middle Eastern countries. Besides coffee, people often add this flavor to milk, sugar, or even chocolate. Like peppers, cayenne is high in antioxidants, which help to boost metabolism and circulate your blood pressure.
To use this, before brewing, add the cayenne pepper to your coffee grounds. Just sprinkle a dash of cayenne into your coffee and stir the mixture well together. You could blend it with some milk to make your coffee not too overwhelming with the pepper taste.
Ginger
As we all know, ginger has been known as a medicinal plant that could treat from colds to cancer thanks to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antinausea, and anticancer properties.
Cut the ginger into slices and add them to your coffee grounds to mix the flavor well. In case you have only ginger powder, use 1 teaspoon of it for each cup of coffee and brew them together.
Peppermint oil
For anyone who is a coffee junkie, you must have noticed the name peppermint-flavored lattes. More surprisingly, you could easily make this coffee at home with the following instructions:
Just add the peppermint oil to your already brewed coffee. Yet, always be careful in this step! Do not use too much oil! Normally, 1 to 2 drops of peppermint oil per cup is enough to ensure the flavors.
Peppermint oil offers numerous medicinal functions to our health, like aiding in digestion, relieving headaches, and helping those suffering from IBS. If you feel the mixture of mint and coffee is a little bit strange to drink, you could add some chocolate to balance the flavor!
Nutmeg
Nutmeg has warm, sweet, and nutty flavors that could pair nicely with coffee. People love this flavor also due to its antibacterial properties and other compounds, which help to improve memory, heat, and muscles as well!
Just ½ teaspoon of this staple is enough to give a warm-and-cozy fall vibe to the drink.
Additionally, we should always bear in mind that nutmeg is quite intense. Just two teaspoons of nutmeg can actually produce a high similar to that of marijuana. According to Columbia University, when you use that high amount of nutmeg, you are likely to suffer from side effects like nausea, heart palpitations, and hallucinations.
Star Anise
Star anise is popular in Chinese cuisine. It has a sweet and licorice-like flavor that can mix well with fruity or earthy coffees!
Besides, star anise could combat bacteria, yeast, and fungi, which helps to fight against the flu. You just have to add a little powder of this spice ( around 2 stars for a Moka for 3) to your traditional blend, then make the coffee you want as usual.
Cloves
Clove has a long history and is still used widely in making food these days. It has pungent and sweet flavors that verge on hot or numbing. When you add the cloves to your coffee, it will have a classic musky vibe. Naturally, this is bitter so it can pair well with coffee.
We highly recommend you buy cloves as a whole to make sure that they are fresh. After that, mix them all with the coffee beans and grind them all together. Once the grounds are ready, you use them to brew the coffee.
In case you have the already ground coffee, locate the cloves in the coffee grounds and brew it. Remember not to use an excessive amount of cloves, as they can suppress the flavor of your coffee.
Homemade coffee creamer
Unlike many flavors above, coffee creamers seem not to have a good reputation for nutrition reasons. It is often packed with stabilizers, preservatives, and some added sugar.
Fortunately, the flavor is easy to make at home! This allows you to choose your favorite flavors, and you can freely opt for whatever creamer in the coffee is based on your taste.
Read more:
Orange juice
In Italy, you will easily catch the espresso served with orange peel on the side. Citrus can reduce the bitterness of coffee.
The orange juice in coffee is a unique invention in America. The beverage has a refreshing concoction and a special layered look. Besides, the juice provides you with vitamins C, B, A, and calcium.
To make this drink, fill a tall and clear glass with ice and pour the orange juice over the ice. Next, pour the cooled coffee on top, and you are done with beautiful layers. The ratio of this drink is 2 ounces espresso or ½ cup brewed coffee with ½ cup orange juice or freshly squeezed oranges.
If you are not sure about the idea of pouring the orange into your coffee, you could try adding some drops of juice to test the taste first!
Conclusion
So, how to flavor coffee without the sugar? As we’ve mentioned above, there are numerous choices that you can opt for. However, make sure to be mindful of the taste and some notices on the amount of each!
We highly recommend you try some of them to find out what kind of flavor suits you most!
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