Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Coffee Flavour Additives

If you’re reading this, it’s a fair bet that you love your coffee. And that means it’s also a fair bet that you put some time and energy thinking about what makes great coffee taste the way it does. If you’re getting notes of cinnamon, chocolate or hazelnut, what creates those flavours? And how or where do they come from?

We often have customers ask us if the flavours they’re tasting come from coffee flavour additives. And we can tell them that at least when it comes to Coffee DRs coffee, absolutely not. 

But what are coffee flavour additives? Why do some coffee producers use them? How do they create different flavours? And more importantly, why don’t we need to use them to create flavours in our own coffee?

What are Coffee Flavour Additives?

Initially you might think coffee flavours like vanilla, pumpkin spice and crème brûlée sound warm and inviting. But they are often the result of coffee flavour additives. Coffee flavour additives are basically synthetic flavours added to coffee beans during the manufacturing process. Usually, the flavour compounds are also accompanied by a mix of chemicals or oils to make the coffee beans absorb the synthetic flavours. (That’s why you’ll see that oily residue leftover in your brewer!)

Even worse, these flavours typically come at the cost of good quality coffee. And that’s because these additives are often used to disguise the natural (and not good) flavours of low quality, poorly roasted, old or even mass manufactured beans.  

What is a flavour note?

The aromas and fragrance that you get from your coffee is called the flavour note. And they add to the overall sensory experience. Of course, flavour notes are subjective, with each individual's experience differing to the next.

Flavour notes range across high notes, mid-palate and base or low notes. In our coffees, you can expect a range of flavour notes depending on the bean or the blend (or both). From berries, mango and grapefruit in our Limited Reinaldo Parra coffee to butterscotch, hazelnut and brown sugar in our Oberon Brazilian espresso coffee.

As a seasoned coffee lover, you might be able to identify these flavour notes as you savour your individual coffee experience. And that’s what makes drinking great quality coffee such an adventure, and so much more than just consuming a beverage.

Do coffee flavour additives create the flavour notes in Coffee DRs coffee?

We can guarantee that coffee flavour additives aren’t at play when you taste the flavours of our coffee. Instead, the tastes you experience are the result of our considered approach to the flavour profiles we coax out of our beans through our choice of beans and our master roasting process.  

Geographical Factors

Some geographical factors will always have an effect on the notes you taste in our coffee. For example, where the beans were grown, and the different environmental factors present. This includes the soil, the altitude and even the climate. Each of these will affect the coffee and what flavour notes it gives.

Our Limited Shantawene Grade 1 coffee is grown in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia. This is a coffee full of high notes that give that well-known striking coffee aroma. This gives our brains our first impression of a coffee’s flavour and tells us whether or not we are going to like it! With coffee beans grown high on the mountain, the higher elevation means the flavour high notes become more pronounced.

The Roasting Process

As well as where the beans are grown, the environmental factors and the altitude they are grown at, our flavour notes come down to our master roasting process. You can read more about our approach to roasting, but the science behind the flavours we uncover comes when the Maillard reaction (MRx) occurs. MRx is the process of binding amino acids and sugars which results in the formation of flavour and colour compounds. You can think of it like browning or caramelising food.

 Flavour notes from woody and smoky to caramel and nutty occur through the roasting process, which causes complex chemical-physical phenomena known as pyrolytic reactions. Heat caramelises the sugars and carbohydrates and converts the fats in the coffee beans, turning them into aromatic oils. The moisture is burnt off and carbon dioxide acids are broken down, producing that characteristic coffee flavours we crave.

A master roaster (like Luke) can harness this process to draw out the best and most distinctive flavours of each bean ensuring that you get only the best flavours in your coffee.

Freshness Equals Flavour and Brew Matters

We never use coffee flavour additives. Instead, we rely on the freshness and quality of our coffees that come from sourcing the highest-quality beans and perfecting them through our master roasting process.

Of course, the way you brew your coffee can maximise (or not!) all the flavours your coffee has to offer. Our brew guides can help you choose the best methods for brewing your coffee and guarantee you’re always getting the best flavour.

Shop all of our coffees here for the best flavour notes without coffee flavour additives!