Pumpkin Spice Coffee Beans: How Flavored Coffee Is Made
Pumpkin spice coffee beans are roasted coffee beans coated in concentrated flavor oils or synthetic flavoring compounds. Here is how that coating gets on, what the label means, and how to get the most from the bag at home.
Start With the Spice Jar
Before we get into how the flavor reaches the bean, it helps to know what the flavor actually is. A good place to start is the spice jar.
McCormick Culinary's pumpkin pie spice, for example, lists its ingredients as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice (plus sulfiting agents), and no pumpkin.
Then there is the latte. Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte launched on Oct. 10, 2003, in 100 stores between Washington, D.C., and Vancouver, B.C. One of its developers recalls how they tested the idea: "we took some espresso, just poured it on the pumpkin pie and then tasted it." Even there, the drink's sauce has only included real pumpkin since 2015. Starbucks says it sold hundreds of millions of cups in the drink's first two decades.
Flavored beans take a different route: the flavor goes onto the coffee itself, before it ever reaches your kitchen.
How Flavored Coffee Beans Are Made
So how does a cinnamon-and-nutmeg taste end up on a coffee bean? The short version: roast the coffee, coat it, seal it.
- Roast. The beans are roasted first, like any other coffee.
- Coat. The roasted beans are coated in concentrated flavor oils or synthetic flavoring compounds.
- Tumble. In commercial production, the beans go into a mixer built to tumble them gently without damage, such as a ribbon blender, drum rotator or candy pan coater. The flavor is usually sprayed in under pressure, and added gradually to avoid "hot spots" of concentrated flavor. Mixing may take 15 to 30 minutes, depending on batch size and the oil.
- Seal. Before packing, containers may be flushed with nitrogen to push out oxygen, which can react with the flavor oils and the beans and cause them to deteriorate.
Coffee Beanery describes the same idea in plain terms: its beans go into "a mixer that sprays the flavoring on the coffee."
Warm or cooled? Accounts differ
Here is where accounts split. One industry overview says roasted beans must be cooled quickly before flavoring, because high temperatures can destroy some of the flavor compounds. Former barista Matt Woodburn-Simmonds describes the oils going on "just after roasting while still warm," then tumbling the beans to coat them evenly.
Our own Mexican Chocolate, for instance, is naturally flavored with flavoring oils while still warm.
How much flavoring goes on
Less than you might think. Flavor oil is typically used at 2 to 3% of the roasted beans' weight, with an industry average of 2.7%; at 3%, that means three pounds of oil for every 100 pounds of roasted coffee. Once a roaster settles on a dose, it stays fixed for that flavor and that coffee.
Natural vs Artificial Flavoring: What the Label Means
Now that you know how the oil gets on, the next question is what is in it. One industry overview describes flavoring oils as combinations of natural and synthetic flavor chemicals. Coffee Beanery, for one, says outright that it uses a mix of natural and artificial oils.
US federal labeling rules define both terms. Here is the difference in short:
| Natural flavor | Artificial flavor | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the flavor comes from | Derived from sources such as a spice, fruit, vegetable, herb, bark, bud, root or leaf | Not derived from those sources |
| What it is there to do | Flavoring rather than nutrition | Impart flavor |
The oil also needs something to carry it. Common carriers include water, alcohol, propylene glycol and fractionated vegetable oils, and these are generally removed from the beans by drying. The same overview says more stable carriers leave the beans with a glossy sheen and longer-lasting flavor.
One more distinction worth knowing: added flavors are separate from the flavor notes a coffee develops on its own, which come forward through roasting.
Why the Bean Underneath Still Matters
If the flavor is added afterwards, you might wonder whether the coffee underneath matters at all. It does, and the roast is the first reason why.
If the roast is too dark, the coffee's own taste overshadows the added flavor; one industry overview calls medium to brown the ideal roast color for flavored coffee. Every flavored coffee we sell is a medium roast. Our Pumpkin Spice is a medium roast of specialty grade Arabica with all-natural flavoring, with notes of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg. Our Caramel puts natural flavoring over a medium-roast, specialty grade single-origin coffee.
The second reason is honesty. Food Republic writes that manufacturers "often use artificially-flavored oils to mask the taste of low-grade or even stale coffee beans." Added flavor can also disguise changes in taste as coffee ages.
That is why the base coffee is worth asking about before you buy.
Brewing and Storing Flavored Beans at Home
Once the bag is on your counter, a couple of habits keep the flavor where it belongs: in your cup, not in your grinder.
Think about your grinder
The added oils in flavored coffee can build up in grinders, "gum up" burrs and blades, and carry over into later batches, according to a grinder-cleaning patent.
Woodburn-Simmonds' advice is simple: buy flavored coffee pre-ground or flavor your coffee another way. If you are weighing that trade-off, our guide to whole bean vs ground coffee walks through what you gain and lose.
Store it cool and dark
Flavored beans keep best in a cool, dark place if you will use them within three or four weeks; for longer storage, they can be frozen. Our guide on how to store coffee beans covers containers and freezing in more detail.
Or flavor it yourself
If you would rather keep every bag plain, you can buy regular beans and add your own flavorings after grinding and brewing.
Flavored beans earn their place on the shelf for the mornings you want the cup to taste of autumn without any extra steps. If you want chocolate alongside your spice, our Mexican Chocolate brings chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla. And if you want sweetness without sugar, our Cinnabun is lightly flavored with natural flavoring oils and has no added sugar or calories.
FAQ
Does pumpkin spice coffee contain pumpkin?
Not necessarily. McCormick Culinary's pumpkin pie spice, for one, lists cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice, with no pumpkin. Our Pumpkin Spice is made with all-natural flavoring and has notes of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Is flavored coffee made with natural or artificial flavors?
It depends on the roaster and the coffee: Coffee Beanery, for one, uses a mix of natural and artificial oils, while our Pumpkin Spice uses all-natural flavoring. US rules define a natural flavor as one derived from sources such as spices, fruits, herbs, barks and roots.
Can I grind flavored coffee beans in my regular grinder?
You can, but the added oils can build up on burrs and blades and carry over into later batches. Buying flavored coffee pre-ground, or flavoring your coffee another way, avoids that.
How should I store flavored coffee beans?
Keep them in a cool, dark place if you will use them within three or four weeks. For longer storage, they can be frozen.
Ready for an autumn cup? Try our Pumpkin Spice: a medium roast of specialty grade Arabica with all-natural flavoring and notes of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg, every small batch taste-tested for quality.
