Ground Spices in Coffee - a Coffee Experiment

At Blended Bean Coffee, we love experimenting with new ways to enjoy coffee. One of the most intriguing tests we’ve conducted involved brewing coffee with spices—not just sprinkling them on top, but infusing them directly into the brew.

What happens when you introduce red pepper flakes, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, or even everything bagel seasoning into your morning cup? The results were surprising, complex, and at times, downright strange. Here’s what we discovered.

TLDR

Overall Best: Cinnamon

Most Interesting: Black Pepper

Biggest Disappointment: Red Pepper Flakes

[Coffee] Ground Rules

To keep things consistent, we used the following brewing method:

• 10g coffee
• ½ tsp ground spice
• 150g water for brewing
• 40g tasters per cup

This ensured that each test was balanced, allowing the spice to interact with the coffee in a measurable way.

 

The Results

Cinnamon: A Holiday Dream in a Cup

Overall Impression: Delicious, but it steals the show

Bloom & Brew:

• Heavy cinnamon aroma
• Slight tobacco notes during the last moments of the brew

Appearance:

• Golden-brown hue
• Honey like hues around the edge of the glass
• Slightly cloudier than standard coffee

Smell:

• Strong, sweet cinnamon aroma
• Apple or pear
• Cherry pipe tobacco

Taste:

• Cinnamon roll
• Bruleed cane sugar
• No bitterness or acidity 

Would recommend?

Yes! Best for winter mornings or paired with a shot of rum. While my overall impression of this modification is positive, I will be the first to admit that this really removes most of what we love about the coffee from the coffee. The cinnamon takes center stage and the coffee notes are reduced to a minor supporting role despite making up the majority of the brew.

 

Ginger: Surprisingly Vegetal?

Overall Impression: A very unique sensation, but not the best flavor.

Bloom & Brew:

• Slight anise note on bloom
• Muted ginger aroma
• No sharpness or heat

Appearance:

• Lighter brown and yellow hues
• Slight greening around edges
• Cloudy

Smell:

• Mellow ginger
• Heat tingles through sinuses

Taste:

• Tingley, dancing sensation
• Vetetal, green flavor
• State bitterness hides behind ginger flavor
• Mouth left with an odd sensation that I most closely associate with the feeling in your mouth after taking a shot of whiskey

Would recommend?

Could be something fun to experiment more with some day, but at this point I’m not sure if the return on the experiment would be worth my personal time to perfect. There is something pretty unique about that tingly sensation, but some of those greener notes are not exactly what I am looking for in my cup of coffee. 

 

Black Pepper: Unique Flavor Blast

Overall Impression: This is a crazy mix of flavors that touches on a whole range of flavor profiles. It is a little complex for the every day, but still pretty fun.

Bloom & Brew:

• Floral, but musty
• Tea-adjacent aroma

Appearance:

• Lighter brown and yellow hues
• Slight greening around edges
• Cloudy

Smell:

• Dark floral
• Candied lemon zest
• Must

Taste:

• Aggressive, but short lived peppery heat
• Thyme
• Chocolate

Would recommend?

Absolutely, though I doubt it will become your next daily cup. While this is a really cool exploration of a different way to extract another freshly ground product, it is probably a little bit too much of an experience to be enjoyed casually.

 

Everything Bagel: What's the difference between coffee and broth?

Overall Impression: Not terrible, but I can't say I would ever select a coffee with onion notes.

Bloom & Brew:

• Strong aroma of the dried onion rehydrating
• Traditional coffee notes in the background, but more subtle 

Appearance:

• Lighter brew from a faster brew time
• Looks more like a dark tea

Smell:

• Leather
• Strawberry compote

Taste:

• Onion
• Brightness and clarity (I think from the salt)
• Dark chocolate

Would recommend?

Yeah, no. I would just sprinkle some salt in your coffee if this is interesting you. That additional onion flavor just isn't for me and it blurs the line between coffee and broth. It's not overwhelmingly brothy, but more than you'd want in your coffee (which traditionally is zero).

 

Red Pepper Flakes: I can't hear the whisper through the yelling?

Overall Impression: I was really excited for this as I love spicy things and thought just this simple addition would elevate the cup. While it did make it spicy, it also muted all other flavors.

Bloom & Brew:

• Deeps notes of cocoa
• Faint oak aroma

Appearance:

• Lighter
• Red hue
• More clear than cloudy

Smell:

• Uniform
• Faint cinnamon and nutmeg

Taste:

• Spicy, but weak bodied
• Minimal depth
• Chocolate covered cherries

Would recommend?

A fun experiment, but the overall quality of the coffee seems to suffer. The red pepper flakes add a lot to the palette in the form of heat, but that heat seems to round out some of the more interesting flavors in coffee, leading to an overall underwhelming experience. I'd pass on this one. I might've set my expectations too high, but the coffee just fell flat.

 

Overall

I think I'll probably keep my regular morning cup just plain ol beans, but there is something really fun about taking something you know and love and modifying it to see if it enhances the experience. In some instances here, I would defiantly say it enhanced the experience. For others... maybe just don't do those yourself! I encourage you to try out these combos and others so you can learn more about your own palette and coffee journey!