How To Add Flavors To Your Homemade Coffee Creamer

Who says your only choices for coffee creamers are the commercial brands available in supermarkets or specialty stores? Even when shopping at well-known natural-food venues, you're potentially subjected to unfamiliar ingredients or overpowering flavors that you'd rather forego given more viable options. Well, there's a simple solution to this culinary conundrum: Make your own coffee creamer. It's a straightforward process utilizing a handful of everyday ingredients, but it gets tricky if you're a fan of more nuanced, intricate flavors in your cup. 

That's why we turned to an expert in the field, Andrea Allen, co-founder of Onyx Coffee Lab, 2020 U.S. Barista champ and 2021 World Barista runner-up. Though a professional barista and certainly one who knows her way around a coffee shop, Allen graciously shares with us some insights for making pro-level flavored coffee creamer in our own kitchens. "I'm a big fan of 2 methodologies," reveals Allen. The first, she explains, "Extracts or cream-style flavorings from natural flavors: hazelnuts, almond, vanilla, pistachio cream is one of my favorites." Pistachio cream is a typically sweet spread popular in Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Greece, comprised of ground pistachios, dairy, and sweeteners such as honey, sugar, mashed fruits, or even white chocolate. Allen's second method of flavoring homemade coffee creamer is even more straightforward, as it involves spices, herbs, and fruit, with little if any mystery ingredients.

Of the two methodologies shared by Allen, the second one stands out for its simplicity and the fresh, earthy flavors imparted to personal coffee-creamer concoctions. Allen explains this method as, "Soaking the creamer with ingredients and straining out." For example, Allen recommends aromatic, dried spices and herbs such as cardamom pods and lavender, actual fruits like strawberries, or even peppermints or other standout flavors. Allen says, "This is super fun because it will add the flavor but allow you to control sweetness and is a super cool way to impart special flavors."

Depending on your sense of adventure or penchant for pungency, a world of potential coffee-creamer flavorings are at your fingertips, many of which are already tucked within the enclaves of your pantry. Try dried cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, nutmeg, or even dried ancho or chipotle peppers for a spicy kick. Mixing complementary or contrasting flavors can temper overly spicy tones or create complexity in gentler ones. There's also always the option of flavoring homemade coffee creamer with sweetened condensed milk. Its a defining ingredient in iced Cuban coffee and in Southeast Asian coffees from Cambodia, Vietnam, and the famous "kopi" coffee of Singapore. Rather than stirring it directly into hot or iced black coffee, create your personal sweetness factor by blending it into the creamer. Just use half and half, real vanilla extract, and condensed milk, balancing the ratios based on your preference — rather than on the assumptions of mainstream manufacturers.