Spicing Up Your Coffee

How do you drink your coffee? Flavored? Black? Do you add sweeteners or creamers? Black coffee is known to be the most healthful variation, but there are natural ways to add flavor and change up your daily cup of joe without adding sugar and calories. Try making these cold, dark winter mornings a little easier by trying these spices in your coffee:

Cinnamon: Spoon ground cinnamon directly into your cup, or add a stick of cinnamon bark to the coffee filter while brewing. Or, if you drink tea, simmer some bark in the water you’ll use.

Cardamom: Traditionally used in Turkish coffee preparation, cardamom adds a rich and floral flavor. Stir ground cardamom directly into your prepped coffee, or crush the pods and add to the coffee maker. Other great spices to use are nutmeg or cloves.

Maple Syrup: While maple syrup is usually available in syrup form, some places sell maple sugar, which has the same flavor. Stir a little into your coffee to sweeten it - it’s especially good mixed with milk.

Chai spices: True masala chai is made from fresh ginger root, green cardamom pods, and star anise. It’s not like those super-sweet chai lattes, and has a real kick. Boil the spices with water, and add black tea leaves and milk.

Coconut oil: Coconut oil is very healthy and adds a pleasant nutty flavor to a hot drink. Keep a spoon in your cup to give it a stir before you sip, so you don’t get a mouthful of melted oil every time.

Cocoa: Give your coffee a mocha flavor with a spoonful of cocoa powder, and get a load of healthy polyphenols at the same time. Some cocoa powders can be bitter. To be more decadent, try adding a square of dark chocolate to the bottom of your mug to mix as it melts.