The Demand for Flavor

• If you have been enticed to try the rich and aromatic flavors of different coffees offered these days, you are one of the millions of people who enjoy the additional additive of a slow-roasted vanilla or hazelnut bean. The complex flavors found in these non-traditional coffees are shooting to the top of sales as more and more people are demanding them for their morning brew.
  
  

Roasting the Coffee Bean

• Coffee beans are actually the seeds found inside a fruit that grows on small shrubs and is part of a flowering plant family known as Rubiaceae. When the beans are first harvested, they are green in color and are virtually tasteless. They are then dried and removed from the plant. Then comes the roasting process.
  
  

Adding Flavors and Packaging

• Achieving a balanced flavor occurs during the process of roasting the original beans. A medium body roasted coffee bean is preferred for flavored coffee because neither the coffee itself nor the flavoring competes in the finished product.
  
  A flavoring such as vanilla, hazelnut or almond nut is added to the beans while they are being roasted and continues to infuse with them as they rotate in the giant furnaces. Most industries limit the amount of flavoring oil to 2 to 3 percent of the total weight of the roasted coffee batch, rendering the best balance of aroma and taste in the final product.
  
  The finished roasted beans are packaged within minutes of process completion to ensure they maintain proper freshness and textural quality.