Adding stuff to coffee that does not traditionally go in coffee is becoming quite the trend these days. From unusual but not outlandish ingredients like peppermint and caramel to more esoteric things like butter and coconut oil, it seems like nowadays everything is fair game to plop in your coffee. Sifting through the fads can be challenging, and it is hard to know what is worth your time and what should be discarded without a second thought. So, which side does turmeric fall on?
In this article, we discuss turmeric in coffee. We start with some background about turmeric in general before moving into specific reasons you might want to add turmeric to your coffee and concluding with a simple recipe.
What Is Turmeric?
Turmeric is a spice commonly found in Indian cuisine, most famously curry. Pure turmeric has a potent bitter taste and a warming quality that many people seek by eating spicy foods. Turmeric is used in many dishes but is most often seen in curry powder, spicy mustard, and cheese.
In addition to livening up dinner, turmeric also has several health benefits that bolster its popularity. It has anti-inflammatory properties that make it used in arthritis treatments, it can help lower cholesterol, and it is sometimes used to fight liver disease.
Some people claim that turmeric can improve cognitive performance and fight neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia, but there is no scientific evidence backing these claims.
Turmeric In Coffee
“With turmeric” probably isn’t the first thing you expect to hear when you ask someone how they take their coffee, but it is not as crazy as it sounds. If the thought of putting the same spice used in curry in your coffee causes you to wrinkle your nose, you’re not alone, but you might be surprised how well the flavors mingle. Even if you aren’t entirely convinced, we have a few recommendations to help you get a gentler introduction to turmeric in coffee.
Our first suggestion is to use dark roast coffee. Dark roasts generally have more oomph to them and are more resilient to added flavors. Other spiced coffee like Turkish coffee or Mexican coffee usually does well with darker roasted coffee, so following their lead makes sense with turmeric coffee.
Another tip is to brew your coffee slightly stronger than you normally would. It doesn’t have to be a drastic change; 10-20% stronger is about right. This tip follows similar logic as the advice to brew turmeric coffee with a dark roast; if the coffee is more potent, it is less likely that you’ll be overpowered by turmeric.
Even with these two pieces of advice, we should mention that most people are not repelled by turmeric coffee once they try it and find it quite good. Still, it can be helpful to make the first cup mild just in case you’re one of the few that doesn’t like it.
One last way to make turmeric coffee more beginner-friendly is to use another, more familiar spice to balance out the flavor profile. Cinnamon is a popular choice and what we’ll use in our recipe.
OK, enough chit-chat, on to the recipe!
Delicious Turmeric Coffee
Equipment
- A French press
- A timer
- Your favorite mug
Ingredients
- 25 g coffee
- 350 g water
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Bring 350 g of water to near-boiling. If you have a kettle with a thermometer, shoot for about 205°F. Otherwise, bring the water to a boil and let it sit for 1 minute.
- Put 25 g of coarsely ground coffee in your French press and evenly pour 75 g of water over the grounds. Start a timer.
- After 1 minute, pour the remaining 275 g of water and stir the mixture. Cover the French press.
- When the timer reaches 4 minutes, press the plunger slowly with steady pressure. Make sure you don't press the grounds into the bottom of the French press.
- Decant the coffee into a mug.
- Add ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon and turmeric. Stir vigorously until the cinnamon and turmeric are both fully dissolved.
- Add milk and sugar to taste. We recommend trying the coffee before adding milk or sugar, even if you customarily use both in your coffee. Turmeric coffee has a completely different flavor profile than regular coffee, and many people find they prefer drinking it black.
Nutrition
Final Thoughts
Turmeric has several health benefits and is an excellent addition to many diets. However, irrespective of beneficial side effects, turmeric coffee would still be on our radar because of its unique taste. Spicy coffee might not sound appealing initially, but we encourage you to broaden your horizons and give it a try. Especially in dark roast coffee, turmeric adds a new dimension to traditional coffee flavor profiles and makes for a great change of pace when your everyday cup is getting a bit stale.
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- How to Make a Turmeric Latte: Recipe & Pictures
Featured image credit: flockine, Pixabay
