Gimmicks Galore

Are you a fan of flavored coffee?

How many of you have been on Facebook recently and been barraged with a hundreds adds for coffee.  They have a coffee for every lifestyle, sub-lifestyle, genera, niche, whatever.  It seems that no coffee is alike.  Well, that’s pretty much true.

As a person who I’m sure cares about their body and what goes into it, you should really take a look at the coffee you are purchasing. 
Candy Apple Unicorn Fart flavored coffee probably isn’t the best thing you could be putting into your body, never mind how disgusting that would probably taste.  The problem isn’t the lo-grade garbage coffee that the company is using, that’s just part of it,  it’s the chemicals that they are using to completely obscure the lo-grade garbage coffees natural flavors.

After some quick research, I found that artificial flavoring solvents which,  we were told by flavorings salespeople, were considered safe when brewed for a cup or two each day, had a lot of chemical additives. The primary chemical additive, which is present in ALL artificially flavored coffee sold, is polypropylene glycol.

Polypropylene glycol’s main action in flavorings was to promote the absorption of the flavored solvent into the coffee beans. The problem is that it also causes the absorption of the solvent into human skin… and into human bodies. I find that very troubling.  Upon further research, I found that there are potential risks to the coffee roasters themselves who flavor the coffee.  These risks are associated with the flavoring syrups becoming airborne with the degassing coffee and entering the lungs of the worker applying the flavorings.

Coffee flavoring containers today have prominent warnings that the solvent contained within has an irritant effect when it comes in direct contact with eyes and mucous membranes, and after prolonged contact with skin. It’s not supposed to be a problem “if” consumed in relatively small amounts. But what further frightened me is that the solvents were poisonous if consumed in larger amounts. So when asked why we don’t flavor coffee, besides the fact that it ruins the coffee, besides the fact that it typically tastes like a garbage can on a hot day, it’s just not a risk we are willing to take, for our customers and for us.