Adding Spices when Brewing Coffee

A lightly crushed cardamom pod, a strip of orange peel, or a cinnamon stick can subtly reshape a cup of coffee without changing the ritual itself, making it taste warmer, more fragrant, and exciting. The tradition of brewing coffee and aromatics together, rather than flavoring coffee after it's brewed, is found across the Arab world in different forms.

In Jordan, the smell of cardamom always arrived with the coffee. The finely ground beans used for Turkish coffee were often ground with cardamom too, until the two became almost inseparable. The coffee smelled darker, warmer, fuller with the spices; the aroma of cardamom drifted through the kitchen before the coffee reached the cup. Yemeni coffee traditions, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and other aromatics are often treated not as additions to coffee but as part of the coffee itself.

Before you start tossing cardamom and citrus peel into your morning coffee, there are a few things worth keeping in mind.

Use constraint. The easiest mistake to make when brewing spices with coffee is using too much of them. Coffee is already aromatic on its own, and even a small amount of spice can quickly overpower a cup.
Start with whole spices whenever possible. Powdered spices can create practical brewing problems, especially in pour-over coffee, where they may clog paper filters and slow extraction.
Keep flavor balance in mind. Some spices work better in coffee than others. Cloves can quickly turn medicinal and overpowering, for instance.

There are several ways people have added spices and other aromatics to their coffee.

Add crushed spices and pieces of orange peel, if desired, to the ground coffee before brewing.
Steep spices in the water to be used for making coffee as it heats.
One person on Reddit steeped their spices in a reduced Simple Syrup. [I do not like sugar in my coffee]
Steep spices while making a cold brew
Another preson on Reddit adds tea bags to their coffee, such as mint tea (they like mint tea added with milk or cream), floral teas. This is best used in a french press, or for a twist on cold brew, to allow the tea to steep. Another person mentioned Earl Grey.

Flavor Combinations

Orange peel and cardamom
Mexican blend for cold winter days. Per cup of coffee: 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ground chili pepper + sweetener to taste
Cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, cardamom
Gingerbread: Allspice, ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg
Cold brew steep with a few whole cloves, some slices of fresh ginger, some allspice pods, a couple of cinnamon sticks, and a few satchets of smoked tea, and maybe a vanilla bean pod.
cardamom and ginger (freshly ground) in a milky cup of coffee sweetened with honey.
Simply Organic Awaken Spices— Fire up your morning with subtly aromatic fennel and bright anise, selected to harmonize with the roasted notes of darker coffee beans. Ingredients: organic cinnamon, organic fennel, organic cloves, organic anise, organic black pepper.
Simply Organic Chai Spices—With underlying notes of anise, black pepper and cloves, this chai blend infuses an unexpected dimension of flavor in coffee, with fennel, ginger and cinnamon elements that stand up next to bold, dark-roast beans. Ingredients: organic cinnamon, organic fennel, organic ginger, organic anise, organic cardamom, organic cloves, organic black pepper.
Simply Organic Cinnamon Spices—Bring the warmth of cinnamon and the zest of orange peel to your coffee, blended to life and balance the acidic taste in most brews. A great accent to heighten citrusy notes in light-roast beans. Ingredients: Organic cinnamon, organic Ceylon cinnamon, organic orange peel.
Simply Organic Pumpkin Spices—Why wait for autumn to enjoy that crave able coffee flavor? This delicious blend delivers the complex flavor of clove, the vivid presence of ginger and the familiar comfort of cinnamon, creating your favorite coffee shop treat right at home. Ingredients include organic cinnamon, organic ginger and organic cloves.