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[beetiger]

What flavors don't go with coffee, from a food science standpoint?

I'm going to keep this to flavors that one might imagine would go well with coffee, and skip answering things like "iron" and "gasoline" and "fermented fish paste".

Coffee's roasted, bitter, and brown in character, and people expect it in a neutral pH kind of profile. This means that other "neutral" flavors go well with it, such as nutty flavors, sweet creamy/dairy flavors, liqueurs, and chocolate. Fruits that handle a neutral context well, like raspberries, also are fine.

On the flip side, acidic flavors like citrus fruit go poorly in coffee. Tropicals (banana, mango) are also a lose. And florals (rosehip, jasmine)come off badly, both because they're too delicate, on the astringent side, and because they don't do too well when you enhance their bitterness.

Comments

[spotweld.livejournal.com]

In reading this I wonder if 'sharp' flavors would do well, specifically mints.
Cinnamon, Wintergreen, Peppermint classically do well with sweet flavors. But in coffee? Perhaps an already sweet coffee, with a shot of Irish cream, would companion well to this. But I suspect that black, bitter coffee, would not fare as well.

I wonder why lemon and orange do poorly though. They are often featured in the components of tea, which often have the same tannic tang that coffee can exhibit.

Though I suppose there is only one way to find out.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

"Sharps" can do okay, except that they emphasize the bitter. "Hot" has the same problem, which is why I didn't include chiles. With enough sweetness, you're right, this is doable.

Citrus in tea works well with the natural astringency, which coffee lacks.