Elevate your home coffee drinks with these 8 secret ingredients

Coffee drinks don’t have to be boring at home! — Photo courtesy of Kar-Tr / iStock Via Getty Images

Specialty coffee drinks are all the rage, with everyone from Starbucks to independent coffeehouses coming up with creative seasonal specials to entice customers. Deviating from your standard coffee order can add a little surprise and delight to your daily routine, but you can also try recreating some specialty coffee drinks at home.

Here are eight not-so-obvious ingredients to instantly elevate your coffee drinks with little to no skill necessary and no special equipment.

Add a scoop of ice cream

Ice cream creates dessert-like coffee drinks — Photo courtesy of Heritage Kulfi

If you’re unfamiliar with an affogato, the preparation is simple — a scoop of gelato or ice cream topped with espresso. Affogato translates from Italian as “drowned” since you’re drowning the gelato with espresso, and the delightful Italian dessert is easy to replicate at home.

Traditionally, Italians use a fior di latte or milk-flavored ice cream to let the coffee shine. Still, you can use whatever your heart desires and play with various flavor combinations for elevated coffee drinks. Anything with chocolate, vanilla, nut, or caramel undertones will be a winner, or you can double down on coffee with coffee-flavored ice cream.

My favorite affogato pairings include Heritage Kulfi’s pistachio or cardamom chai ice cream. Try Salt & Straw’s Coffee & Love Nuts or Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for an affogato with a little more texture.

Look for a beauty boost

Agent Nateur Holi (Mane) is a hair, skin, and nail supplement that includes marine collagen and pearl powder for an incredible beauty boost. It’s also a fantastic creamer substitute for hot coffee.

The two-ingredient powder gives your coffee drink a creamier mouthfeel, but it also provides a big dose of protein and calcium per scoop instead of saturated fat and sugar. Most coffee creamers contain artificial ingredients and are highly processed, so think of this as a healthy, spa-like alternative that will give you more radiant skin and stronger hair and nails with consistent use.

Make it a little boozy

Mozart Chocolate Liqueurs add some oomph to at-home coffee drinks — Photo courtesy of Marussia Beverages

When an espresso martini is too strong, but you’re looking to add just a little adults-only oomph to your coffee, this is the move. Mozart Chocolate Liqueur makes various flavors in Salzburg, Austria, with West African cocoa. The lactose-free dark chocolate is an excellent choice for a boozy mocha coffee drink. Still, the coconut chocolate flavor is creamy and nutty, great for topping off cold brew in summer for tropical vibes or making warm winter drinks like coconut lattes.

Equal ratios (we recommend 1 ounce each) of espresso, your choice of milk, and your favorite chocolate liqueur make for an easy-flavored latte. Adding a splash of flavored liqueur to your coffee won’t knock you off your feet but provides a hint of sweetness and flavor without too much alcohol.

Use different sweeteners

“Maple syrup and coffee are potentially one of my favorite combinations of all time,” says Sarah Mendiaz, specialty drink creator at Goodboybob Coffee Roasters in Santa Monica, California. “Maple, unlike white sugar and honey, has a more complex body and flavor that pairs beautifully with coffee and espresso.”

At Goodboybob, Mendiaz makes a maple-flavored cream top for flash-brewed iced coffee by whipping an ounce of maple syrup with two ounces of heavy whipping cream. Add a little maple syrup directly to hot or iced coffee with cream or milk to make similar coffee drinks at home.

Ackermann Maple Farm’s 100% pure Vermont maple syrup and bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup are a couple of favorites, and Runamok has a bunch of fun flavor infusions, ranging from ginger to pineapple upside-down maple syrup.

Add adaptogens

Chock full of adaptogens, Ojas Cardamom Cinnamon and Turmeric Ginger are caffeine-free Ayurvedic-inspired blends that are great as a coffee alternative on their own, frothed with your choice of warm milk, or as an easy way to make delicious and healthy specialty coffee drinks at home. You can even enjoy them in the morning with coffee and again in the evening sans coffee to wind down and relax.

Adaptogens are roots, herbs, or mushrooms that help balance and rejuvenate the body. For example, ashwagandha (or Indian ginseng) is known for its anti-inflammatory properties, haritaki aids digestion, and Brahmi is used to alleviate stress and anxiety.

Try an espresso tonic

Different types of espresso coffee drinks are some of the easiest (as long as you have an espresso machine). Luigi Di Ruocco, co-owner of Mr. Espresso and The Caffe by Mr. Espresso in Oakland, California, suggests keeping high-quality tonic water on hand for an easy espresso tonic. Di Ruocco likes FeverTree and Betty Buzz brands and recommends making a homemade simple syrup to use as an intermediary between the tonic and espresso to take your drink to the next level.

“Try and create a simple syrup that complements the espresso flavors,” he says. For example, to pair with a coffee from Java with tasting notes of peach and guava, he made a simple syrup infused with basil, lime, and mint to help tie all the flavors together. Herb-infused simple syrup isn’t too difficult to make and is an excellent use of any fresh herbs from a home garden.

Jam your latte

I first tried a jam latte at Alchemist’s Jam, an adorable downtown McMinnville cafe in the middle of Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country. It was so simple but brilliant that I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before.

The concept is pretty straightforward. To make these types of coffee drinks, add a spoonful of jam to the bottom of your cup, then add milk and mix it up so there aren’t any clumps before topping off with espresso. Any jam will do, and if the jam isn’t incorporated easily in an iced latte, try shaking it up with ice cubes in a cocktail shaker to achieve a super smooth consistency.

Make it instant

Kencko iced lattes are easy to make on the go — Photo courtesy of Kencko

Kencko offers a trio of sweet coffee flavors for an instant iced latte on the go. Kencko is best known for its powdered instant smoothies and fruit snacks, but the new instant iced lattes are available online and in Walmart stores nationwide. Each of the three flavors contains 1.5 espresso shots and is sweetened with dates and bananas rather than refined sugars.

Chocolate lovers will enjoy the mocha, while banana caramel is a little sweeter. Cinnamon lattes with sweet potato are great for anyone who enjoys chai tea. Just empty the single-serve powder into a smoothie shaker bottle with chilled milk and shake it up for a 15-second iced latte.