That bloke

Today, cloves, or rather clove (singular). I broke up one as much as I could with my fingers on the assumption that the hot water would get the flavour out.

I like cloves, but my SO complained whenever I cooked with them, so the jar has been there since... I don't now when. I carefully didn't check the date. There's still a nice clove-y smell in the jar (and now I have that on my fingers too).

The coffee smells of cloves as the cup gets near my mouth, but it tastes like, well, coffee. Maybe it needs two, or one ground with a pestle?

Since the last coffee spice post, I've had a few retries. Black pepper is a surprising favourite, as is anything with nutmeg.

Today I found sumac. It's giving a spicy fruit flavour to the coffee. I had to add quite a lot. I wasn't familiar with sumac but apparently it's used as a space and in drinks. Makes sense.

Black pepper: strange, but enjoyable.

I never thought of black pepper as hot like chillies, but I'm getting a tingle in my mouth. The flavour is working well.

WTF is fenugeek?

[reads side of jar] Oh, it's used in Persian cooking, in (dishes I can't pronounce). "Use sparingly".

[adds third of a teaspoon, wondering if that's sparing enough] Hmm, tastes like coffee.

[adds another half teaspoon] OK, now I have a pleasantly quirky flavour. The only thing I can relate it to is... celery?

Today, turmeric.

Yum! Could have put a bit more in.

Down side: I put in a literal pinch, it's dyed my fingernails yellow, and I look like I've been smoking.

I was making a cup of coffee when I noticed some spices left out in the kitchen. "Hmm. That might work..."

So now I have coffee with cinnamon and paprika. It's good. Lots more options to try, too.