Add Orange To Your Pourover Coffee For A Zesty Flavor

Coffee grounds can acquire unique flavors in countless ways, ranging from the region where they were grown to the roasting techniques used during processing. While coffee on its own is naturally quite acidic, it's not uncommon for a bag of coffee beans to supplement this with notes of citrus. These notes can naturally develop in coffee beans based on their growing altitude, climate, and soil makeup, and the process of drying coffee cherries before roasting the beans inside can also help bring out those fruity undertones. A great way to double down on these zesty flavors, however, is to use citrus fruits when making your pourover coffee.

Adding the sweet, slightly bitter zing of fruits like oranges, lemons, or grapefruits to your morning brew can help capitalize on those naturally occurring citrus notes and take that flavor to the next level. There are also various ways to add these citrus notes to your grounds. For example, zesting an orange into your pourover coffee filter and mixing it into the grounds will release the orange peel's essential oils. While this would pair well with fruity, acidic coffee, adding orange aromatics to coffee grounds with deeper nutty notes of chocolate would also be a delicious combination.

Adding orange zest to a batch of cold brew can also produce delicious results, even by sprinkling it into your drinking glass. For a subtler taste, twist a piece of zested peel over the glass to release its oils before dropping in the peel itself.

While it may sound unconventional, adding a zesty flavor to your coffee — hot or cold — makes for a surprisingly complementary pairing. Plus, mixing your fruit-forward coffee with fun, flavorful milk can also give your lattes more variety. Some grocery stores sell strawberry or banana-infused milk that would work perfectly in an iced coffee or steamed for a cappuccino.

If you don't want to mask any of those acidic notes from the coffee or citrus, however, drinking it black is your best bet. Try adding orange slices to the bottom of your pourover carafe. This way, the fruit's juice and peel can infuse slowly into the already-brewed coffee. If you do choose to take your coffee down the citrus route, you're in good company: Ashton Kutcher adds orange juice to his morning coffee, too. The vibrant, zesty citrus taste can even help bring cheap coffee to life. No matter how you slice, zest, or peel it, this fusion is worth a try.