Since the beginning of coffee, people have been looking for ways to make coffee even better than it already is. You can find coffee mixed with all sorts of ingredients and, most notably, with dozens of different spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, even stranger combinations like cayenne pepper and olive oil.
But there are few combinations that are as good as coffee and hazelnut. Hazelnut, as you may have guessed, is the fruit of the hazel tree. The nuts of this tree are naturally delicious as they contain a lot of fat and its flavor goes great with cocoa, chocolate, and coffee—which is why we see it so often in beverages containing any of the three.
Hazelnut is also the main ingredient in Nutella, a classic sweet chocolate and hazelnut spread that has been used to flavor coffee for decades. In Italy, Nutella and coffee are the daily beverage of many people, especially in the North of the country.
Hazelnut Coffee
There are three ways we can go about hazelnut coffee. The first one is the most simple: instead of using actual hazelnut, you use hazelnut-flavored syrup. This is a very convenient way of giving your coffee a really rich hazelnut flavor without having to do any extra work—and it’s usually already sweetened, so it’s two for one.
You can also use actual hazelnuts. This is a little trickier, but in this recipe, we’ll teach you how to make hazelnut milk so you can make the ultimate hazelnut coffee. All you’ll need is a nut milk bag or something similar—they are really cheap and can be found easily online—and a high-speed blender.
Lastly, you can use Nutella for a more authentic kind of hazelnut coffee. You could say this type of coffee is more traditional since it has been made in Italy, home of coffee, for a really long time.
How to Make Hazelnut Coffee?
#1 Hazelnut Syrup Coffee
Ingredients
- Hazelnut syrup
- Two shots of espresso
- 200ml almond milk
- Sweetener of choice
Instructions
- Brew your two shots of espresso
- If you prefer frothed milk, heat up the milk and froth it. If not, heat it up and pour it into your cup.
- And two tablespoons of hazelnut syrup. Stir.
- Taste your coffee now. If it’s not sweet enough, add sweetener.
- Enjoy!
You can also make hazelnut syrup at home, although it requires a little bit of time. First, you roast the hazelnuts in the oven (about 30 grams of them) until they are brown. Now, crush them until they are in small-ish pieces.
In a saucepan, boil water and sugar. Once thick, add hazelnuts and cook for about one hour. Homemade hazelnut syrup!
#2 Hazelnut Milk Coffee
Ingredients
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- 600ml water
- Two shots of espresso
- Whipped cream
Instructions
- To make the hazelnut milk, soak one cup of hazelnuts for at least four hours.
- After they’ve soaked, drain them and place them in a high-speed blender.
- Add one cup of water and blend for twenty seconds.
- Add the rest of the water and keep blending for two minutes total.
- Once done, use a nut milk bag to strain the milk.
- Brew two shots of espresso.
- Heat up hazelnut milk and pour into your coffee cup.
- Sweeten to taste.
- Add whipped cream on top.
- Enjoy!
Hazelnut milk is extremely delicious. You can really, really taste the hazelnut with this recipe. Making it may be a little bit of a hassle since you have to soak them, use a blender, etc. but it is definitely worth it. Since you’re at it, you can also make a bigger batch of hazelnut milk so that you don’t have to make more all week.
This recipe yields enough hazelnut milk for about 5 to 6 servings.
#3 Nutella Coffee
Ingredients
- Two tablespoons nutella
- 180ml Almond milk
- Two shots espresso
- A pinch of nutmeg
Instructions
- Heat up almond milk until very hot.
- Add two tablespoons of nutella and stir until combined.
- Turn off the heat.
- Brew two shots of espresso.
- Add milk mix to your coffee cup.
- Optional: add a pinch of nutmeg on top.
- Enjoy!
Add crushed hazelnuts on top of the whipped cream for a nice, crunchy touch!
Easily the easiest, most satisfying recipes there are. Nutella has both hazelnut and chocolate, two perfect ingredients for a coffee beverage. Plus, the nutmeg really compliments the nutty flavor and turns it into a whole other thing. Using almond milk also enhances the hazelnut flavor. Feels more like a dessert than a coffee drink!
FAQs
Is Hazelnut Good for You?
Hazelnuts are a really nutritious food. But like any nut, it is very high in fat. Just a hundred grams of hazelnuts have around 90% of the daily recommended value of total fat. That’s a lot! So, whenever you’re having hazelnuts. They’re not bad for you, but you really have to exercise moderation when eating them.
Can I Use Homemade Nutella?
Homemade Nutella is relatively easy to make and can taste even better than store-bought Nutella. Some people choose to make their own Nutella for several reasons. Most commonly, lactose-intolerant people can’t really stomach all the powdered milk that is in Nutella.
So, in cases like these, you would really benefit from some homemade Nutella. You can find a recipe online. You just need hazelnuts, vegetable milk, and cocoa.
Can I Use other Nuts instead of Hazelnuts?
Short answer: not really, no. Although we do understand the sentiment and the logic behind using any other nut rather than hazelnuts, the truth is that no other nut has such a fitting flavor profile for coffee as hazelnuts do. So, even if you substitute it for any other nut, the flavor just won’t be the same.
But if you insist on changing it, cashews are very similar to hazelnuts when making them into milk as they also have a high percentage of fat which helps bring out all the flavor in coffee. They don’t quite have the same flavor, but it’s still a very good substitute. And they’re cheaper.