A lot of grocery wholesalers like Van Houtt and others have some flavoring like Vanilla or spice.

Having taste to one of those kind before, it was pretty bad and would not recommend it...

Speciality coffee industry emphasize on bean quality and their own original flavor so it's unlikely that it will happen

Maybe if you're looking into milk drink, look more on the milk side by infusing it before steaming. I've already done a latte try with some leftover milk infused with chestnut and vanilla. It wasn't bad but too sweet for my taste as the milk had been sweeten.

Not sure if this helps: The Cuban cafes in Miami prefer adding sugar to the PF before pulling the shot rather than to the shot itself. I've also seen some do chocolate in the same way. There may be something to their claim that this makes for a better mouthfeel than adding the ingredients afterwards.

Purists, both in Italy and here, frown on the practice, and say it can mess up the group (in Barista competition, adding anything to the PF except coffee, even for the specialty drink, results in immediate disqualification)

I'm guessing any dry additive would work, but that you'd need to do a backflush afterwards to get back to pure straight shots.

farmroast wrote:I can yank my lever piston and clean pretty easily if need be and use a bottomless.

Seems like the best machine with which to do this.

Would adding the spice to the bottom of the basket, before the coffee, help reduce the problems associated with putting bizarre things in a portafilter...?

farmroast wrote: .... but have wondered if any spices can/have been added to the grind before pulling?

Old world coffee blenders: cardamom and cinnamon. Masala Chai (or simply Chai) is basically milk+tea+spices. Turkish coffee is sometimes prepared with a coffee+hint of spice mix. Bedouin Arabic coffee uses spices too.

Adding either cardamom or cinnamon (but not both) to the PF has always intrigued me. There's the challenge of grinding them to espresso grind consistency then mixing them up correctly to maintain puck consistency to avoid channeling. That's such a big challenge that I haven't yet been able to do it correctly, the puck channels or I don't get much spice taste.

I'd probably go with mixing these spices with the milk then steam it (then filter the big spice chuncks out?). That would hopefully get you the spice hints you're looking for without the other troubles.

I'll go try some cardamom cappuccino with my dark roasted Kenya right away

coffee.me wrote:I'd probably go with mixing these spices with the milk then steam it (then filter the big spice chuncks out?). That would hopefully get you the spice hints you're looking for without the other troubles.

I'll go try some cardamom cappuccino with my dark roasted Kenya right away

Done, it works and the cardamom was loud and clear. I had to add a little sugar as the cappuccino was too "cardamomy". After the sugar, it tasted like a fancy version of Chai rather than a cappuccino.

But yeah, it works, add your spices to the milk to build up your spice cappuccino/latte recipe. The coffee used is also part of the reciepe, but that's the part we already know.