What is Coffee Flour?

Coffee flour is a flour made from coffee cherries, the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean. The fruit is usually a byproduct of the coffee industry, but turning it into flour gives it a whole new purpose. Coffee flour is finely ground and very similar to cocoa powder in consistency. Though it looks like cocoa powder, it doesn’t taste like chocolate or like coffee. The flour is very fruity and has a floral, tea-like flavor to it. I recommend tasting it before you bake with it just to appreciate its unique flavor.

When baking, some of the subtleties of the flour are lost as the flour combines with other ingredients. Unsurprisingly, since the consistency of the flour is similar to that of cocoa powder, you can substitute it into a brownie recipe or a loaf cake that uses cocoa powder for a new flavor twist on a favorite recipe. Baked goods that have coffee flour in them with have a subtle frutiness and a dense, tender crumb. Coffee flour does not contain any gluten.

I’ve seen coffee flour recently at Trader Joe’s (pictured above), but it is not a widely available ingredient and you may have to track it down at a specialty store. It’s unique, delicious and well worth trying if you find it, however.