A typical American diet is often loaded with processed foods and calories. Many people start their day with a sweetened or flavored coffee drink. Some prefer buying coffee from a café while others prefer homemade coffee. However, consuming excessive calories is bad for your weight and health.

Flavored coffees from popular coffee houses such as Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts are loaded with artificial colors, flavorings, syrup, sugar, and color. These additives add many calories to your diet. That is why you should know the number of calories in your favorite flavored coffee. For instance, how many calories in black hazelnut coffee do you consume? If you love black hazelnut coffee but are concerned about its number of calories, this guide is meant for you.

Types of Hazelnut Coffee

Hazelnut coffee is a form of flavored coffee. It is available as either flavored hazelnut coffee beans or hazelnut syrup. Before we discuss the number of calories in black hazelnut coffee, it will help to understand the differences between hazelnut coffee brewed from hazelnut coffee beans and adding hazelnut syrup to regular coffee to make hazelnut coffee.

     1. Hazelnut Coffee Beans

Hazelnut coffee beans do not contain a lot of added sugar or calories like hazelnut syrup. However, the way the coffee beans are artificially flavored often introduces harmful additives. Artificially flavored hazelnut coffee beans are flavored through a process that uses a chemical known as propylene glycol.

Although it is claimed that it is safe to consume propylene glycol in small doses, the chemical is believed to irritate the mucous membranes and the skin. Also, artificially flavored coffee contains potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, which are toxic and considered carcinogens when consumed in large amounts.

Hazelnut coffee beans are also flavored by infusing them with natural hazelnut oils. The oils are extracted from hazelnuts. They are infused into coffee beans during roasting. However, most coffee companies do not use natural hazelnut oils due to their higher cost. They prefer adding synthetic hazelnut flavor since it is more economical for commercial use.

If you want to enjoy naturally flavored hazelnut coffee, you can blend coffee beans with real hazelnuts. Grind them together and brew hazelnut coffee from the blend. That way, you will enjoy real hazelnut flavor in your coffee without the risk of consuming artificial flavors.

     2. Hazelnut Coffee Syrup

Many coffee companies flavor coffee beans to mask inferior and cheap beans. Such beans would brew unappealing and bitter coffee. For instance, adding hazelnut flavor will delight the senses and taste buds to hide low-quality beans.

One of the most popular ways of masking low-quality beans is adding hazelnut syrup. Unfortunately, hazelnut syrups from most coffee houses contain an excessive amount of sugar. Hazelnuts are condensed and are often sweeter than white sugar. Consuming excessive sugar can increase the risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

Besides, some hazelnut syrups are made using high fructose corn syrup, which contains a lot of calories. It can increase your blood sugar excessively. When you consume excessive sugar, your body will do extra work to process the sugar. Also, your body will need to release more insulin to prevent a dangerous rise in your blood sugar levels.

When you drink excessive sugars regularly, your pancreas may start wearing out over time. Consequently, it won’t meet the high demands for insulin, thereby experiencing excessive blood sugar levels.

If you want to flavor your coffee with hazelnut syrup, you can make it at home using sugar-free ingredients. That way, you will add hazelnut flavor to your black coffee without introducing extra calories.

How Many Calories in Black Hazelnut Coffee

Hazelnut coffee is one of the most preferred flavored coffees. Whether prepared by adding syrup or brewed with artificially flavored beans, it is loved by many flavored coffee enthusiasts. Essentially, black flavored coffee does not add significant calories to your daily calorie intake.

A cup of black hazelnut coffee contains about 5 calories. Preferably, choose naturally-infused or organic hazelnut coffee beans to avoid consuming chemicals and artificial flavors. If you are unable to find naturally-infused hazelnut coffee from your local coffee shops, make some at home by grinding roasted coffee beans and hazelnuts together.

However, if you prepare hazelnut coffee by adding hazelnut syrup, you will increase the calorie count of your coffee. For instance, adding a tablespoon of hazelnut coffee creamer will increase the calorie count of your coffee by about 35 calories.

If you do not like the taste of black hazelnut coffee and want to sweeten it, choose less sugary creamers. Some great alternatives would be almond milk or soy milk creamers. They contain fewer calories and will still make your hazelnut coffee creamy and milky.