What’s the secret ingredient in Philz coffee?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “best philz coffee drinks reddit“
What’s the secret ingredient in Philz coffee?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “best philz coffee drinks reddit“
There is no olive oil in our coffee or cream.
Here are the host of “secret” ingredients that go into various cups of Philz coffee:
Cardamom
Manufacturing Cream (supposedly special, fattier cream not available in a standard grocery store)
Brown Sugar
Mint (fresh sprigs as garnish)
Freshly ground coffee beans for every cup (this is not secret but certainly adds a tremendous amount of flavor to your cup – plus they use 3x the normal beans per cup as compared to most cafes)
Worked there, so going Anon ’cause I’m not supposed to talk about the Philz Secrets.
Sure there are the magical secret Philz Blends (which no one knows except Phil & Jacob, they remind us), the brown sugar, the one-cup-at-a-time process… but Phil says that there is a “secret ingredient” in the 70-calories-per-tablespoon manufacturing cream, and neither myself nor any of my co-workers could figure out what it is. My best guess- more milk fat (butter?).
As to the “olive oil” suggestion (that I cannot comment directly on because I’m anonymous)… while a cup of Philz that sits for a while may look like it has oil on top, a carton of cream at Philz that has been sitting in the fridge for a while (before it is shaken) does not look like it has olive oil in it. Olive oil congeals when cold, so it would be easy to tell. I do not think the secret ingredient is olive oil.
I work at philz. If you think its all in the cream why dont you try it with milk.. or almond milk. its always amazing.. its philz. the only coffee with oil in it is Philtered Soul and its roasted with hazelnut oil. All the cream is standard and sealed until we use it, no additions i promise. We just make good coffee! Welcome to Philz!
They also add a sprig of mint to a bunch of their coffees, which is a surprising and delicious touch. Also, in some of the blends there is cardamom, which is a nice addition for something a bit more Middle Eastern.
Marketing.
Haha, this is funny. I am also a former employee so I am also going anonymous. So the “secret ingredient” is def. something they add to the manufacturing cream – employees are trained to only use cream that is standing open as that signifies that the Philz elders have added the ingredient to the manufaturing cream. I strongly believe that whatever it is increases the fat content of the cream. I’ve heard the oil rumors too – some employees found some empty containers in the trash – but if Jacob says it isn’t olive oil I believe him. 🙂
Regardless, Philz coffee tastes so good in part because fat is delicious – but be careful! Even if the special ingredient isn’t fatty, you are already getting more fat in a small standard Philz than you would in a Big Mac (48 grams vs. 29 grams) and more than your daily allotment of saturated fat if you eat a 2000 calorie diet (28 grams vs. a recommended 16-22 grams). So if you’re a Philz regular and trying to watch your diet, you might want to ask for the low-fat! 🙂
My sister worked at the first Philz location in their early days. Her take on this is there isn’t really a secret ingredient. It’s just quality ingredients combined with clever marketing.
Secret is 1 part great beans, 1 part great barista, and 1 part great passion by Phil and Jacob.
i usually get my Phliz coffee with cream and a little sugar and on the top you can see oil puddles within the foam. i’ve tried brewing coffee really hot to see if i could get the coffee oils to come into the brew, but it didn’t happen and probably wouldn’t make it past the paper filter. my theory is that they are adding an oil to their coffee, most likely something with a mild flavor (not olive oil) but rather something like butter or ghee (clarified butter). i’m going to try it out next time i brew a cup. there are some youtube videos showing people using that or coconut milk, and i can see they are able to get the slight foam characteristic of a cup of Philz.
I always ask for skim, and my Philz still tastes pretty special, so while the cream may be part of the answer, it’s not the whole answer. For me, I think the brown sugar and brewing method are more significant.
I believe it’s “love”…it’s what Phil told me.
Just to throw this out there… My wife thinks the additional ingredient is coconut oil. Apparently it has special “coating” properties that can make a cup of coffee super smooth. With the other ingredients (and Philz beans. Dancing Water FTW!) and then adding this in (I happen to use Dr. Bronner’s virgin coconut oil) I’m able to get really close to what the baristas whip up at my local Philz. Maybe others can try and report back? I’ve found that you don’t have to add that much. Basically if you can taste coconuts then it’s too much so I typically just scrape a little out of the jar with a teaspoon. Maybe the size of a dime at most for 16oz of coffee.
Eight O’Clock
Please note—philz is not “great coffee” with special inherent qualities. Any coffee that you add various chemicals to/milk/sugar/cream etc. is enhanced to your tastebuds because you like sweet things, but adding those sweet things masks the flavor of the coffee. In reality the actual coffee itself, meaning the arabica beans, are probably blended from a ton of different fincas, probably from totally different areas, and are likely not the premium beans from those fincas that go into high-end bags of single-origin coffee sold at organic distributors.
Actual great coffee, which is arabica beans grown in single origin fincas where the mulch, soil, nearby crops, altitude, and climate is like extremely fine red wine. The taste profiles are wealthy and diverse, and it would taste so good to you that even if you don’t like coffee much you would be able to tell that blending it would be a total waste of the product. I would recommend looking into the q-grading process and trying to find premium single-origin roasted-at-source medium roast pour over bags at a nearby specialty store, or a specialty cafe near you. Additionally your preparation method can dramatically alter the flavor of the coffee, and you should always your twice-filtered water. Alternatively you could travel to Colombia or Ethiopia, where the best arabica in the world comes from, but most people don’t have the resources for that.
If you’re drinking espresso based drinks and lattes the beans are robusta and naturally far more bitter but you should even be able to tell with great robusta that adding milk and sugar wastes the bean. Just don’t call coffee that is blended/loaded with cream and milk “great coffee”. If you have to disguise the taste, your coffee is not great. It would be like calling blended red wine that tastes kind of bleh on its own but great when you add a spoonful of sugar and a splash of apple juice “great”.
Victor Allen’s
I dunno if there’s any secret ingredients, but they use heavy whipping cream and brown sugar, whereas most coffee has half & half and regular sugar.
I’m not sure if I totally buy this special cream business. You can ask for no cream in your coffee and it still tastes unique.
Do they use the Turkish method? I have a feeling that one cup of at a time is a big deal. There’s maybe just three shops I’ve been to that are at or close to Philz’s level. The Movie Groove and Grind in Redwood City is likewise stellar. 61C in Pittsburgh comes close. Think Coffee near NYU does a very good blend, but it lacks an independent character. I just discovered Kaffe 1668 a month ago and it appears promising.
The reason why I fixate on process is that you can have cups of coffee from Philz or MG&G that are just very good (i.e. at least better than all the competition), but oftentimes you’ll get a particularly skilled barista who makes a pretty unequaled cup of coffee. There’s something charming about knowing that your coffee isn’t good because the store owns an expensive espresso machine, and much as I love NY, most of the good coffees in NY are nice hipster cups of coffee. Not slandering those shops. It takes a certain level of craft to get the water temps calibrated and to take the time and discipline to fresh grind the beans. But it’s just not the same. I’m keeping mum about who I am because I do my work in a lot of these shops, and I love them dearly, but it’s Just Not The Same.
Both Philz and MG&G appear to use cardamom in their coffee. But they are definitely not using the same blends/recipes. Philz coffees are very comfortable and homely. The MG&G coffees (at least the ones I tried) had a sharp indie edge.