diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py
index 783027c8f2f..8a3bc033bc1 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/compiler.py
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ class CompilerPackage(spack.package_base.PackageBase):
     #: Relative path to compiler wrappers
     compiler_wrapper_link_paths: Dict[str, str] = {}
 
+    #: Optimization flags
+    opt_flags: Sequence[str] = []
+    #: Flags for generating debug information
+    debug_flags: Sequence[str] = []
+
     def __init__(self, spec: "spack.spec.Spec"):
         super().__init__(spec)
         msg = f"Supported languages for {spec} are not a subset of possible supported languages"
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/compilers/adaptor.py b/lib/spack/spack/compilers/adaptor.py
index e8caef57760..76314087c53 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/compilers/adaptor.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/compilers/adaptor.py
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ class Languages(enum.Enum):
 
 
 class CompilerAdaptor:
+    """Provides access to compiler attributes via `Package.compiler`. Useful for
+    packages which do not yet access compiler properties via `self.spec[language]`.
+    """
+
     def __init__(
         self, compiled_spec: spack.spec.Spec, compilers: Dict[Languages, spack.spec.Spec]
     ) -> None:
@@ -79,6 +83,14 @@ def implicit_rpaths(self) -> List[str]:
             result.extend(CompilerPropertyDetector(compiler).implicit_rpaths())
         return result
 
+    @property
+    def opt_flags(self) -> List[str]:
+        return next(iter(self.compilers.values())).package.opt_flags
+
+    @property
+    def debug_flags(self) -> List[str]:
+        return next(iter(self.compilers.values())).package.debug_flags
+
     @property
     def openmp_flag(self) -> str:
         return next(iter(self.compilers.values())).package.openmp_flag
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_semantics.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_semantics.py
index 02673ffab68..28788aadf62 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_semantics.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/spec_semantics.py
@@ -1365,6 +1365,18 @@ def test_splice_swap_names_mismatch_virtuals(self, default_mock_concretization,
         with pytest.raises(spack.spec.SpliceError, match="virtual"):
             vt.splice(vh, transitive)
 
+    def test_adaptor_optflags(self):
+        """Tests that we can obtain the list of optflags, and debugflags,
+        from the compiler adaptor, and that this list is taken from the
+        appropriate compiler package.
+        """
+        # pkg-a depends on c, so only the gcc compiler should be chosen
+        spec = spack.concretize.concretize_one(Spec("pkg-a %gcc"))
+        assert "-Otestopt" in spec.package.compiler.opt_flags
+        # This is not set, make sure we get an empty list
+        for x in spec.package.compiler.debug_flags:
+            pass
+
     def test_spec_override(self):
         init_spec = Spec("pkg-a foo=baz foobar=baz cflags=-O3 cxxflags=-O1")
         change_spec = Spec("pkg-a foo=fee cflags=-O2")
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/packages/gcc/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/packages/gcc/package.py
index 59ae7077cc4..77c789a92d9 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/packages/gcc/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/packages/gcc/package.py
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ class Gcc(CompilerPackage, Package):
     compiler_version_regex = r"(?<!clang version)\s?([0-9.]+)"
     compiler_version_argument = ("-dumpfullversion", "-dumpversion")
 
+    opt_flags = ["-Otestopt"]
+
     compiler_wrapper_link_paths = {
         "c": os.path.join("gcc", "gcc"),
         "cxx": os.path.join("gcc", "g++"),
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mfem/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mfem/package.py
index 33d26d83d9f..66948501c4d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mfem/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mfem/package.py
@@ -659,8 +659,8 @@ def find_optional_library(name, prefix):
 
         if cxxflags:
             # Add opt/debug flags if they are not present in global cxx flags
-            opt_flag_found = any(f in self.compiler.opt_flags for f in cxxflags)
-            debug_flag_found = any(f in self.compiler.debug_flags for f in cxxflags)
+            opt_flag_found = any(f in self["cxx"].opt_flags for f in cxxflags)
+            debug_flag_found = any(f in self["cxx"].debug_flags for f in cxxflags)
 
             if "+debug" in spec:
                 if not debug_flag_found: