Tasting Notes
Before going further, it is only fair to mention that taste is very subjective and you can agree/disagree with what you are tasting. The notes come from a professional quality control tasting called a “cupping, ” where the roaster tastes the coffee in its truest form. (We actually slurp the coffee with a spoon so the coffee hits every part of the mouth). They get the good, the bad, and the crazy from a cupping table. The flavors can vary between different brew methods which is why there might be some variance in what you are reading on the bag and what you are tasting. There are a number of tasting wheels a roaster may use to help define and drill down the flavors as seen in the image above.
When looking at a bag with tasting notes, you might see some terms that you do not fully understand what to look for or how it correlates to tasting. When talking about clarity, it is referring to how clear is the flavor coming through. If you are tasting a coffee with notes of fruit, can you figure out which fruit it is (clean), or is it lost within other flavors or textures (muddled)?
Just like with wine, the mouthfeel of a coffee can be very important to how it tastes. If you have more delicate floral flavors, you don’t want a strong heavy body because the flavors will all be lost. Even with eating, there are some foods that taste very good, but are almost inedible because of the texture as you eat.
A coffee connoisseur will typically seek out a “clean and balanced” cup of coffee. These terms seem very simple, but are also sometimes hard to define. A clean cup of coffee is going to have no roast defects. Roast defects will typically leave the coffee with an off putting and inconsistent flavor. They are typically an undesired acidic or bitterness within the coffee (I say undesired because not all acidic and bitter flavors are bad). Every passionate roaster who is true to his/her craft experiments constantly to find the correct balance of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness for each specific coffee. Every coffee has all three and getting the best flavors from each typically creates a well balanced cup.
As mentioned before, not all acidic and bitter flavors are bad. You can have a very nice cup that’s very acidic that has notes of apples, lemons, or other citrus heavy fruit. The same is for bitterness; I am talking to all of you dark chocolate lovers out there or double IPA beer lovers. There are many other great flavors that fit into these two categories so it is best to try anything that interests you because there is a good chance that you will find it delicious.
I try to leave opinion out of this, but I will say that tasting and determining flavor profiles are one of the more fun parts of the process for me. There is a lot of room for creativity and a lot of fun surprises when tasting coffees. It is very subjective so something you might not enjoy might be someone else’s favorite. Everyone has a different palette and not one taste is better than the other; it is all about what you enjoy that matters the most. If you want to try and taste coffee like the professionals, watch this cupping tutorial and have fun with it. Leave a comment below with some of your favorite or most exciting flavors you have found in coffee.
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