How to Describe Coffee Aroma: 36 Professional Coffee Scent Terms and Common Aroma Names

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Those who frequently drink coffee should know that the term "flavor" primarily describes the multi-faceted perception of coffee's aroma, mouthfeel, and aftertaste. FrontStreet Coffee often encounters many customers with this confusion: why do I taste something familiar in this cup of coffee, but I just can't identify it? Actually, this situation is quite common and normal. Most people don't pay much attention to the food itself when eating - perhaps chatting while eating, or watching something to accompany their meal. Under these external influences, the food's inherent flavor很难留在脑海中，也就是没有一个系统的风味认知。FrontStreet Coffee, whenever introducing a new coffee bean, conducts several rounds of roasting adjustments, followed by cupping and brewing. During the cupping process, we strongly emphasize the ability to recognize coffee flavors. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee conducts extensive flavor recognition training. Today, based on our own experience and insights, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss the science of coffee flavors with everyone.

What is Coffee Flavor?

The expression of coffee's four main tastes - sour, sweet, bitter, and salty - is closely related to the degree of roasting. Therefore, the [Flavor Wheel] categorizes them by light-to-medium roast and dark-to-heavy roast. Coincidentally, the "sour and sweet" taste compounds in light-to-medium roasts have lower molecular weights, higher polarity, and higher water solubility, often dissolving out in the first half of extraction. However, the "bitter and salty" taste compounds have higher molecular weights, lower polarity, and lower water solubility, often dissolving only in the latter half of extraction.

Light to medium roasted coffee's taste is dominated by low to medium molecular weight sour and sweet flavors, but if there are too many defective beans or improper roasting, even light to medium roasts can develop unpleasant bitter and salty tastes. Dark roasts, on the other hand, are primarily characterized by high molecular weight bitter and salty flavors. However, dark roasts are not without merit - the most rare dark roast flavor profile is "rich without bitterness, mellow and smooth on the throat."

Proportion of Water-Soluble Flavor Compounds in Coffee

The above data shows the weight proportion of soluble taste compounds - sour, sweet, bitter, and salty - in roasted coffee beans. Although sweet components are the most abundant, accounting for 39% of soluble compounds, followed by bitter compounds at 26.4%, salty taste ranks third at 14%, and sour taste has the lowest proportion at no more than 5.4%. Adding these together gives 84.8%, with the remaining unlisted items presumably being taste compounds with lower content.

Don't assume that because the sweetness proportion is so high, coffee will be as sweet as honey. This is not actually the case. The bitterness, sourness, or saltiness of black coffee can easily interfere with the original sweetness. The four tastes have complex relationships of mutual cancellation and complementarity.

Four Major Flavor Spectrums

FrontStreet Coffee suggests dividing sour, sweet, bitter, and salty into 4 flavor spectrums for analysis.

1. Sour Flavor Spectrum

Sourness is originally the greatest characteristic of light to medium roasted coffee. Coffee beans contain various organic acids, with phenolic acids, aliphatic acids, and amino acids having the greatest impact on coffee's taste.

Additionally, during the roasting process, sucrose degradation products occur. As coffee develops from light to medium roast, sucgradually degrades, causing acetic acid and lactic acid concentrations to rise, but at a certain point, they suddenly drop dramatically. Therefore, light to medium roasted coffees generally have more obvious sour flavors.

2. Bitter Flavor Spectrum

Coffee's bitterness can be categorized into two types: smooth and harsh. The former refers to the natural slight bitterness of caffeine, trigonelline, aliphatic acids, and quinine lactones; the latter refers to the harsh bitterness of chlorogenic acid degradation products (chlorogenic acid lactones), defective beans, and carbonized particles.

3. Sweet Flavor Spectrum

Although the volatile aroma of caramel can easily be enjoyed through retro-nasal olfaction techniques, tasting the sweetness of black coffee is not easy, because sweetness is often interfered with by other sour, bitter, and salty components, making it difficult to stand out. Unless the sweet components in roasted beans are above average, they might break through and allow the sweet taste to be perceived. In other words, olfaction is far easier than taste for enjoying coffee's sweetness.

The "sweet flavor spectrum" in light to medium roasts involves the interactive taste of sweetness and sourness, most commonly appearing in high-altitude washed beans above 1300 meters. If citric acid, malic acid, and acetic acid content is not low, there will be a sharp sourness, but if the coffee's sugar content is high, it can neutralize some fruit acids, making the sharp sourness become smooth, lively, and dynamic, creating fruit flavors and an interesting "sweet-sour vibration" taste.

4. Salty Flavor Spectrum

Although coffee's saltiness is ubiquitous, it is often masked by the interaction of sour and sweet flavors. Once you can taste saltiness in black coffee, it indicates that the organic compounds responsible for sour and sweet flavors have been completely oxidized, causing the inorganic saltiness to become prominent, which can be seen as a warning sign that the coffee has lost its flavor or is no longer fresh.

How to Read the Coffee Flavor Wheel?

First, let's look at a complete coffee flavor wheel image.

｜ Floral & Fruity

Floral: Light, slightly sweet, elegant aromatics

Fruity: A mixture of slight sweetness and floral aromas from various mature fruits

In specialty coffee, floral aromas are relatively rare, with the most representative being:

1. Chamomile - Aromatic type, slightly pungent, initially a bit sharp to the nose. Representative floral aroma also includes osmanthus. Osmanthus aroma is more pronounced in Guatemala Bosques.

FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala Bosques Coffee Beans

2. Rose - Subtle fragrance type, with a peaceful and soothing feeling. Representative floral aroma also includes lavender. Sun-dried Sidamo Horse Crown is most prominent for its rose floral aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Horse Crown Coffee Beans

3. Jasmine - Fresh fragrance type, uplifting and vibrant aroma. Representative floral aroma also includes coffee flowers. There are quite a few coffees with this floral type. Panama's Blue Label Geisha and Yirgacheffe Aricha are jasmine floral types.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

Panama Esmeralda Special Red Label Geisha has both jasmine and rose floral aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee Panama Esmeralda Special Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans

The most representative fruit acids are:

1. Yirgacheffe Red Cherry emits strong fruit aromas of dried fruit, plum, strawberry, and lemon.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans

2. Limu enters with fresh grass aroma, apple and plum sour notes, with berry aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Limu Coffee Beans

3. Heart of Africa Burundi has citrus sour aroma and tea fragrance, with light acidity, rich texture, plum, kumquat, lemon, dried fruit, and caramel.

FrontStreet Coffee Heart of Africa Coffee Beans

｜ Green/Vegetal

Starting from this category, the flavors need some explanation.

Under-Ripe: Fruit not yet ripe on the tree, tastes similar to grapefruit peel.

Fresh: The smell of freshly cut grass.

Dark Green: Cooked green vegetables, like the canned spinach that makes Popeye strong.

Vegetative: Slightly spicy taste of green vegetables, with canned asparagus as reference.

Herb-like: Spice leaves are more appropriate, such as bay leaves, basil, thyme.

Peapod: Taste of beans and bean products. (Aromatic acids in the sour category, although also beans, focus more on sourness.)

FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

Among single-origin coffees, Indonesia's Sumatra Golden Mandheling is representative. After roasting to medium-dark, it sometimes still emits the aroma of grass jelly, which is quite unique.

｜ Nut/Cocoa

Produced in medium roasts due to the [Maillard reaction]. This aroma is quite common, including:

Nut category: Roasted Almonds, Roasted Peanuts, Roasted Hazelnuts, Walnuts.

Cocoa category: Black Chocolate

FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Queen's Farm Coffee Beans

Brazil Queen's Farm is representative. Strong chocolate, smoky, nutty, creamy flavors, with caramel, berries, and pineapple sweetness.

｜ Sweet

During medium roasting, sour aromas break down, producing caramel aroma from [sugar browning reaction] caramelization.

FrontStreet Coffee, based on the two major categories of sugars in the flavor wheel, uses two representative coffee beans as examples:

1. Toffee, Caramel, Honey, Maple Syrup

The distinguishing feature of the first major category is its "viscosity," which relates to both our mouthfeel and the degree of sweetness, and can also be confirmed through olfaction. We can simply summarize it as toffee > caramel > honey > maple syrup. This viscosity can be expressed as: after drinking coffee, smell the bottom of the cup - does it feel rich and cloying, or relatively light? Additionally, honey's aroma carries a bit of sourness and fermentation, while maple syrup smells relatively light with a hint of woody notes.

FrontStreet Coffee Flower Butterfly Coffee Beans

Panama sun-dried Flower Butterfly is representative. Floral, citrus, lemon, sucrose, honey, hazelnut, oolong tea.

2. Brown Sugar, Yellow Sugar, White Sugar

The second major category distinguishes sucrose by different purity and sweetness levels. Although in terms of purity white sugar > yellow sugar > brown sugar, in coffee we need to incorporate olfaction, which makes the sweetness in coffee rank as brown sugar > yellow sugar > white sugar. Different sweetness intensities give us different feelings.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Father Geisha Coffee Beans

Costa Rica Father Geisha is representative. Floral, citrus, lemon, sucrose, honey, hazelnut, oolong tea.

｜ Spices

Generally produced in dark roasts, including: Pungent - sharp, piercing taste, with orange essential oil as reference. Tiger Mandheling, with its traditional Chinese medicine aroma in mouthfeel, is representative.

FrontStreet Coffee Tiger Mandheling Coffee Beans

｜ Sour/Fermented

Sour Aromatics: Sour products, such as (Bush's Pinto Beans) - a type of canned black and white speckled beans.

Citric Acid and Malic Acid: More focused on sourness and astringency, more intense.

Butyric Acid: Taste of certain aged cheeses, such as Parmesan.

Isovaleric Acid: Also taste of certain aged cheeses, such as Romano

Geisha Village CHAKA, with citrus, lemon, grapefruit, nut, and almond flavors, is representative.

｜ Alcoholic/Fermented

Overripe: Although the reference is banana, it actually refers to the sweet, slightly sour, moist, moldy, or earthy taste of other overripe fruits or vegetables.

Winey: Reference is Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon

Whiskey: Reference is Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey Old No. 7

Fermented: Reference is Guinness Extra Stout beer

FrontStreet Coffee Honduras Sherry Coffee Beans

Whiskey-fermented Honduras Sherry is representative. It smells of vanilla and cream, with whiskey, berry, almond, and dark chocolate flavors in the mouth, and a maple syrup aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Honduras Lychee Lan Coffee Beans

Brandy barrel-fermented Honduras Lychee Lan is representative. After brandy barrel fermentation treatment, the beans have gentle lychee and honey sweetness, while also blending full-bodied brandy aroma and oak barrel fragrance.

｜ Roasted

Acrid: Specifically refers to the bitterness after scorching. The bitterness we usually taste is from caffeine, not necessarily the bitterness from scorching.

Smoky: The smell of wood ash after burning wood.

Brown, Roast: Purely refers to the sensation of being roasted.

｜ Other

Stale: Lacks fresh feeling, taste of fermented bread, expired bread.

Moldy/Damp: The damp smell of basements.

Musty/Dusty: Wheat germ, similar to cereal crumb taste.

Phenolic: This is not a misplaced image, nor a still from Fifty Shades of Grey. This is an old-fashioned tack room, a damp space with animal smells.

Among these, woody aroma is produced during the [dry distillation] process of dark roasting. This flavor receives mixed reviews - those who love it enjoy the woody character in coffee, while those who dislike it feel it affects the coffee's inherent flavor.

Coffee's 85 flavors do not represent 85 different types of coffee, but rather the different flavors produced during coffee's planting, processing, and roasting, influenced by environment, genetics, processing methods, storage and transportation, roasting degree, and roaster skill.

Coffee flavor is actually complex and multi-layered. To truly understand coffee, FrontStreet Coffee suggests starting from the following three conditions:

First: Whether you have experienced similar taste and smell experiences. If you've never eaten a peach, of course you can't identify peach flavor.

Second: FrontStreet Coffee suggests waiting until the coffee has completely cooled before tasting, because coffee's fruity notes are often only identifiable after cooling, and coffee flavors unfold as the temperature decreases.

Third: Coffee concentration also affects a cup's character. For light-roasted, floral coffees, FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing them lighter to spread out the flavor spectrum, making it easier to identify specific tastes (this explains why cupping uses a 1:18.18 powder-to-water ratio).

How FrontStreet Coffee Tastes a Good Cup of Coffee

1. Drink coffee in small sips, slowly, even gargling slightly, holding the coffee liquid in your mouth and stirring gently.

2. Each sip reveals different layers as the temperature changes. The first two sips will be bitter at the root of the tongue. As the coffee cools, it gradually changes from bitter to sour, with subtle citrus acidity.

3. When halfway through, the coffee changes from sour to sweet, from bitter to sweet, beginning to show aftertaste. The tongue surface feels sweet, finally recalling caramel sweetness that lingers between mouth and nose, savoring the coffee's aftertaste through retro-nasal olfaction.

4. After finishing, don't rush to wash the cup; smell the sweet, pleasant aroma at the bottom.

How FrontStreet Coffee Identifies Aromas

The entire process of identifying aromas: brain receives information - compares - analyzes - remembers.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned at the beginning, many people can smell an aroma and taste a flavor, but cannot describe them accurately. The flavor wheel can categorize all human-perceived taste systems concretely, corresponding to the aroma wheel for olfactory systems. Practicing with both together allows clear perception of the most subtle differences among all aromas.

Many people, when approaching coffee, think "bitter equals strong, strong equals fragrant." When encountering such customers, FrontStreet Coffee patiently explains what flavors exist, that strong doesn't necessarily mean fragrant, and bitter isn't always the case either. But for someone who has never studied coffee, they can use the flavor wheel introduction above to learn, or simply read it for interest. After all, not everyone has this professional sensitivity. The reason for these differences is merely different descriptions of the same compound due to cultural, lifestyle, dietary, and regional variations. Therefore, the most important thing in coffee tasting is communication - talk about your feelings about this bean. Different cultures and experiences will inevitably lead to different descriptions, and such communication can bring much joy~~

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