How to Taste a Latin American Black Coffee? How Much Does a Cup of Latin American Coffee Cost

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

Why Start with Black Coffee?

Many students who learn from me always ask one question: why should coffee beginners start with black coffee, and even use single-origin coffee tasting as the foundation? Some students think that learning black coffee is unimportant. Let me explain here: because coffee learning ultimately comes down to flavor, and single-origin coffee presents the characteristics of its origin. That is to say, each origin has its own unique aroma and flavor. Naturally, this is also the foundation for learning espresso because espresso beans are blended from two or more single-origin beans. For self-blended espresso, the shop owner needs to have a good grasp of the flavor characteristics presented by each bean at a specific roast level, and then grasp the flavor of the blend at specific proportions. Therefore, if you want to improve your coffee skills, you can start with this: taste, taste, and taste again.

The Perfect Cup: Coffee Tasting

Like wine, coffee has many types. Being able to taste all kinds of coffee is extremely tempting for many people. However, to better enjoy the pleasure of coffee, it's best to establish a relatively complete, systematic, and easy-to-understand evaluation system.

How to Taste Coffee?

First, start with smell - the aroma. First, smell the aroma emitted by freshly ground coffee powder, then smell the coffee aroma emitted after brewing, and compare the differences between these two aromas. Besides the obvious differences in coffee odor, carefully feel what this aroma reminds you of - is it a plant you've smelled before? A flower? Trees? Soil? Let your imagination run wild.

Then, taste. The tasting methods and points of attention can be summarized as follows:

First: Taste on the Tongue

Summarized as the coffee's acidity, sweetness, and bitterness.

Second: Mouthfeel

So-called mouth sensation, summarized as body weight - that is, whether the coffee's thickness in the mouth is obvious.

Third: Richness

So-called richness generally refers to the taste associations that coffee produces in your mouth, because coffee flavors easily remind people of citrus, lemon, fruit puree, fermentation, shumai, dried fruits, soil, grass, floral notes, honey aroma, etc.

Fourth: Flavor

To more comprehensively experience coffee flavors, it's recommended to taste using loud sipping. This method allows the coffee liquid to quickly cover the entire tongue surface upon entering the mouth, making rapid and comprehensive contact with the taste buds. Because flavor is the most prominent distinguishing feature between coffees from different origins.

Final Point: Aftertaste

So-called aftertaste refers to the lingering finish that coffee brings in your mouth and throat.

A Small Flavor Experience Method

Here's a small method for experiencing flavors: pinch your nose, place coffee liquid in your mouth, experience the coffee, then instantly release your nose after swallowing. You'll discover that the coffee's flavor characteristics are released the moment you release your nose. This can generally be summarized as: the manifestation of coffee flavor plays an important role at the connection between the end of the nasal cavity and the throat, and is greatly related to nasal breathing. Therefore, when experiencing flavors, I recommend everyone use this method. Let me give another vivid example: when we catch a cold and eat the same meal, you'll find that before the cold, the meal tastes very fragrant, but after the cold, our food loses its aroma. This dining aroma is similar to the coffee flavor experience.

Comparative Tasting

If possible, it's best to taste several different coffees at once. The benefit of doing this is that it allows you to deepen your perception of various coffee flavors through comparison and also train your taste buds. Treat all samples with the same processing to ensure comparability between samples. Settle down and enjoy the process. The more tasting experience you have, the more sensitive you become to coffee flavors.

Coffee Origins and Their Characteristics

In my teaching, coffee tasting starts with coffees from three major coffee-producing regions. Each famous quality coffee has its own unique flavor characteristics. However, coffees produced by the three major coffee regions will have some commonalities of their regional coffees. Understanding the general taste of coffees from each region helps with better memory when tasting coffee:

Latin American Coffees

Latin American coffee beans are known for their clean mouth feel, slightly sweet flavor, and lively acidity. Some coffees have clearly sparkling acidity that far exceeds other flavor characteristics, while others have subtle but crisp accents.

Africa & Arabia Coffees

Coffees from Africa & Arabia typically have sweet flavors that recall the aroma of a bowl of fresh fruit. In some coffees, the quality is very balanced, while others show intense tart acidity. Coffees from this region offer a wide range of flavors, from mellow to winy, from zesty to citrus - truly multifaceted.

Pacific Coffees

Pacific region coffees are best known for their rich and full-bodied character, nutty and earthy flavors. Most can be described as smooth in acidity with a slightly dry finish.

Latin American Coffee Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Latin American coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value for money - a half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 80-100 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 5-6 yuan. Compared to coffee shops selling cups for over 100 yuan each, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473