Taste Training | How to Identify Single-Origin Coffee Flavors Using Aroma Bottles

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Introduction

When we conduct coffee cupping, we write flavor descriptions such as "coffee flower aroma," "lemon acidity," "citrus acidity," and other professional terms. Some friends may wonder why we can write so many vocabulary words. Actually, the secret is smelling "aroma bottles" frequently. From the literal meaning, these are bottles that emit fragrance, and understanding them this way is not far from the truth. So why do such bottles need to exist? And what is their relationship with coffee?

Aroma bottles systematically categorize and blend chemical oils to present different aromas, helping to calibrate your coffee olfactory sense and assist in memory of specific aromas. The ancestor of aroma bottles is said to be various materials collected directly—taking certain plants and foods and placing them separately in glass bottles for storage. When training, one would open the bottles to smell the aromas. However, fresh materials without special preservation treatments would rot and stink quite quickly, which led to the current chemical oil aroma bottles that can be preserved for over 5 years.

Currently, there are two major types of aroma bottles on the market. One is the 36-scent "Le Nez du Café" (literally translated as "coffee nose") manufactured by France's Edition Jean Lenoir. The other is the 100-scent "Coffee Flavor Map" produced this year by Korea's Scentone. The one currently used in SCAA-certified courses is the 36-scent version. Besides helping you remember specific flavors, its four major categories also tell you what different flavors coffee will have during the roasting process, providing complete coffee knowledge training. How many categories are there?

1. Enzymatic Category

(Fruits): Lemon, Apple, Apricot

(Vegetables): Potato, Cucumber, Garden Peas

(Floral Nectar): Coffee Blossom, Tea Rose, Honeyed

2. Sugar Browning Category

(Four Nuts): Roasted Almonds, Roasted Peanuts, Roasted Hazelnuts, Walnuts

(Three Desserts): Caramel, Black Chocolate, Vanilla

(Two Meals): Toast, Fresh Butter

3. Dry Distillation Category

(Spices): Pepper, Coriander Seed, Clove-like

(Beverage Ingredients): Black Currant-like, Maple Syrup, Malt

(Herbal Processed): Roasted Coffee, Pipe Tobacco, Cedar

4. Aromatic Taint Category

(Wet/Earthy): Earthy, Straw, Medicinal

(Dry/Sharp): Rubber, Leather, Smoke

(Pleasant Aromas): Coffee Pulp, Basmati Rice, Cooked Beef

Daily taste and smell training can be done by eating more fruits and smelling their aromas. For more in-depth taste training, you can use aroma bottles and freshly ground coffee powder to compare dry aromas, wet aromas, and flavors. Don't smell aroma bottles too much at once, as it can cause dizziness. You can first smell the cap, then the oil, moving it side to side to let your nasal cavity fully experience the aroma. Comparing smells will deepen your discrimination ability. However, no matter which aroma bottles you use, consistent practice will surely improve your olfactory discrimination skills.

After understanding the classification of the 36 aroma bottles, how do we apply them to tasting? Let's use several single-origin beans as examples:

Primarily floral and fruity tones: The floral notes are rounded and gentle, comforting; the fruit aromas are fresh, lively, and invigorating, reminiscent of oranges, peaches, and other tropical fruits that make your mouth water.

[FrontStreet Coffee Flower Butterfly]

Flavor: Citrus, jasmine, honey peach, grape, caramel, honey, with fascinating high mountain black tea aroma

[Sidamo Flower Queen]

Flavor: Passion fruit, fermented wine aroma, strawberry, jackfruit

[Natural Process Yirgacheffe Red Cherry]

Flavor: Strawberry, prune, sucrose

[Kenya Natural Process Bourbon Hania]

Dry Aroma: Natural process fermentation, dried fruit, vanilla, caramel, mixed fruits. Solid juice sensation with berry, rich jackfruit, and coffee flower aromas in the aftertaste.

Primarily sugar browning and dry distillation flavors:

[Golden Mandheling]

Flavor: Quality herbal, clove, pine aroma, caramel, cream, nuts, dark chocolate

[Jamaica Blue Mountain]

Flavor: Chocolate, nuts, cream, brown sugar. Balanced sweet, sour, and bitter notes, with moderate soft acidity and slight fruit aroma.

[Yunnan Flower Fruit Mountain]

Flavor: Melon and fruit aroma, nuts, milk chocolate, cream, herbal, brown sugar, honey

Excellent beans can correspond to certain types of aroma bottles. If you don't have aroma bottles at home, you can actually try more fruits and smell flower fragrances. Continuous practice will make it easier to identify different flavors~ Today's sharing ends here, hope it helps everyone~

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473