Coffee Flavor Description: How to Describe Coffee Flavors and What Are the Characteristics of Coffee Flavor?

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Often when drinking a satisfying cup of coffee, we don't know how to tell others what its taste is. It has always seemed quite magical why the flavors that baristas taste are quite different from what we taste.

Coffee beans are like fruits, and in fact, they actually are. Their wonderfulness lies in the fact that good coffee can simultaneously express the flavors of many fruits, and even various delicious foods. To conveniently describe the complex flavors of coffee, we usually use analogies, such as tasting "like the sweet and sourness of pineapple" or "similar to the fresh fragrance of lemon"; at the same time, we will divide them into several categories for discussion:

Acidity

When coffee is on the tree, it is a fruit that appears red, yellow, orange, or green, looking very much like a cherry, hence it is also called "Coffee Cherries." The taste of the pulp is sweet and sour. The coffee beans we use for daily drinking are actually the seeds inside the coffee fruit. During the post-processing treatment, the natural fruit flavors are locked inside the coffee beans.

Coffee fruits usually don't all ripen together. Delicious coffee actually originates from careful and time-consuming manual labor.

Analogy of Acidity

Therefore, acidity is one of the very important flavors of coffee beans. The direction for distinguishing the intensity of acidity is usually analogous to fruit acids. From weak to strong, it is approximately malic acid, tartaric acid, nectarine acid, citrus acid, plum acid, strawberry, dark plum, blackberry, raspberry, fruit vinegar, and rice vinegar acid.

The reason this word is translated as "acidity" is because it is not just about the strength of acidity, but also includes the properties and textures brought by the various acids mentioned above.

Body

Generally used when tasting red wine, it is a term to describe the thickness or thinness of the wine body. Here, it is borrowed to describe the body of coffee. You can shake the coffee cup and observe the speed at which the coffee adheres to the cup wall and slides down to judge the body of the coffee. The description analogy for body from thin to thick can be described using water, milk, and rice slurry. The richer the coffee liquid, the higher the dissolved substances it contains, the more coffee oils it has, and the stronger its presence in the mouth.

Flavor

If "flavor" is not used as a general term, it refers to taste sensations that are different from other categories. That is, it is not aroma, not acidity, not body, etc. It can include many kinds, such as chocolate, honey, milk, nuts, stone fruits, herbs, smoked products, and even special flavors like leather and freshly cut grass.

Terroir, Local Flavor

Since we've mentioned the flavor of coffee, we must mention "Terroir." This term comes from wine and is usually translated into Chinese as "风土特色、地方之味" (wind-soil characteristics, local flavor), etc. It refers to "the positive flavor that the growing environment brings to agricultural products, and which is difficult to replicate in other places."

Climate, altitude, sunlight, hydrology, soil, microorganisms, and the composition of surrounding plants are different in every place. Therefore, each producing area, and even within producing areas, will have differences. Local flavor is local. For example, the herbal, grassy, and earthy flavors of Mandheling originate from the unique flavors of Sumatra.

Aftertaste

The taste that remains in the teeth, cheeks, and mouth after the coffee passes through the throat. In this world, there exist certain interesting single-origin coffees that, like tea, will produce saliva and return sweetness, and even possess a tea-like finish. Therefore, you can try pairing a sip of single-origin coffee with a sip of plain white water after drinking it, and perhaps you will get an additional surprise.

Balance

The "balance" here refers to the distribution of coffee flavors—whether the aroma in the front, the mouthfeel in the middle, and the aftertaste in the back are evenly distributed. If certain characteristics are too prominent, even if it tastes good, it may not necessarily be considered properly balanced. Simply put, a balanced cup of coffee should have rich front aroma, thick and smooth mouthfeel, and long-lasting aftertaste. The overall drinking experience should be comfortable to be considered balanced.

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) daily uses aroma bottles to train their sense of smell, and during cupping, they correspond to similar aroma bottles for training to remember the aromas.

Important Notice :

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