Do You Truly Understand Coffee Aftertaste and Sweet Finish? Which Coffee Beans Have the Best Sweet Finish Recommendations

Understanding the Sweet Aftertaste in Coffee

For a long time, there was a customer who would always come to the shop during a fixed time period, order a cup of Blue Mountain coffee, and sit quietly in his seat. He would leave after finishing his drink, without much conversation. Until one time, while settling the bill, he said to FrontStreet Coffee, "I've had coffee from many places, but I only like your Blue Mountain. The sweet aftertaste is very good."

"Sweet aftertaste" (Hui Gan) is both familiar and unfamiliar when it comes to coffee. What's familiar is that when you hear the term "sweet aftertaste," you immediately understand how the coffee performs. What's unfamiliar is that this term is rarely used in the evaluation of specialty coffee.

Let's first look at the definition of sweet aftertaste. It refers to the initial bitterness in the mouth, followed by a turning point that returns a sweet taste—the so-called bitterness turning to sweetness. It can also refer to the initial sourness and astringency, followed by a turning point that returns a sweet taste, like olives.

In other words, sweet aftertaste is built upon the foundation of bitterness and astringency. This serves as a good indicator for evaluating dark-roasted coffees that are predominantly bitter. In an era when black coffee was assumed to be bitter by default, if one cup leaves a burnt bitterness after swallowing while another offers sweetness after bitterness, the latter would naturally be more appealing.

The Shift to Aftertaste in Specialty Coffee

However, in specialty coffees dominated by floral and fruity notes, sweet aftertaste is no longer applicable as an evaluation standard for all black coffees. Instead, "aftertaste" is used to evaluate the flavor performance of coffee after swallowing.

Sweet aftertaste is one type of aftertaste. Aftertaste refers to the flavors and aromas expressed by the coffee compounds that remain in the mouth after swallowing, which can be either positive or negative. Good aftertaste consists of positive flavors such as floral notes, tea-like qualities, honey-like sweetness, and sweet sensations. Sweet aftertaste belongs to this category of positive flavors, and the longer these good flavors persist, the better the aftertaste performance.

Negative aftertaste flavors include sawdust, earthy tastes, and chaff flavors, among others.

Common Misconceptions About Sweet Aftertaste

Here, FrontStreet Coffee would also like to address a common misconception: many people believe that the more bitter and concentrated the coffee, the stronger the sweet aftertaste will be. In reality, there is no necessary connection between the degree of bitterness and the intensity of sweet aftertaste.

For example, in coffees with higher extraction rates, bitterness becomes more prominent. Similarly, the larger molecular compounds that express bitterness are more likely to remain in the mouth, which actually weakens or even eliminates the sweet aftertaste.

Sweet Water After Coffee ≠ Sweet Aftertaste

You've probably experienced this: after drinking coffee, when you drink water afterward, the water tastes sweet. Many people confuse this phenomenon with sweet aftertaste, understanding them as the same thing.

However, the sweetness experienced when drinking water after coffee is not sweet aftertaste but rather a manifestation of "sensory contrast." Water is naturally colorless and tasteless. If you first drink something relatively bitter and then drink water, a contrast is created that gives you the illusion that the water has become sweet. Whether drinking traditional Chinese medicine or eating Coptis chinensis, afterward drinking a sip of water will leave a sweet sensation in your mouth.

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