How Do Coffee Beans Get Their Floral and Fruity Aromas? Characteristics of Coffee Flower Aromas

Breaking News! After a Year, the Coffee Trees at FrontStreet Coffee Have Bloomed Again!

The blooming flowers are pure white in color, with 5-6 petals that resemble a windmill when fully open. The flower clusters are arranged in strings. The fragrant aroma has attracted not only bees but also the baristas who came to smell the fragrance. Some say the scent of coffee flowers resembles jasmine, others say it's like gardenia, and some think it smells like thyme... All these flowers are white—could this be the "white floral aroma" described in flavor profiles?

Looking back, before ever seeing real coffee flowers, FrontStreet Coffee first became acquainted with the scent of coffee flowers through aroma bottle #12—Coffee Blossom. From this, FrontStreet Coffee detected a sweetness reminiscent of peach flesh—elegant and smooth, like biting into a perfectly ripe peach.

The fragrance of freshly bloomed coffee flowers doesn't concentrate in one area upon entering the nasal cavity but begins to diffuse, so it lasts for a very short time. The aroma is light and lively, with a honey-like aftertaste. Combined with their delicate and exquisite flower shape, they indeed evoke associations with jasmine, which shares the same pure color.

In the early 17th century, when botanists were naming Coffea arabica, they noticed that the blooming flowers of coffee trees "had the fragrance of Arabian jasmine and the leaf shape of laurel trees." Therefore, the first botanical name for Coffea arabica was called "Jasminum arabicanum." It seems coffee flowers and jasmine are indeed very similar.

Botanical Relationships and Aromatic Comparisons

From a botanical perspective, coffee trees belong to the Rubiaceae family, the same family as gardenia, though not the same genus, which is why the plants look somewhat similar. However, in terms of fragrance, compared to gardenia's rich and dense aroma, coffee flowers are much lighter in scent.

When tasting coffee's flavors, we don't easily capture or identify exactly which specific flower the aroma belongs to. The mixed scents are unique and difficult to articulate. The smelling or tasting experience evokes the pleasant aroma of white flowers, but one cannot immediately find the precise words to describe it specifically, so it's called "white floral aroma." Besides coffee flowers and jasmine, there are also white roses, white camellias, white magnolias, pear blossoms, lemon flowers, plum blossoms, and so on—this is a very large group of flowers.

The classic washed Yirgacheffe flavor is renowned worldwide for its citrus acidity with sweet white floral notes. For example, coffee beans from the Bantenna Cooperative often exhibit elegant white floral aromas, very similar to jasmine.

Types of Floral Aromas in Coffee

Coffee floral aromas are mainly divided into three types: intense fragrance, subtle fragrance, and light fragrance.

Among these, white floral aroma is a typical representative of light fragrance and the most frequently occurring aroma type; the subtle fragrance type is most classically represented by roses, with sun-dried Emerald Red Geisha carrying such floral notes that give a soothing sensation when smelled; the intense fragrance type has a slightly pungent aroma that can be overwhelming at first smell, with chamomile and osmanthus as typical representatives. For example, a cherry blossom variety from FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia carries such an aroma.

The Art of Preserving Floral Aromas

As a precious flavor in specialty coffee, floral aroma has always been an element pursued by coffee enthusiasts. The development of floral aroma depends partly on coffee variety, cultivation, and post-processing fermentation degree, while roasting is a crucial link in determining the intensity of floral notes.

As the roast level deepens, the compounds in coffee gradually transform, and floral aromas are easily diminished. Therefore, from a roasting perspective alone, light to medium roasts typically preserve floral aromas better. Light-medium roast coffees have more delicate flavors and lighter textures, making it easier to perceive the presence of floral notes during tasting. Generally, floral aromas are most noticeable in ground coffee powder and during the blooming phase, and become particularly evident in the medium to low temperature range of the coffee liquid. When tasting, you might compare with flowers you've encountered before to identify which tone the perceived flavor resembles.

Unfortunately, the flowering period of coffee flowers is extremely short, typically only 3-5 days. FrontStreet Coffee observed that the petals that bloomed the previous day had already begun to age and wither one by one. So, if you want to appreciate these flowers, remember to do so early.

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