How to Appreciate Pour-Over Coffee: Identifying Aroma, Flavor, and Taste of Coffee Beans

As the title suggests, a customer who doesn't often drink coffee came to FrontStreet Coffee's storefront. Just as he was about to take his first sip from the cup, he suddenly stopped and asked FrontStreet Coffee the question that was on his mind: "Boss, how should I properly taste this coffee?" Today, FrontStreet Coffee would like to discuss "how to taste coffee" with everyone.

First, Preference is Subjective

There is no absolute standard for whether a cup of coffee tastes good. Whether it's bitter, overly acidic, or how sweet it is depends first and foremost on everyone's personal dietary preferences. For example, whenever FrontStreet Coffee shares samples of pour-over coffee, even though it comes from the same pot, some people find it full-bodied and sweet, others think it's too acidic, while some grimace at the bitterness. In such cases, the so-called "good coffee" becomes "the coffee I like."

Evaluating Coffee Quality Objectively

Because everyone's dietary preferences differ, people naturally have different standards when drinking coffee. If we want to gather together for discussion and exchange, we need a set of sensory standards recognized by most people (such as SCA, COE, CQI). These mainstream standards, though largely similar, provide unified terminology for coffee flavor profiles, allowing us to relatively objectively evaluate the quality and shortcomings of coffee.

As a beginner just getting acquainted with specialty coffee, or as a coffee enthusiast still learning, FrontStreet Coffee believes that if you want to learn how to taste coffee, you can start by evaluating three aspects: volatile aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel.

Volatile Aroma

As the saying goes, "The nose smells fragrance and odor, the tongue tastes five flavors," in fact, the nose is the most important organ for tasting coffee. When we eat, taste and smell work simultaneously, and the same applies to drinking coffee. Without the coordination of smell, the aroma of food disappears, leaving only monotonous sweet, sour, bitter, and salty tastes. When we have a cold, food often tastes bland because the nasal mucosa is inflamed and swollen, preventing aroma molecules from freely entering and leaving the nasal cavity.

Volatile aroma is mainly divided into two parts: dry aroma and wet aroma. The aroma that can be directly perceived after grinding is called dry aroma, while the aroma released after contact with hot water is called wet aroma. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee evaluates the aroma of Kenya Assalia coffee, the dry aroma presents berry and small tomato fragrances, while after encountering hot water, it releases dark plum and snow pear notes.

In addition to direct smelling with the nose, some aromatic compounds "sneak" into the nasal cavity through the mouth during the swallowing process, which we perceive. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee drinks Red Geisha, it detects subtle floral notes and cantaloupe fruitiness—these are not sensations brought by the taste buds (the tongue cannot distinguish smells), but rather aromas captured by retronasal olfaction. When we smell particularly pleasant aromas in coffee, we give it extra points in our evaluation.

Flavor

Our taste buds can only perceive five taste substances: sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and umami. Theoretically, coffee contains almost no "umami" taste, while saltiness is often masked by other flavors under normal circumstances. Therefore, when it comes to tasting coffee, we generally focus on three taste expressions: acidity, sweetness, and bitterness.

A cup of coffee with slight bitterness, soft acidity, good sweetness, and moderate concentration is certainly a good cup of coffee. When we combine flavor with the aromas perceived by smell, our brain immediately associates them with specific foods in our memory bank—this is what we call flavor description. As coffee enthusiasts, we can follow our own preferences to find coffee that we find more palatable.

Mouthfeel

This can be understood as the overall sensation that coffee liquid brings to the mouth, also known as coffee's body—essentially the volume (texture) of the coffee. For example, if it feels similar to water when we drink it, we would describe it as "watery" or "thin in mouthfeel." If it feels rough or astringent in the mouth, we would describe it as "rough mouthfeel" or "astringent." Coffee mouthfeel is often described as rough, smooth, thin, rich, or full-bodied, making it relatively easy to perceive.

The sensation in the mouth after swallowing coffee is also an important aspect of coffee tasting that needs attention. Bitterness in the mouth or strong fermented, vinegar-like flavors are uncomfortable expressions and should be penalized. When there's no particular sensation in the mouth after drinking coffee, it's considered neither good nor bad. When the mouth experiences a sweet aftertaste or releases a light, comfortable tea-like aroma after drinking coffee, then the aftertaste of this coffee is excellent, representing a complete experience.

Finally, if you truly want to learn how to drink and taste coffee, what's needed is daily accumulation of effective flavor information in coffee, thereby expanding your corresponding memory bank—there are no shortcuts. In other words, just drink more coffee!

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