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What Negative Flavors Can Be Found in Pour-Over Coffee? How to Improve Your Coffee Tasting Skills? What is the Dryness Caused by Roasting?

Published: 2026-01-28 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/28, For coffee tasting, recognizing its negative flavors is also an important aspect. While most people can easily identify positive flavors, when encountering an uncomfortable cup of coffee, they can only describe it with general negative terms such as "mixed," "bitter," or "astringent." Of course, we could simply use these general descriptors

When it comes to coffee tasting, recognizing negative flavors is equally important. While most of us can easily identify positive flavors, when encountering an unpleasant cup of coffee, we often resort to general terms like "muddled," "bitter," or "astringent" to describe these negative characteristics.

Of course, we could simply use these general terms for description. However, every negative flavor appears for a specific reason. If we can delve deeper into sensing and clearly distinguish these flavors, we can identify the shortcomings of a particular coffee. This not only relates to tasting but also provides significant assistance for coffee brewing and roasting. Now, let FrontStreet Coffee share some of the most common negative flavors found in coffee!

The Negative Flavor "Muddled"

"Muddled" is the most commonly heard negative description in coffee, encompassing numerous undesirable flavors. Whenever you encounter uncomfortable flavors in a cup of coffee, categorizing them as "muddled" is rarely wrong. However, we need to recognize the different types of muddled flavors, as their origins vary.

Earthy

Some coffee finishes carry earthy notes. The emergence of earthy flavors is related to the growing and processing environment of coffee beans. Of course, while most of us haven't actually eaten soil (presumably), we've likely smelled the aroma of soil washed by rain on rainy days. This is what we commonly refer to as earthy or soil-like flavors.

Woody

Here, "woody" refers to the aroma emitted when wood is processed into compressed boards or wood chips. This flavor is quite distinct and typically appears due to over-extraction. However, it's important to note that it resembles pine and cypress flavors, so avoid confusing these positive flavors with woody notes.

Smoky

This flavor can be likened to the smoky aroma emitted when charcoal is burned. Generally, this flavor originates from improper roasting.

Charred

Charred flavor is what we taste when food is burned and carbonized due to excessive heat! This type of flavor mostly appears in dark roast or over-extracted coffees.

Medicinal

This flavor sounds quite frightening—it's actually the bitterness of plant alkaloids, concretely represented by those white tablets commonly found in medicine packets. Essentially a type of bitterness, but it differs from burnt bitterness.

Musty

Musty refers to a sour, unpleasant odor. In daily life, clothes that don't dry for extended periods during rainy weather emit this smell. Typically, the probability of musty flavors appearing is very low. When it appears in coffee, it's likely due to the presence of black beans, moldy beans, or when roasted beans have been stored for more than half a year (these situations are rare, hence the low probability).

Rubber

Some rubber products emit a pungent rubber smell when first opened. This flavor frequently appears in Robusta coffee!

Moldy

Here, moldy flavor refers to the off-odor produced when fruits are left for too long and undergo excessive fermentation. Generally, this type of flavor appears more often in heavily fermented coffees.

Sensations Beyond Flavors

Astringency

Astringency is a sensation that gives coffee a rough "sandpaper-like" texture, abrading our tongue and throat. Astringency can be categorized into many types depending on the accompanying flavors. For example, some astringency, after swallowing coffee, follows with sweet and sour notes rising from the throat—quite pleasant. Other types of astringency carry flavors reminiscent of dry grass! If you can't imagine this, recall the sensation of eating unripe fruits (like bananas or various melons). The experience is very similar, and this type of astringency with dry grass notes is what we call "green astringency." Green astringency often appears in lightly roasted, under-extracted coffees. If it's not strong, it won't feel uncomfortable.

Then there's the astringency experienced from over-extracted coffee! Over-extraction astringency is accompanied by a certain bitterness. When we swallow, the bitterness and astringency combine to create a very strong negative sensation, making it quite unpleasant. This type of astringency is usually called "bitter astringency."

Dry Sensation

When coffee is freshly roasted, it retains many roasting aromas. If we brew coffee beans before these aromas have dissipated, these roasting aromas will be extracted into the coffee liquid and perceived by us. It's a very dry sensation that can feel throat-catching and astringent. This is why coffee beans aren't immediately brewed or cupped after roasting!