Which Coffee is Sweeter? How to Describe the Sweetness of Pour-Over Black Coffee?

Life is short, so coffee should definitely be sweet!

If coffee is bitter, most people—whether they drink coffee regularly or not—would probably agree. If coffee is acidic, those who love acidity would enthusiastically endorse this view. But if coffee is described as sweet, it might spark considerable debate.

In fact, everyone has different dietary habits, so their sensitivity to sweet, sour, bitter, and salty flavors naturally varies. Even when drinking the same pot of coffee, some might find it incredibly sweet, while others might find it unbearably bitter and unable to take a second sip.

However, throughout every process from coffee cultivation and processing methods to roasting and brewing, people always try to make coffee sweeter. The "sweetness" that baristas refer to mostly means the sweetness that coexists with acidity and bitterness.

Similar to the sweetness values of fruits, the sweetness of coffee cherries is primarily influenced by factors such as variety, cultivation management, altitude, and ripeness at harvest. For example, fully red cherries develop higher sweetness than unripe ones. Post-processing methods and roasting degree (time) then determine how many sweet substances are retained in the coffee beans and the extent of sugar conversion. For instance, honey-processed and natural-processed coffees are more likely to present sweet flavors.

The Roasting Process and Sweetness Development

During the roasting stage of coffee beans, experienced roasters allow the aromatic compounds in the raw beans to complete caramelization as much as possible, presenting flavors that lean toward sweetness, such as sucrose, chocolate, cantaloupe, dried fruit, honey, and ripe fruits—flavor types that are clearly sweet just from their descriptions.

The sweetness level of a bag of roasted coffee beans can be considered an objective fixed value, while sweetness perception is a flavor description that includes both taste and smell when tasting it. At this point, the level of sweetness perception is related to extraction method, technique, and the taster's sensory sensitivity. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee drinks natural-processed Red Label Geisha, they notice distinct honeydew melon-like fruit sweetness; when drinking washed Yirgacheffe, there's a honey-like sweetness similar to floral aromas; and when tasting Paradise Bird, there's a cane sugar-like clarity of sweetness.

The Psychology of Sweetness Perception

Loving sweetness and fearing bitterness is human nature for many of us. Many people who are new to specialty coffee often fail to perceive the "sweetness" described by baristas, largely because their sensitivity to bitterness is higher than to sweetness.

When bitterness and sweetness coexist in a cup of coffee, we often perceive bitterness first, followed by a sweet sensation that remains at the back of the tongue after swallowing. This pleasant sweetness that accompanies bitter coffee is what people often describe as "aftertaste sweetness"—the so-called sweetness after bitterness, most commonly found in medium-dark roasted coffees. For example, Blue Mountain No. 1 and Golden Mandheling exhibit this aftertaste.

The Role of Acidity in Sweetness Perception

For acidic coffees, perceiving sweetness often relies on the contrast and balance between bitterness and acidity. For example, medium-light roasted coffees inherently contain fewer bitter compounds. After properly extracting fruit acids and aromas, the coffee will present a sweet-tart profile within the context of high acidity and low bitterness, reminiscent of eating certain fruits. When FrontStreet Coffee tastes Panama Boquete Geisha, they can clearly perceive lower bitterness, medium acidity, and higher muskmelon sweetness.

Of course, beyond the taste in our mouths, smell also brings us different "sweetness perceptions." Smell is divided into two stages: orthonasal olfaction and retronasal olfaction. The former is responsible for detecting directly inhaled odors—for example, smelling freshly ground coffee powder directly utilizes orthonasal olfaction.

Extraction Methods and Sweetness Enhancement

When coffee enters the mouth, taste buds first determine the intensity of sweet, sour, bitter, and salty flavors. Then, as we swallow, aromatic compounds "travel" to the nasal cavity. The brain then quickly combines the tasted flavors with the nasal aromas, presenting the flavor of a specific food from memory—this is retronasal olfaction. When the directional aromas brought by retronasal olfaction remind us of very sweet foods from memory, we subconsciously perceive this coffee as having high sweetness.

Finally, if the coffee beans have already been selected, it means the general flavor direction has been determined and cannot be changed. However, we can adjust the balance of acidity, bitterness, and sweetness through different brewing methods. How to brew for sweetness is a question of particular interest to many. For specific techniques on brewing for sweetness, FrontStreet Coffee previously shared in the article "Heard There's a Formula to Make Coffee Sweeter?" Those interested can read it for more information.

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FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)
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