How to Appreciate the Aftertaste of Pour-Over Coffee? Why is Espresso Crema So Aromatic? What is the Coffee Tasting Process?

Understanding the Importance of Coffee Aftertaste

We evaluate a cup of coffee from many perspectives: aroma, mouthfeel, flavor, aftertaste, and more. In fact, this applies not only to coffee but also to other beverages like tea and wine. However, many friends might focus their tasting attention on the perception of aroma and flavor, completely overlooking the experience of aftertaste. Little do they realize that aftertaste is also an extremely important aspect of a cup of coffee.

In the scoring process of coffee cupping, aftertaste is indeed a distinct category. Even if a coffee itself has prominent flavors, if it lacks good aftertaste performance, it cannot receive a high score. Therefore, we can see that aftertaste is crucial for a cup of coffee. However, the reason many friends overlook it is not intentional - it's simply because aftertaste itself is difficult to perceive and requires specific techniques to fully appreciate its wonderful qualities! Today, FrontStreet Coffee will share how to experience aftertaste!

What is Aftertaste?

As the saying goes, "Know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated." To clearly perceive aftertaste, we must first understand what it is!

What is aftertaste? Simply put, it's the sequence of flavors, aromas, and mouthfeel sensations that suddenly emerge in our mouth after we swallow coffee. This experience is what we call "aftertaste." The flavors and aromas we perceive before swallowing coffee are obvious and direct, whereas aftertaste is comparatively subtle and requires our careful attention to roughly discern its flavors and aromas.

Understanding Aftertaste Through Everyday Examples

Let me give you a common example from daily life, and everyone will understand! When we eat durian, we can experience its intense aroma and flavor. After swallowing, the aroma and flavor linger in our mouth for a long time - this is aftertaste! When we substitute coffee as the main character, it becomes easy to understand! Of course, coffee doesn't have the same impact as durian.

How is Aftertaste Formed?

As mentioned earlier, aftertaste manifests as aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel, representing different sensory experiences perceived after swallowing coffee. Among these, aroma occupies the vast majority, and aftertaste presents itself in the oral cavity. This means that coffee's aftertaste mostly originates from the perception of coffee aroma through retronasal olfaction. Because coffee contains many oil-soluble aromatic compounds that don't dissolve in water, after we drink coffee, some of the coffee's oils remain in our oral cavity. When these oils dissipate, the aromatic compounds begin to emerge and are captured by our retronasal olfaction! This is why we often feel a burst of aroma rising from our throat.

How to Better Experience Aftertaste

Therefore, if we want to experience more aftertaste, we can close our mouths and exhale gently after swallowing coffee, allowing the released aromatic compounds to travel from the oral cavity to the nasal passage, then perceive them through our sense of smell. This way, we can maximize our perception of aftertaste aromas! Of course, it's not just about smell - taste and touch must also be combined to experience the returning flavors and mouthfeel. The integration of all three is where the essence of aftertaste lies. However, it's important to know that while aftertaste is very important, not all aftertastes are good!

Good vs. Bad Aftertaste

The evaluation criteria for good or bad aftertaste are mainly divided into three aspects. Let's first talk about flavor! Good aftertaste will have different positive flavor expressions such as floral, honey, caramel, tea-like notes, etc., which vary according to the roast degree of the coffee beans. Bad aftertaste, on the other hand, will present unpleasant negative flavors like bitterness, astringency, over-fermentation, and other discomforting tastes!

Second is the mouthfeel! Good aftertaste mouthfeel will be very smooth (not irritating), have a relatively obvious sweet return, without any unpleasant sensations. Bad aftertaste, however, will present very unpleasant feelings like dryness, roughness, or throat-catching sensations.

Finally, there's the duration of the aftertaste, which is very important! When we say a coffee has or doesn't have aftertaste, we're referring to whether its duration is long or short, because technically, all coffee has aftertaste! It's just relatively short. The longer the aftertaste lasts, the more compounds it contains, and thus the higher its quality, and vice versa! It's worth noting that different types of coffee have varying aftertaste durations. For example, espresso, with its extremely high concentration, if it has good aftertaste, can maintain its aroma and flavor in the mouth for over ten minutes! If it's pour-over coffee, even with excellent aftertaste, the duration won't be as prolonged.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473