Where Do Coffee Flavors Come From? What Berries Are Referenced in Pour-Over Coffee Flavors? Are Berries the Same as Berries?

Understanding "Berry" Flavors in Coffee

Whether it's "tropical fruits" or "white floral notes," in coffee terminology, these are general terms for specific categories of flavors. There are many such collective terms, so today, FrontStreet Coffee will share another term that frequently appears in coffee flavor descriptions—"berry."

Compared to tropical fruits, the description "berry" is obviously much more understandable. Similarly, the term "berry" doesn't refer to a single fruit but rather encompasses a category—specifically, all small, juicy fruits. However, unlike tropical fruits, berries have their own category in the new version of the SCA Coffee Flavor Wheel released in 2016. The berry category in the flavor wheel includes: Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry. Yes, the Chinese character "莓" (méi) is derived from the English word "Berry." (Additionally, mulberry and cranberry also belong to this category.)

It's worth noting that when "Berry" appears as an independent word, it's more often translated as "浆果" (jiāngguǒ) in Chinese, so this category is often called the "浆果" category. In reality, there are certain differences between "浆果" and "莓果." The definition of "浆果" (berries/baccae) is broader, generally defined as: fleshy, juicy fruits that develop from a single ovary of a single flower. Therefore, fruits ranging from small blueberries to larger kiwifruit and star fruit all belong to the berry category. However, common strawberries don't belong to the berry category. This creates an awkward situation, so translators adopted the character "莓" (méi) from classical literature, which described short grass and moss, to re-translate these fruits. "莓果" (méiguǒ) became a popular classification for these fruits with some similarities. The common characteristics of these fruits mainly include: fleshy fruit, thin skin, and seeds evenly distributed within the fruit, unlike nuts or fruits with obvious boundaries like stones.

Therefore, not only fruits with "berry" in their names can be classified into the berry category—fruits like blackcurrant are also members of the berry family. Then, due to the numerous varieties, they are further divided by color and brightness into: red berries, black berries, or dark berries.

Berry Flavor Performance in Coffee

Berry flavors typically appear in coffees with higher sweetness. When we taste berry flavors in a cup of coffee, it generally means that the coffee's flavor profile is primarily sweet with acidity as a secondary note, accompanied by corresponding berry aromas.

Yes! Just like other flavor manifestations, the appearance of berry flavor is also attributed to aroma! As FrontStreet Coffee often mentions, the reason we can experience strawberry flavor when eating strawberries is mainly derived from the aroma of strawberries, not the taste. In addition to preconditions such as cultivation and processing, the formation of berry aroma in coffee also离不开 the roasting of coffee beans. During the roasting process, substances within the beans continuously break down and reorganize due to Maillard and caramelization reactions. After several transformations, aroma characteristics identical or similar to berries are successfully generated. Therefore, similarly, the manifestation of berry flavor in coffee mainly relies on the combination of smell and taste for perception, and cannot be constituted by taste perception alone.

Which Coffee Beans Are More Likely to Exhibit Berry Flavors?

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned, the "common occurrence" of berry flavors is mainly in sweeter coffees. Therefore, if we want to experience prominent berry flavors in coffee, selecting some high-sweetness coffees is definitely the right approach.

For example, natural-processed or honey-processed beans, because the coffee beans undergo prolonged sugar infiltration during processing (as they are wrapped in mucilage), will undergo more abundant caramelization reactions during roasting, and caramelization reactions help increase the sweetness perception of coffee. Therefore, it can also be said that beans with deeper fermentation degrees are more likely to exhibit berry-like flavor manifestations. Not to mention, among Ethiopian natural-processed coffees, quite a few have gained popularity precisely for their berry characteristics! For example, the Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry on FrontStreet Coffee's menu is famous for its excellent raspberry aroma. There's also the well-known Guji 8.0, whose initial rise to fame included very prominent strawberry aromas and high sweetness in its flavor profile.

In addition to the aforementioned popular coffees, some Colombian coffees also share similar characteristics. For example, the Maragogipe from Divisoria Farm allows people to directly experience blackcurrant and blackberry flavor manifestations from grinding to brewing and finally tasting; or the honey-processed Geisha from La Esperanza Farm, which also possesses prominent blueberry aroma that makes one's mouth water.

However, just like other flavors, not all berry flavors are distinct. So when we experience berry-like notes from a cup of coffee but cannot directly determine which specific fruit it belongs to, we can use the term "berry" to express it!

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