How to Brew Floral Notes in Coffee? What's the Best Way to Brew Yirgacheffe? What Flavors Does Geisha Coffee Have?

Understanding the Floral Aroma in Coffee

Although floral aroma may not be uncommon in coffee, it is undoubtedly one of the most appealing among various flavors. After all, many friends have become fascinated with coffee precisely because they tasted floral notes in their cup.

However, brewing coffee to highlight its floral notes is not a simple task. Many friends have told FrontStreet Coffee that they struggle to bring out the floral aromas when brewing at home, asking if there are specific brewing methods that can make these floral notes more pronounced.

Of course, there are methods! But to brew coffee with distinct floral notes, we must first meet a prerequisite - using coffee beans that possess floral characteristics. Not all coffee beans will have floral aromas, as not all beans contain the compounds that generate these scents. This is related to the coffee variety, growing conditions, and post-processing methods.

Factors That Create Floral Notes in Coffee

Variety plays a significant role, with Gesha (T2722) being an excellent example. We all know that the Gesha variety typically carries intense floral aromas. The reason is that Gesha contains terpene compounds - the natural source of floral aromas in coffee and the constituent elements of various flower fragrances.

Coffee beans grown at high altitudes are more likely to develop floral notes. This is because the significant temperature differences between day and night in high-altitude regions force coffee cherries to slow their metabolism at night, generating and accumulating more small-molecule substances to withstand extreme environments, including compounds that form floral aromas. Of course, this is also related to the local terroir.

Processing and roasting are also factors that influence the intensity of floral aromas in coffee. FrontStreet Coffee has shared detailed information about these aspects in previous articles, so we won't elaborate here. In summary, if we want to highlight floral notes in our coffee, we need to select coffee beans that inherently possess these characteristics. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Boquete Gesha and Yirgacheffe Gedeb both exhibit distinct floral characteristics.

The Science Behind Extracting Floral Aromas

How can we extract floral aromas from coffee? The dissolution rate of flavor molecules in hot water varies depending on their molecular weight and polarity - this is the research finding of American biologist Dr. Lockhart and SCAA senior consultant Ling. Flavor molecules with smaller mass and higher polarity dissolve faster; while those with larger mass and lower polarity dissolve more slowly in hot water. Floral aromas belong to the former category, dissolving relatively quickly. However, they are not easily captured aromas - when other substances in coffee are too abundant, floral notes can be easily masked, making them difficult to perceive.

Therefore, if you want to brew coffee with pronounced floral aromas, FrontStreet Coffee recommends avoiding extreme extraction methods. Otherwise, the floral notes may largely dissipate before tasting or be masked by other flavors and aromas. Although this might sound somewhat complex, the actual implementation is quite simple. Sherry, the 2022 WBrC champion, specifically developed a brewing method for this purpose, and the coffee brewed with this technique indeed exhibits very distinct floral notes. Without further ado, let FrontStreet Coffee share how to implement this approach.

Three-Stage Variable Temperature Brewing Method

This method involves a three-stage variable temperature brewing process, with water temperatures of 80°C for the first stage (bloom), 95°C for the second stage, and 80°C for the third stage. Similar to conventional brewing, the first stage is the bloom phase. The reason for using 80°C water for blooming is to reduce the efficiency of degassing, allowing floral notes to be preserved longer.

Floral flavor molecules dissolve relatively quickly due to their high polarity. If we use conventional water temperatures for blooming, the floral flavor molecules would be extensively dissolved early in the brewing process due to sufficient degassing, then dissipate and be lost (partially). However, 80°C hot water can reduce degassing, allowing more carbon dioxide to remain in the coffee grounds, thereby reducing extraction efficiency in the initial stages and slightly delaying the dissolution phase of floral notes.

Since the coffee grounds didn't receive sufficient degassing during the bloom phase, we need to use higher water temperature in the second stage to compensate for the reduced extraction efficiency. This is also the main extraction stage, where most of the desired coffee substances will be dissolved.

The main purpose of the third extraction stage is to dilute the coffee concentration. This dilution allows the flavors to expand, enabling us to better perceive the coffee's characteristics. However, since we've already dissolved the main substances from the coffee in the second stage, continuing to brew with high-temperature water could extract undesirable compounds. Therefore, in this stage, we need to return to 80°C water temperature to prevent the dissolution of bitter, astringent, and other negative flavors.

Practical Demonstration

That's the basic theory! Now FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate how to implement this method step by step. For this brewing, FrontStreet Coffee used the Yirgacheffe Gedeb from our bean selection. The extraction parameters are as follows:

• Coffee amount: 15g
• Grind size: Ek43 setting 9.5, with 80% pass-through rate on #20 sieve, fine sugar texture
• Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
• Brewing temperatures: 80°C, 95°C, 80°C
• Brewing device: V60

If you don't have two brewing kettles at home, that's not a problem. Since blooming doesn't require precise water control, you can simply prepare an additional water container with 80°C hot water for blooming. Then after completing the second stage pour, add some cold water to your gooseneck kettle to reduce the temperature to 80°C. This way, you can perform variable temperature brewing even with just one kettle.

First, we use 80°C hot water for blooming. The amount of water injected is twice the coffee amount (30ml), with a bloom time of 30 seconds.

After blooming, we switch to 95°C hot water for the second stage pour. The water amount for this stage is 130ml, poured with medium flow in large circular motions.

Once the hot water from the second stage has permeated through the filter, we switch back to 80°C hot water for the third brewing stage. The water amount for this stage is 65ml, poured with small flow in small circular motions at the center of the filter. After completing the pour, we simply wait for all the hot water to flow through the filter, then remove the filter and end the extraction.

As FrontStreet Coffee described, the Gedeb brewed with this method indeed exhibits outstanding floral notes. Both in aroma and aftertaste, distinct white floral characteristics are apparent. Additionally, other flavors such as lemon and berry are well-expressed, with a smooth and clean mouthfeel and a delightful oolong tea finish.

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