Introduction
Looking to impress your coffee-drinking friends with your knowledge of the latest flavours? Well, 2022 is gearing up to be an exciting year for coffee lovers, with new and unique blends appearing on café menus across the globe. Here’s a starters guide to help you to distinguish between the different coffee types of coffee out there. Enjoy!
A coffee’s unique coffee flavour profile can also be considered its brightness. Brightness is how much presence the coffee has across all three areas. If you’re picking out multiple flavours from your cup at once, then it means your coffee is bright (rather than muted). The overall taste of the coffee should reflect the qualities of its origin country and processing method. For example, an Ethiopian natural processed coffee should always taste bright! Some coffees are best enjoyed as espresso, brewed coffee or filtered coffee.
Five Essentials to Coffee Tasting
If you feel all coffee is bitter, then I suggest you are doing it wrong. The better the coffee, the sweeter it typically tastes. Sweetness is one of the reasons that most of us prefer the ‘arabica’ beans to the more acerbic ‘robusto’ beans
The five key essentials to coffee tasting are: sweetness; body; acidity; flavours; finish.
Sweetness
We have already hit on the sweetness palette above. Arabica vs Robusta. When you drink a cup of coffee can you detect sweetness? Is it fruity? Or honey flavours, dark caramel, or molasses? Even chocolatey?
I would recommend is taking two divergent coffees – i.e., beans from East Africa vs Colombia, and taste them side by side. Can you detect the sweetness and to what extent? What do you taste? (Hint East Africa should be honey-ish while Colombia should be butterscotch-ish).
Body
The body of a coffee is the weight and feel of the coffee on your tongue. It is one of the easiest qualities for tasters to grasp. Does the coffee feel light to your tongue or is it heavy? The coffee dose and brewing method have definite impacts on the body.
Acidity
When one thinks of acidity, one thinks of pH. But when we discuss acidity in terms of coffee, we are looking at the “quality” of the acidity. Is it tangy like melons or tart like citruses – lemons or limes? Is it muted and barely perceptible?
Acidity is impacted by roast level. The darker the roast, the more we taste the effect of the roast versus the light roasts. Dark roast will be more ‘sugary’ because of the caramelization and hence we taste less of the juicy or tartness.
Flavours
Do you remember when you thought a coffee was just a coffee? But once you have tried more varieties, you should be able to start to distinguish between the hints of flavours found in the various beans and various roasting methods.
If you want to expand your coffee knowledge, you need to expand your flavour vocabulary. As you eat various foods, concentrate on the flavours, and store them in your flavour data bank. Call upon these flavours to see what matches the coffee you are currently drinking.
Finish
We often describe finish in terms of duration and texture. What is the aftertaste? Is it fleeting or lingering? Rough or smooth? What kind of feelings do you get? Are you ready for another cuppa?
Conclusion
Is there a coffee flavour trend emerging in 2022? It may be a bit early to tell. But we are going to continue trying different bean and roast combinations. In meantime, what would your favourite coffee palate be? Get out there and try. Why not check out our online store: Big Al’s Coffee Club
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