Coffee tasting begins before you even drink it. So sharpen your senses and enhance your coffee ritual with us.
Engaging our senses, tasting coffee, as well as other specialty beverages like wine, is an experience that involves more than just taste.
The 5 Senses and Coffee
Often considered a ritual because it involves the careful preparation of the beverage aligned with the appreciation of the senses, tasting is a complete sensory experience, in which different senses combine to create a deeper and richer appreciation.
Each coffee will bring a unique sensory profile. In each cup, many possibilities to awaken our 5 senses.
Of all of them, smell is the sense that plays a fundamental role in the perception of flavor, as the aroma prepares the nuances that the palate will experience. It is worth noting: what we smell is not always what we taste.
In touch, the texture and consistency of the beverage contribute to the sensory experience. Depending on the extraction method, coffee can have a lighter, velvety, or heavy body sensation, be smoother or have astringency - the latter, when present, reveals a defect in the coffee beans.
The palate, which is undoubtedly the most important in tasting, is where we appreciate fruity, floral, chocolatey, citrus or caramel notes, among others. The ability to distinguish flavor nuances through this sense is crucial to appreciating the complexity of good coffee. It is fundamental to be aware that taste is personal; each person experiences the complexity of coffee differently, based on their own experiences and expectations.
And finally, sight complements the senses, indirectly influencing the experience.
Tasting Method, or "Cupping"
To assess coffee quality, this method, often called "cupping," is used by coffee industry professionals to evaluate and compare different coffees. Below, learn more about 5 basic steps in the coffee tasting technique:
- Grinding: the coffee beans are ground to an intermediate thickness, slightly finer than that used in a French Press.
- Dry Aroma: the coffee grounds are placed in a cup so that the dry aroma of the freshly ground beans can be smelled. Here, the initial characteristics of the coffee are evaluated, which will contribute to the tasting when the beverage is ready.
- Infusion: the ground coffee is infused in hot water, and at this stage, the formation of a coffee crust is important so that, when broken, the aromas are released. Importantly, before breaking, one should wait about four minutes.
- Aroma Evaluation: the characteristics of the notes are observed: more floral, more fruity, etc.
- Palate Tasting: coffee characteristics such as acidity, body, sweetness, and aftertaste are evaluated. The beverage is prepared in the following proportion – 10g of ground coffee to 100ml of water.
Each type of coffee imparts different characteristics during tasting. Some beans are more full-bodied, others lighter. Some have more citrus notes, others more fruity.
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