Tasting Notes are Bogus

Well, kind of. Here’s a description we found from a coffee roaster’s website: “cherry notes spiced with a hint of anise reminiscent of licorice balanced by hazelnut richness with a lingering cocoa finish.” Really? What’s a “hint of anise reminiscent of licorice”? For some, coffee just tastes like “coffee” which is “really good” or “terrible.”

We think that’s absolutely fine! We want your coffee to taste “great” and not just “good.” Cuppings (the culinarily ostentatious ritual to tasting coffee) are extremely subjective—one taster might get “chocolate nibs” while another might get “cavendish tobacco.” They can both be right. Coffee has hundreds of flavor compounds and some might just pick up on certain flavors more. Or someone can entirely imagine a smell or flavor if they had daddy issues in their childhood. Who knows. But the point is that coffee evokes a rich sensory experience and that’s why we enjoy it.

So why list flavor and aroma profiles? Some coffees do concentrate certain compounds for a “characteristic” flavor. African coffees, like Ethiopia, will have more acidity that produce what people sometimes call “brightness,” “wine,” “citrus,” and a host of other variant flavors and descriptors generally evoking that sensation. Hawaiian coffees are balanced and aromatic with subtle tastes. Papua New Guinea is all about the tropics. That’s why we encourage you try as many single origins as you can and test for yourself!

And don’t thumb your nose at those who add milk and sugar to their coffee. Well, at least not graham cracker marshmallow s’mores flavored cream. Even milk and sugar can interact with the coffee flavors. Just don’t go over board. And keep in mind coffee temperature affects flavor. “Piping hot” coffee will be bitter, so you might not need to add milk or sugar to temper the bitterness if you brew your coffee at a lower temperature.

But we think the more you’re into coffee, the more you’ll want to get just the coffee without other distractions.