It's back to the basics, folks. This week, I'm going to be providing basic knowledge that will allow even the most clueless, shiftless, and desperately lonely of you to talk about the taste of your coffee in a way that will draw friends, increase chi flow, and make the world a peaceful place. It's time to define and discuss some oft-misused terminology and throw away the shackles of misinformation and marketing terminology you've become so accustomed to. Let's talk about taste, and by that I mean I'm going to tell you about taste, and you're going to sit there and listen.The taste of coffee begins with the fragrance, defined as the smell of the dry grounds, and the aroma, which is the smell once hot water has been added. Wine specialists cite around 36 to 200 aromatic compounds that interact to produce the complete variety of flavor experiences in wine. Current research has suggested that the variety of aromatic compounds in coffee is over 1000. This variety comes from the coffee plant varietal, the unique climate and character of the soil, also referred to as terroir (tehr-WAR), flavors imparted on the bean by many unique styles of processing, manner and degree of roasting, and manner of brewing. There is a marked difference between the fragrance and aroma of coffee due to two main factors: chemical reactions that take place with water or in the presence of water, and increased volatility of aromatic compounds with temperature (i.e., some smells require increased temperature to be released). The aroma of coffee is particularly noticeable during the bloom, or the point at which hot water first hits the dry grounds and they foam up into a rich crema.
One of my absolute favorite pants-on activities is trying to describe the myriad flavors in coffee. Analyzing coffee is like learning a language. Sure, a book written in ornate calligraphy may look nice, but understanding what it says adds a level of depth, meaning, and study previously unattainable and potentially reduces your chance of getting "足雞" as a tattoo proudly declaring your enjoyment of "Foot Chicken". If you check some of my initial posts on this blog (back when I was writing up my cupping notes), you'll see a lot of descriptors for fragrance and aroma. Many of these are based on the SCAA's coffee flavor wheel lovingly reproduced above (click it to see in glorious full-size), which provides a solid beginner's approach to analyzing good coffee. When you're doing your morning coffee routine, I recommend taking a minute to smell the dry grounds (usually while your water is heating) and another minute to smell the coffee at the bloom and in the cup. Think of it as mindfulness training. Try to sense some of the things you see on the flavor wheel, and remember, it takes time and effort (kung fu anyone?) to develop your palate, so don't give up just because you can't sense everything right away.
While the fragrance and aroma of coffee are important, they're not the whole story, or else coffee would be used solely as a form of incense. Any devotee of The Food Network or pretentious wine/scotch/beer/drano snob will tell you that the mouth is not that important in determining flavors. The mouth is able to identify five main tastes associated with specific types of chemicals: sweet (sugars), salty (alkali metals, mainly Na, K, and Li), sour (acids), savory or umami (amino acids), and bitter (mainly alkaloids such as caffeine and polyphenols such as tannins). In coffee terminology, there are some basic terms associated with these tastes. As a term, 'sour' is often used to describe an unpleasant or overpowering acidity like vinegar, while 'acidity' and 'brightness' are used to describe a more enjoyable tartness. Bitterness in moderation can be nice, but too much of this is often deemed 'rough' or 'alkaline'. The word 'astringent' is used to describe a sensation of dryness like eating an unripe persimmon. Salty tastes are usually considered to be negative. Sweetness is a common trait of good coffee, especially at lighter roast levels.
The mouth is also associated with sensing texture, which is surprisingly an important aspect of coffee. The body, or mouthfeel is a significant part of its experience. It can be light-bodied, implying it sits in the mouth like water or low-fat milk, whereas heavy bodied coffee will have a mouthfeel more like syrup, oil, or cream. Remember, this doesn't refer to the taste, but the tactile experience of the drink. Some people use 'full-bodied' to mean 'bold', which itself means absolutely nothing, or at least nothing good. But this isn't an article about how much I hate people using the word 'bold'. Anyway, the chemistry of mouthfeel is not completely understood, so of course a lot of misinformation exists about it. Coffee is what chemists refer to as a 'huge f***ing train wreck'. It is a colloidal emulsion of fats/phenolic/aromatic compounds dispersed in a continuous liquid phase, which itself is a solution of water and polysaccharides, all with additional solids in suspension. The ratio of these components and their interactions can modify the viscosity and mouthfeel of coffee significantly. The reason a press pot produces a heavier bodied cup is that it does not filter oils and solids like a paper filter. Therefore, it's not the ideal method for brewing naturally light bodied coffee (Don't let it near the Yirgacheffe or Huehuetenango), but it will augment the experience for heavier bodied brews.
To get the full experience of flavor, both aroma and taste, there is in fact a means that professional tasters use. It takes a little practice, and you may experience some coffee in your trachea and an associated fit of coughing, just as a warning. This method, called aspirating, involves slurping a small amount of coffee loudly all the way across the tongue, which while coating the entire mouth has the additional effect of rendering a small amount of the drink aerosol and sending it into the nasal cavity. This is also something you can try on wine, though if you try this on scotch, I don't envy you.
Finally, let us finish with the finish. The finish is the sensation you get as the coffee leaves your mouth. As you swallow, some of the aromatic compounds travel up into the nasal cavity, and combined with the mouthfeel of the liquid, you may get a distinct impression of wine, cream, juice, chocolate, and who knows what else. The aftertaste is the lingering taste after the coffee has been swallowed. It is a result of specific aromatic compounds which stick around on the palate, and it may be markedly different than the aroma and finish because it represents only a subset of the aromatic compounds in the brew.
Now it's up to you. Go out there, pretend you know what you're doing, and don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself doing so. Stop. Breathe. Focus on what you're drinking for a few seconds. You'll be surprised what you've been missing all these years.
