The Coffee Connoisseur’s Palette: Developing Your Coffee Tasting Skills

There’s no such thing as ‘just’ a cup of coffee! There’s a whole world of nuanced flavours waiting for you in the coffee world. While some people are born with a naturally refined palate, there’s plenty you can do to develop the nuance you need to open up a whole new world of coffee flavours and experiences. Today we have some top tips and tricks to help you learn a deeper appreciation for the many flavours of coffee- and it gives you a great excuse to try even more taste sensations, too!

Photo: coffeefriend.co.uk

The World of Coffee Tasting

Have you ever picked up a bag of coffee beans and marvelled at the depth of the description? Blackcurrant, citrus, spring flowers, acidity, and a rich body… What does that even mean? As with wine tasting, getting the most from any high-end coffee brew means moving away from the basics and leaning into the subtler layers of flavour. Coffee’s complex and diverse flavours come from a combination of factors, from where the coffee beans are grown right through the processing methods, roasting, and brewing techniques used. Here’s a quick primer on some of the factors that influence the taste that hits your tongue:

• Variety: Arabica, Robusta, and speciality varieties all have a unique flavour profile. On top of this, there are different cultivars with their own taste and aroma. Coffee beans are also highly impacted by where they’re grown, and everything from the altitude and climate to the soil itself (terroir) can impact their taste. Did you know that coffee beans grown at higher altitudes tend to have more complex flavours?
• Processing: The journey from coffee cherry to coffee bean also impacts the final taste, with natural processes (those that leave the fruit pulp intact) building intense fruity overtones.
• Roasting: Roasting impacts the chemical composition of the beans, leaving delectable flavour compounds behind. Light roasts tend to be bright and light, while darker roasts emphasise heavier caramelised tastes. The higher acidity of light roasts also adds complexity.
• Science: During the roast, something called the Maillard Reaction This is where the amino acids and sugars in the coffee beans interact, creating a variety of subtle flavours.
• Brew: Run the same bag of coffee beans through a bean-to-cup machine, a drip machine, and a French Press, and you’ll notice they don’t quite taste the same. From water temperature to grind size and brewing time, a lot influences the flavour in a cup.
• Freshness: Last, but definitely not least, properly storing your coffee beans and ensuring they are fresh when roasted helps retain aromatic oils and complex flavours. Stale coffee tastes flat in comparison.

Photo: coffeefriend.co.uk

Developing Your Coffee Tasting Skills

The number one tip for developing your coffee-tasting skills (cupping) is to drink more coffee! And that doesn’t mean staying with your tried-and-trusted options, either. Don’t be afraid to sample different roasts, brew styles, and varieties. While you won’t be head-over-heels for them all, the more you expose your palate to different flavours, the better you’ll learn to distinguish them. And you’re sure to find some new faves, too.

It pays to expand this adventurousness to your diet, too. How can you recognise a subtle fruity or candy taste if you’ve never had the real deal? Additionally, get comfortable with the basics- can you recognize salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami tastes? If you really want to dig deeper into this, here’s a pro’s way to try each taste:

• Bitter: Add 0.54g of caffeine to a litre of water
• Sweet: 24g of sucrose in a litre
• Salty: 4g of table salt to a litre
• Sour: 1.2g of citric acid per litre
• Umami: 2g of pure MSG per litre

You can take this concept even further and experiment with the different acids (citric, malic, tartaric, phosphoric, lactic) too. Brew a cup, split it 5 ways, and add about 0.2g of each. See how the profile of a single cup changes with these subtle influences.

For real coffee heads, there’s a little thing called the Coffee Flavour Taster’s Wheel, bringing you a whole load of flavours you might experience. It was designed to give a more standardised lexicon for coffee connoisseurs to trade tricks and treats.

Keen to try your new skills? Brew yourself two identical cups of an old favourite, and one of a new variety. Try a blind taste test. If you can tell the difference, you know those new skills are working hard..

Developing your coffee-tasting palate is not just a great way to get a deeper appreciation for the coffees you love. It’s also a fantastic way to broaden your overall taste sensations and teach your tongue to appreciate the intricacies of great flavour, too. Plus a great excuse to try out some fantastic new coffee varieties! Why not challenge yourself today?