WHAT DO COFFEE TASTING NOTES ACTUALLY MEAN?
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HOUSE LEDGER // 004
Chocolate. Citrus. Peach. What those words on a coffee bag are actually telling you.
Read the label on a bag of specialty coffee and you may find words such as chocolate, citrus, caramel, berries, or flowers describing the cup.
If you are newer to specialty coffee, the obvious question is: were those flavors added?
Usually, no.
On an unflavored coffee, tasting notes describe aromas and flavors that may naturally remind us of familiar foods, fruits, spices, or other sensory experiences.
They are descriptors, not ingredients.
WHERE DO TASTING NOTES COME FROM?
Coffee begins as the seed of a fruit, and many things influence what eventually reaches the cup.
Origin and growing conditions
Climate, altitude, and the environment in which coffee grows can influence its development.
Variety
Different coffee varieties can have different sensory characteristics.
Processing
How the coffee fruit is handled after harvest can affect sweetness, acidity, fruit character, body, and clarity.
Roasting
Roasting develops aroma and flavor while changing how the characteristics already present in the coffee are expressed.
Brewing
Grind size, water, ratio, temperature, and brewing method all affect what you ultimately perceive.
That is why a tasting note is better understood as a reference point than a promise.
Two people can drink the same coffee and describe it somewhat differently.
TAKE BALANCED ORDER
Our Balanced Order single-origin Colombia carries notes of dark chocolate, mango, and peach.
There is no chocolate, mango, or peach added to the beans.
Those words describe sensory characteristics found in the coffee: a chocolate-like depth alongside fruit characteristics that may remind the drinker of mango or sweet peach.
You may recognize all of those notes immediately. You may notice one more strongly than another. Your brewing method can also emphasize different parts of the coffee.
The notes give you somewhere to begin.
TASTING NOTES AREN’T A TEST
You do not need professional tasting vocabulary to enjoy specialty coffee.
Start broadly.
Is the coffee bright or mellow? Does it feel light or full-bodied? Do you notice sweetness, fruit, chocolate, roasted character, or something floral?
If something familiar comes to mind, pay attention to it.
With experience, broad impressions often become easier to describe more specifically.
There is no examination at the end. The point is simply to notice more of what is already in the cup.
TASTING NOTES VS. FLAVORED COFFEE
This distinction matters.
Tasting notes describe characteristics perceived naturally in the brewed coffee.
Flavored coffee has flavoring intentionally added to it. When Drogo House offers a flavored coffee, we identify it accordingly.
So when a coffee bag lists notes such as chocolate, citrus, mango, or caramel, those words do not necessarily describe its ingredients.
They describe what the coffee may remind you of when you taste it.
The next time you brew a cup, read the notes and then put the bag aside.
Taste first.
See what you find.
— House Ledger // 004
FROM THE HOUSE LEDGER
This entry began as House Ledger // 004 — What Do Tasting Notes Mean? on Instagram.
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