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Many friends asked the baristas on Front Street: "Can you really drink so many flavors out of beans? How do you drink them?"
First of all, this is about personal senses. Everyone will be exposed to different smells and tastes as they grow up. Many of the flavors in coffee are only close to what we are exposed to in life, and are not exactly the same. When the baristas at FrontStreet Coffee feel some roughly vague flavors during cupping, they use the coffee flavor wheel to describe the flavor and aroma. The coffee flavor wheel can be regarded as the "flavor dictionary" of specialty coffee, because it contains the flavors present in specialty coffee, whether concrete or abstract, and is an indispensable tool in coffee cupping. As a commonly used tool during cupping, it can help FrontStreet Coffee baristas find accurate descriptions during cupping. As a professional quality control link that requires professional knowledge, it is used to find out the problems in cupping coffee beans and has great guiding significance for coffee curve adjustment and flavor development. Therefore, Front Street believes that the coffee flavor wheel is an indispensable professional auxiliary tool in the cupping process.
"What is the flavor of coffee?"
When tasting coffee, FrontStreet Coffee pays attention to the expression of the four tastes of coffee, sweet, sour, bitter and salty, which are closely related to the degree of roasting. Therefore, the [flavor wheel] categorizes coffee into light-medium roast and dark-heavy roast. Coincidentally, the light-medium roasted "sweet and sour" flavor has a lower molecular weight, higher polarity, and higher water solubility, so it often dissolves in the first half of the extraction. However, "bitter and salty" flavors have higher molecular weight, lower polarity, and lower water solubility, so they often only dissolve in the second half of extraction.
The taste of light roasted to medium roasted coffee beans is mainly sweet and sour with low and medium molecular weights. However, if there are too many defective beans or improper roasting, even light to medium roasted coffee beans will have an unpleasant bitter and salty taste. As a result, dark roasts are dominated by high molecular weight bitterness and saltiness. But dark roasting is not without its merits. The rarest dark roasting flavor profile is "rich but not bitter, sweet and soothing to the throat."
"Proportion of water-soluble coffee flavors"
The above data is the weight proportion of sour, sweet, bitter and salty soluble flavors in cooked coffee beans. Although the sweet component is the largest, accounting for 39% of the solubles, followed by the bitter component at 26.4%, the salty component is third at 14%, and the sour component is the lowest, not exceeding 5.4%. The total is 84.8%. The remaining flavors that are not listed should be smaller contents. Don’t think after reading the ratio that the sweetness ratio is so high, the coffee will be as sweet as honey. This is not the case. The bitter, sour or salty taste of black coffee can easily interfere with the original sweetness. The four flavors will have a complex mutually offset and complementary relationship.
Follow Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) to see a complete coffee flavor wheel.
Are you dazzled? Don't worry, Front Street will break it down one by one and tell you in detail what flavors are in the flavor wheel.
"The Four Flavor Profiles in the Coffee Flavor Wheel"
Front Street firstcoffee flavor wheelIt is divided into four taste profiles: sour, sweet, bitter and salty to tell you about the overall flavor trend. Why isn't it spicy? Because spiciness is a sensation of pain, not taste~
1. Sour taste spectrum
Sourness is originally the biggest feature of light-medium roasted coffee. Coffee beans contain various organic acids, including phenolic acids, aliphatic acids and amino acids, which have the greatest impact on the taste of coffee. In addition, during the roasting process, sucrose degrades products. From light roasting to medium roasting, the sucrose will gradually degrade, and the concentrations of acetic acid and lactic acid will increase. However, at a certain point, they will drop sharply. Therefore, generally, the sour flavor of light-medium roasted coffee will be more obvious.
2. Bitter taste spectrum
The bitter taste of coffee can be classified into two types: pleasant and unpleasant. The former refers to the natural slight bitterness of caffeine, trigonelline, aliphatic acids and quinine. The latter refers to the heavy bitterness of the degradation products of chlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid lactones (Chlorogenic acid lactones), defective beans and carbonized particles.
3. Sweetness spectrum
Although the volatile aroma of caramel is easy to enjoy through the nasal cavity technique and the retronasal sense of smell, it is not easy for the taste to taste the sweetness of black coffee, because the sweetness is often interfered with by other sour, bitter, and salty components, making it difficult to escape. Unless the sweetness component of the cooked beans is higher than the average, it is possible to break through and taste the sweet taste. In other words, the sense of smell is much easier to enjoy the sweetness of coffee than the sense of taste.
The sweet and sour taste of light-medium roasted "sweet spectrum" is the interactive taste of sweetness and sourness. It most often appears in washed beans at high altitudes above 1,300 meters. If the content of citric acid, malic acid and acetic acid is not low, it will have a sour taste. However, if the sugar content of the coffee is high, it can neutralize part of the fruit acid, making the sourness soft, lively and dynamic, with a fruity flavor, and an interesting "sweet and sour" taste.
4. Salty taste spectrum
Although the salty taste of coffee is ubiquitous, it is often obscured by the interaction of sourness and sweetness. Once black coffee tastes salty, the organic matter that represents the sourness and sweetness has been oxidized, causing the saltiness of the inorganic matter to be highlighted, which can be regarded as a warning that the coffee is off-flavored or stale.
Next, Front Street will split the flavor wheel to see what flavor descriptions there are and what coffee beans represent these flavors.
｜Floral and fruity aroma
floral (Floral): Light, slightly sweet and elegant aroma. Through the cupping test of Front Street, the most common floral aromas are jasmine and rose.
Rose - delicate fragrance, has a peaceful and soothing feeling, representing floral and lavender. The rose scent of Front Street Panama Sun-Dried Red Label Geisha is most prominent on the bean list of FrontStreet Coffee.
Brewing flavor: There are bright roses, citrus aroma, black rice, berries, apricots, compound fruits, honey, a thick juice feel, rich flavor levels, and obvious sweetness.
Jasmine - fresh fragrance, with an uplifting and energetic aroma, representing floral and coffee flowers. There are more coffees with this floral aroma. For example, FrontStreet Coffee’s Yirgacheffe fruit tinge has a jasmine aroma.
Brewing flavor: There are citrus and black tea in the mouth. As the temperature changes, there are cream, caramel, and almond aftertaste. The aftertaste is obvious and the taste is clean and sweet.
Fruity (Fruity): A slightly sweet, fruity-floral blend of various ripe fruits. Through Front Street’s cupping test, the most common fruit aromas are citrus and berry aromas.
Citrus – clean taste and fresh aroma. FrontStreet Coffee, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, is the most representative.
Brewing flavor: lemon, floral, orange, sucrose, overall clean and refreshing, with a sweet aftertaste of honey and oolong tea aftertaste.
Berries - with a mellow taste and a smooth juice feel, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Sun-Dried Sidamo is the most representative.
Brewing flavor: The aroma of creamy strawberry at high temperature, the sour and sweet taste of passion fruit after slowly cooling down, the taste of blackcurrant juice, the aftertaste of honey, and the long-lasting sweetness.
｜Green plants/Herb
immature (Under-Ripe): An unripe fruit on the tree that tastes like grapefruit peel.
fresh (Fresh): The smell of freshly cut grass.
dark green vegetables (Dark Green): Boiled green vegetables, like the canned spinach that transformed Popeye when he ate it.
plant (Vegetative): The slightly spicy taste of green vegetables, the reference given is canned asparagus.
pods (Peapoo): The flavor of beans and bean products. (Aromatic acids in the sour category are also beans, but they focus more on sourness.)
herbal medicine (Herb like): Spice leaves are more suitable. Such as bay leaves, basil, and thyme. FrontStreet Coffee’s Colombian cherry blossom coffee beans are the most representative.
Brewing flavor:: Berry juice-like taste, strawberry jam, mint tea taste, wormwood, and basil aftertaste.
｜Nuts / cocoa
The coffee beans are medium roasted due to the Menard reaction. This type of aroma is relatively common, including:
Nuts: Roasted Almonds, Roasted Peanuts, Roaster Hazelnuts, Walnuts.
Cocoa: Dark Chocolate BlackChocolate.
The most representative of these two flavors is Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brazilian Queen Manor coffee beans!
Brewing flavor: fresh sweetness of sugar cane juice, black tea, smooth fruit sweetness, obvious nutty flavor, balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavor, bright and refreshing taste, smooth and delicate taste.
｜Sweetness
During medium roasting, the sour aroma is cracked and the caramel aroma is produced due to the caramelization of [sugar browning reaction].
1.Toffee, caramel, honey, maple syrup. FrontStreet Coffee’s Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherries are the most representative.
The first major distinguishing sign is its "viscosity". This viscosity is related to both our taste and the degree of sweetness, and can also be confirmed from the sense of smell. We can simply boil it down to toffee > caramel > honey > maple syrup. This consistency can be expressed as when we smell the coffee at the bottom of the cup after drinking it, does it make you feel greasy? Or is it relatively bland? In addition, the taste of honey is a little sour and fermented, while the smell of maple sugar is lighter and a little woody.
Brewing flavor: lemon, licorice, citrus, berry, sweet orange. The overall sweetness is relatively high. The aftertaste has the flavor of caramel and cream, and the aftertaste has the aroma of black tea.
2.Brown sugar, brown sugar, white sugar
The second major category is the different purity and sweetness of sucrose. Although in terms of purity, white sugar > brown sugar > caramel, we need to add the sense of smell to coffee, which makes the sweetness in coffee (brown sugar > brown sugar > white sugar) different in intensity and give us different feelings.
｜Spices
Generally produced during deep roasting, including:
spicy (Pungent): It has a sharp smell, the reference given is an orange essential oil, and the taste will have the aroma of Chinese medicine. The representative coffee is Front Street Golden Mandheling coffee beans.
Brewing flavor: varied layers, mellow and clean, high balance, rich aroma of herbs and spices, with chocolate flavor, long-lasting aftertaste, and obvious sweetness.
｜Sour / fermentation
Aromatic acid (Sour Aromatics): Sour products, such as (Bushs Pinto Beans) a canned black and white pinto beans.
citric acid (Citric Acid)and malic acid (MalicAcid): More emphasis on sour and astringent taste, more intense.
Butyric acid (Butyric Acid): The flavor of certain aged cheeses, such as Parmesan cheese.
isovaleric acid (Isovaleric Acid): Also the taste of some aged cheeses, such as cheese Romano
|Alcohol/fermentation
overripe (Overripe): Although the reference is bananas, it actually also refers to the sweet, slightly sour, moist, moldy or earthy smell of other overripe fruits or vegetables.
wine (Winey): The reference is Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon.
fermented (Fermented): The reference is Guinness Extra Stout beer.
whiskey (Whiskey): The reference is Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey Old No. 7. FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Honduras Shirley is the representative.
Brewing flavor: It smells of vanilla and cream, has the flavor of whiskey, berries, almonds, and dark chocolate in the mouth, and has the aftertaste of maple syrup.
｜Baking
bitter taste (Acrid): Specifically refers to the bitterness after roasting. The bitterness you usually drink is the bitterness of caffeine, not necessarily the bitterness after roasting.
Smell of smoke (Smoky): The smell of wood ash after burning wood.
browning, roasting (Brown, Roast): Purely refers to the feeling of being baked.
｜Others (defective taste)
Stale smell (Stale): Lack of freshness, fermented bread, expired bread taste.
moldy/damp (Moldy/Damp): The smell of dampness in the basement.
moldy/dust (Musty/Dusty): Wheat germ, similar to oatmeal crumbs.
Phenols (Phenolic): This is not a misplaced picture, nor is it a still from Fifty Shades of Grey. This was an old-fashioned tack room, a damp space with the smell of animals.
Among them, the woody aroma is produced by the "retorting effect" during the deep roasting process. This flavor has received mixed reviews. Those who like it enjoy the woody flavor in the coffee, while those who dislike it feel that it affects the flavor of the coffee itself.
"How do you practice identifying smells?"
First of all, this is the entire process of identifying smells: the brain receives information-compare-analysis-memory.
We can smell a smell and taste a taste, but maybe we can't describe it very accurately. The flavor wheel can concretely classify all taste systems perceived by humans. Corresponding to the olfactory system is the smell wheel. By practicing the two together, you can clearly perceive the most subtle differences in all smells.
For example, when we eat strawberries for the first time, we observe the red appearance of the strawberries through vision, taste the sweet and sour taste of strawberries through taste, and feel the aroma of strawberries through smell, as well as the juicy taste of the pulp in the mouth. The most important thing is that our brain accepts this information, and we remember fruits like strawberries. This is a typical example of how we remember the taste of food.
FrontStreet Coffee believes that the sensory ability in coffee is the ability to identify and describe. The taste of coffee is so diverse. Different varieties and different processing methods in different production areas will also produce different flavors in coffee. Building a flavor memory bank is to extract the impression of taste from our memory, just like we can describe the strawberry flavor in strawberry-flavored yogurt because we have eaten strawberries and have the taste memory of strawberries in our brains.
Baristas can enhance their sensory capabilities through scent bottle calibration.
However, the current scent bottles on the market are expensive. At the same time, the scent bottles are artificially processed, and the taste may be different from the actual aroma. Is there a cost-effective way to improve it? That is to draw materials from life - to eat something with a purpose. Even if you have a scent bottle, FrontStreet Coffee recommends that you always feel the aroma, taste and experience from life. When we eat fruit, we try to remember the aroma and taste of the fruit to build our own flavor memory bank. After all, the scent bottle only has 36 flavors, but there are more flavors that can be described in coffee. Baristas need to taste a lot, remember, distinguish, and summarize, and over and over again, their sensory abilities can be improved little by little.
For more knowledge sharing about specialty coffee, please follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee）
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
