Coffee Tasting

this is some valuable information about coffee tasting. I am not poetic enough to have written it. Someone else did. Enjoy!


tasting: terms and tools

Coffee tasters use four main categories to help describe and define a cup of coffee. These are acidity, body, bouquet or aromatic profile, and flavor.

* Acidity: this is probably the most important coffee-tasting term, and also the most easily misunderstood. Acidity in coffee tasting is a positive term that denotes a liveliness and vibrancy on the palette, bright taste sensations caused by sugars and other acidic compounds. Coffees are rated as high, medium, or low in acidity according to the overall presence of these qualities
* Body: body describes the texture of coffee and how it feels in your mouth. Density, surface tension, viscosity and other factors determine the perception of body, which is typically rated as heavy or full, medium, and light, depending on if it is thick and creamy or thinner and possibly watery.
* Bouquet: our sense of smell is very involved in the enjoyment and evaluation of coffee, before, during and after we actually taste it. Aromatic profile, or bouquet, is divided into four phases: fragrance, aroma, nose and aftertaste.

Fragrance is perceived in the gases arising from freshly ground coffee.
Aroma is in the gases from freshly brewed coffee.
Nose is perceived in the vapors arising as coffee is swallowed.
Aftertaste is in the vapors that remain after the coffee is swallowed.

* Flavor: flavor refers to the taster’s overall impression of body, acidity, and bouquet. In a general sense it refers to intensity and may also acknowledge particular characteristics such as spice, nut, fruit, or chocolate notes.

The physical tools of the taster are quite obvious: the nose and the mouth/tongue. Key flavors are perceived on different parts of the tongue. Acidity and sweetness are tasted primarily on the tip of the tongue, sourness and saltiness more on the sides, bitterness mostly in the back, and body registers over the whole surface. The nose is an equally important tool, capable of distinguishing between 2000-4000 different aromas. Much of coffee’s flavor is locked up in volatile, aromatic compounds, perceived both directly by sniffing in through the nose, and again during tasting as vapors rise up into the nasal cavity.

While some people are natural “palette people,” blessed with superb sensitivity, it is important to remember that with concentration and practice we all possess the skills to master coffee tasting.

It's all about the coffee!

This is just my little ode to the joys of coffeemaking. Cafe Nasty actually has two locations in our small town. One has been in existence for almost 15 years, while the other opened just this summer. The staff is trained to work at both stores. There isn't much of a difference between them, product-wise or anything. The main difference is that the new cafe is a lot smaller and serves a little bit more food and shit. The other, smaller difference is that I hate working at the new Cafe Nasty. This is because I thrive off of the hectic energy of original Nasty. It's quite big for a coffee shop, it seats a shitload of over-pampered snobs and students. It's constantly abuzz with that delightful energy of a well-functioning little business. The new store, because it is so amall and has no indoor seating, has a smaller number of people on every shift. For many reasons, I think this sucks. I'm sure I'll be able to explore those sentiments in depth at a later date. Right now, I'm just bitching because of the lack of contact I have with the espresso machine at the new store. It drives me bonkers!
I live to be close to that steaming hunk of metal (well, not really I guess, but sort of). I get a thrill each time I dose out some of that finely ground pixie dust with it's sweet aroma and dark chocolate. Coffee is life. It is luscious and provides such marvelous instant gratification that only a shot of heroin or an orgasm can match.
And what do I do at the new Nasty? I serve angry mothers and their chocolate-faced offspring bowls of chili and egg sandwiches and all that garbage. No one comes there for the delicious espresso. No way. So I am obviously embittered about having been put in exile over at that stinking place. Fortunately, at this very moment I'm about to begin a shift at the original Nasty, and I have hours of espresso making to look forward to. Joy to the world!

Excellent Espresso Resource!

Hello all! I want to recommend a site to visit for really fantastic info about all things espresso. First of all, the site is for a superb cafe in, where else, Seattle! It's called Vivace Espresso, and its owner and founder is a really neat guy named David Schomer. I had the pleasure of being sent there by my cafe (an all expenses paid vacation, if you can believe it!)along with the other coffee trainer to take Schomer's intensive three day espresso course. The class was extremely in-depth and I benefited greatly from it. The cost of the trip was a little much, and I'm very greatful to come from a cafe that so believes in cultivating vast coffee knowledge in its workers that it paid for the whole trip.
You don't have to take the course to get all of Schomer's tips and secrets. Go to vivaceespresso.com, I think. Or just Google "Vivace," b/c I'm not entirely sure that's the right address. Anyway, you can see photos of beautiful latte art, read about the cafe, get some poetic versing on the perfect shot of espresso, and you can order a copy of one of Schomer's three books. I have, and love, his book on professional espresso techniques because it covers everything from espresso theory- why it tastes so good, where it comes from, etc.- to machine maintainnence to ltte art.
So check out the site if you have the time!!