News
DEVELOPMENT OF COFFEE TASTING SKILLS
by
Barsel
on
Oct 18, 2018
Sensory ability
To begin with, sensory ability for tasting isn't something predetermined by genes or innate. While it's true that some people have a better predisposition than others, with training and development, it's proven that anyone can become a great taster. The senses of taste and smell are cognitive senses; that is, we learn them based on our experiences. No one knows what a strawberry tastes or smells like until they smell and taste it for the first time. Furthermore, this perception of strawberry flavor is individual; perhaps I don't perceive strawberry flavor the same way as someone else.
Society
Modern society has conditioned us to gulp down food, any kind of food, instead of savoring it, of discerning its flavors, of understanding our perception of each bite or sip we take with every meal or drink. Therefore, the first piece of advice I would give to someone wanting to begin tasting anything—coffee, wine, oil, etc.—is to start analyzing the sensations each food or drink produces in their mouth, which area it stimulates, whether it makes them salivate, whether it's pleasant, and so on. In this way, we begin to discover that each area of the tongue has a different sensation: acidity is perceived on the side of the tongue, bitterness at the back, sweetness at the tip, saltiness in the area next to sweet and then after acid, and the combination of these five tastes, in varying degrees, is what determines the final flavor.
Once you've developed the habit of identifying the flavors that pass through your mouth, you can practice exercises to further train your senses. These basic taste exercises help you develop your sensory skills by focusing on where you perceive each flavor in your mouth. For example, put a little lemon juice (acidic) in one glass of water, a little salt in another, and a little sugar in another, and try to distinguish between them. Then, try adding the same flavor to three different intensities: 1 gram of sugar to one glass, 2 grams to another, and 3 grams to a third, and try to identify which is sweeter and which is less sweet. Repeat this process with the lemon and salt. To progress and make it more challenging, the next step would be to mix flavors: acidic and salty in one glass, sweet and acidic in another, and sweet and salty in another, and try to identify which is which.
Once we've developed our sensory skills a bit more, we should apply this to coffee. We're very used to seeing a lot of descriptors on coffee packaging (peach, strawberry, cocoa, vinous acidity, etc.). In my opinion, this should be used as a guide to what we can expect from that particular coffee, but I shouldn't drive myself crazy trying to find the flavor described on the label in the coffee itself, since my perception of the flavors will surely be different from the taster who developed the label. However, it does serve as a guide for me to know that if it says apple, then it's very likely I'll find malic acidity, or if it says almond, then I'll probably find that characteristic nutty flavor.
Once we have a clear understanding of the descriptors, we move on to the professional tasting of a coffee. In my opinion, we should separate the tasting into two important sections. One is the evaluation of the coffee's qualities: aroma, body, acidity, bitterness, aftertaste, balance, etc., assessing the quantity of each (intense or mild) and the quality of each. A coffee can have an intense body but be of low quality, or an intense body of very high quality. Ultimately, we evaluate each characteristic of the coffee separately, determining its quality based on the balance between intensity and quality. To understand this better, it's useless to have a very intense body if the palate is earthy and unpleasant. A coffee with the same body, but clean on the palate and buttery, will be much better.
Another part of tasting a coffee should be to provide descriptors so that someone who has never tasted that coffee can get an idea of what to expect, giving them a guide to select the coffee that best suits their tastes.
And finally, I would advise that if you want to advance in coffee tasting, you should taste as many different coffees as possible, different qualities, processes, roasts, varieties, which in the end will give you a very useful record for future tastings.
Once you've developed the habit of identifying the flavors that pass through your mouth, you can practice exercises to further train your senses. These basic taste exercises help you develop your sensory skills by focusing on where you perceive each flavor in your mouth. For example, put a little lemon juice (acidic) in one glass of water, a little salt in another, and a little sugar in another, and try to distinguish between them. Then, try adding the same flavor to three different intensities: 1 gram of sugar to one glass, 2 grams to another, and 3 grams to a third, and try to identify which is sweeter and which is less sweet. Repeat this process with the lemon and salt. To progress and make it more challenging, the next step would be to mix flavors: acidic and salty in one glass, sweet and acidic in another, and sweet and salty in another, and try to identify which is which.
Once we've developed our sensory skills a bit more, we should apply this to coffee. We're very used to seeing a lot of descriptors on coffee packaging (peach, strawberry, cocoa, vinous acidity, etc.). In my opinion, this should be used as a guide to what we can expect from that particular coffee, but I shouldn't drive myself crazy trying to find the flavor described on the label in the coffee itself, since my perception of the flavors will surely be different from the taster who developed the label. However, it does serve as a guide for me to know that if it says apple, then it's very likely I'll find malic acidity, or if it says almond, then I'll probably find that characteristic nutty flavor.
Once we have a clear understanding of the descriptors, we move on to the professional tasting of a coffee. In my opinion, we should separate the tasting into two important sections. One is the evaluation of the coffee's qualities: aroma, body, acidity, bitterness, aftertaste, balance, etc., assessing the quantity of each (intense or mild) and the quality of each. A coffee can have an intense body but be of low quality, or an intense body of very high quality. Ultimately, we evaluate each characteristic of the coffee separately, determining its quality based on the balance between intensity and quality. To understand this better, it's useless to have a very intense body if the palate is earthy and unpleasant. A coffee with the same body, but clean on the palate and buttery, will be much better.
Another part of tasting a coffee should be to provide descriptors so that someone who has never tasted that coffee can get an idea of what to expect, giving them a guide to select the coffee that best suits their tastes.
And finally, I would advise that if you want to advance in coffee tasting, you should taste as many different coffees as possible, different qualities, processes, roasts, varieties, which in the end will give you a very useful record for future tastings.
