Why does the coffee species name connect to floral aroma?

Early 17th century botanists naming the coffee species noticed the tree's flowers carry a fragrance like Arabian jasmine, with leaves resembling laurel, and gave Arabica the botanical name Jasminum arabicanum. Coffee sits in the Rubiaceae family, sharing it with gardenia but a different genus, and its flowers are noticeably lighter in scent than gardenia.

In the cup, floral notes fall into three types: closed aroma, subtle aroma and clear aroma. They form through variety, cultivation, post-processing and roast level, and light to medium roasts preserve them better than dark roasts. Floral aromas are most easily perceived during grinding, blooming and medium-to-low temperature tasting, which is why the coffee blossom aroma bottle is often the first reference point.

Floral aromas are a highly sought-after yet elusive flavor type in specialty coffee. Starting from Front Street's aroma experience, this article reviews the botanical origins of coffee flowers and Arabian jasmine, sorts out the conceptual source of the vast floral group known as white florals, and categorizes the floral notes in coffee into three types: closed aroma, subtle aroma, and clear aroma. Combining Front Street's specific bean list, the article offers recommendations for different floral tonalities, explains the relationship between floral formation and variety, cultivation, post-processing, and roast level, focuses on why light to medium roasts better preserve floral notes, and explains why floral aromas are more easily perceived during grinding, blooming, and medium-to-low temperature tasting stages.

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Across various fields, anything associated with floral scent tends to stand out remarkably. On one hand, the fragrance of flowers can soothe emotions; on the other hand, flowers themselves carry special emotional imagery that easily evokes empathy. Coffee naturally cannot escape this rule.

Front Street still remembers that before ever seeing a coffee flower in person, it was through Aroma Bottle No. 12—Coffee Blossom—that the first understanding of coffee flower scent was established. That scent reveals a sweetness similar to peach flesh, gentle and full, as if biting into a perfectly ripe peach.

Rewinding to the early 17th century, when botanists were naming the Arabica species, they noticed that the flowers produced by the coffee tree "carry a fragrance like Arabian jasmine, with leaf shapes similar to laurel." Thus, the earliest botanical name given to Arabica coffee was "Arabian Jasmine" (Jasminum arabicanum). This shows that the similarity between coffee flowers and jasmine flowers is indeed quite high.

From a plant taxonomy perspective, the coffee tree belongs to the Rubiaceae family, sharing the same family but a different genus from gardenia, so the two plants look somewhat similar. However, when it comes to scent, gardenia is intense and heavy, while coffee flowers are noticeably much lighter.

In actual tasting, it is actually quite difficult to immediately capture and distinguish which specific flower the floral note in coffee corresponds to. Multiple scents intertwine, forming a unique yet hard-to-articulate sensation. When smelling or tasting, that pleasure brings white flowers to mind, yet no precise word can be found to describe it, so it is simply collectively called white floral. This floral group is actually quite large; besides coffee flowers and jasmine, it also includes white roses, white camellias, white magnolias, pear blossoms, lemon blossoms, plum blossoms, and more.

Floral notes in coffee can be roughly categorized into three types: closed aroma, subtle aroma, and clear aroma. Below, Front Street introduces different floral tonalities one by one with specific coffee bean categories, making it easy for everyone to choose according to preference.

1. Recommended: Front Street Panama Geisha Coffee, Front Street Washed Yirgacheffe Coffee, Front Street Fruit Dingding; these coffees carry obvious white floral notes, typical representatives of the clear aroma type ;

If you want to try coffees leaning toward pink floral notes, you can choose Front Street Colombia Pink Bourbon and Front Street Costa Rica Baha;

2. The most classic among subtle aromas is the sweet rose scent; recommended are Front Street Emerald Red Label Geisha Coffee and Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee, which carry exactly this type of floral note and smell relaxing and soothing;

3. The closed aroma type carries a slight pungency, with a somewhat sharp scent at first; chamomile and osmanthus are typical representatives. To experience this style, it is suggested to get Front Street Mozart Coffee and Front Street Gold Label Geisha Coffee.

As a rather rare flavor in specialty coffee, floral notes have always been a key pursuit for coffee lovers. Whether floral notes can be generated depends partly on the coffee variety, cultivation conditions, and the fermentation degree of post-processing, while the roasting stage is the key step determining the intensity of floral notes.

The darker the roast, the more the internal substances of the coffee continue to transform, and floral notes are easily consumed. Therefore, from the perspective of roasting alone, light to medium roasts generally better retain floral notes. Medium-light roasted coffee has a softer flavor and a lighter body, making floral notes easier to notice during tasting.

Generally speaking, floral notes are particularly prominent when grinding coffee grounds, during the blooming stage, and when the coffee liquid is in the medium-to-low temperature range. During tasting, it may help to compare with flowers you have encountered yourself to judge which tonality the perceived aroma leans toward.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.