In recent years, the domestic coffee industry has developed rapidly. Even amid black swan events and widespread difficulties across all sectors, the domestic coffee market has maintained steady growth. So, as an ordinary enthusiast, how should one evaluate a coffee bean in the face of merchants' marketing claims?
When drinking coffee and buying coffee beans, we often see relevant information about a coffee, including flavor descriptions—for example, the Gedeb cooperative in the Yirgacheffe region featured by Front Street Coffee is described as citrus and tea-like, and the washed Emerald Estate Blue Label Geisha as floral and tea-like. These are all pieces of information that help us understand the taste of a coffee bean.
But flavor description is only one item in tasting a coffee bean. As industry professionals, beyond flavor, we also need to make objective judgments about aspects including aroma, so as to assess the quality of the coffee beans or control the quality of what a café serves.
What dimensions can be used to judge coffee? Front Street Coffee has broken down the cupping form commonly used in the industry and will explain it from the following 7 dimensions.
Aroma
Aroma refers to the experience we obtain through our sense of smell, and is divided into dry aroma and wet aroma. Dry aroma is the aroma of the coffee beans right after grinding, while wet aroma is the aroma of the brewed coffee liquid. As the first experience we perceive, aroma's intensity and type can most directly reflect the quality of a coffee bean.
During cupping, Front Street Coffee first grinds the coffee into powder and places it in a cupping bowl to sense the dry aroma. For example, Honduras Sherry Barrel coffee beans carry a distinct wine aroma and chocolate note in the dry aroma.
Then, after pouring in water and extracting for 4 minutes, the crust is broken as soon as the time is up to judge the wet aroma. At this point, coffees like the washed Geisha from Panama's Emerald Estate reveal an astonishing floral fragrance—still fresh in memory.
Acidity
Acidity refers to the sourness among our five senses, and can also describe how much saliva is secreted on both sides of the tongue.
In terms of acidity, besides describing the intensity of the coffee's sourness, we also describe the coffee's acidity quality. For example, we would describe Yirgacheffe coffee as having citrus acidity, and Kenyan coffee as having a distinct berry-like acidity.
Front Street Coffee needs to remind you that acidity is not the sole criterion for judging whether a coffee is good or bad—it is not that the more sour, the better. A coffee's acidity is also affected by the degree of roasting. Among Front Street Coffee's offerings, the representative Golden Mandheling chooses a darker roast in order to highlight the region's body and herbal spice flavors, and its acidity is greatly reduced.
Cleanliness
Cleanliness refers to coffee having no defective flavors and no unpleasant flavors. If a coffee has bad flavors such as earthy mustiness, medicinal-iodine, onion, or rubber, it indicates the coffee is not clean enough.
In both the COE and SCAA cupping systems, cleanliness occupies a very important position. Front Street Coffee strongly agrees: no matter how prominent or refined a coffee's flavor is, if it is mixed with unbearable flavors, the overall experience will inevitably be greatly diminished.
Sweetness
Sweetness refers to the sweetness among our five senses. Sweetness reflects whether the coffee was harvested at the optimal ripeness, and also indicates whether unripe or overripe fruits were mixed in for processing. Excellent sweetness indicates excellent coffee quality. There are also many types of sweetness expression, such as sugarcane sweetness and honey sweetness.
In recent years, sun-dried coffee beans have won the affection of many coffee lovers thanks to their high sweetness. For example, this year Panama's Emerald Estate added a sun-dried Blue Label Geisha, and during cupping at Front Street Coffee, one can sense a distinct passion fruit flavor, with a surprisingly high sweetness.
Mouthfeel\Body
Mouthfeel refers to the tactile sensation in the mouth. Mouthfeel does not refer to taste, but is an experience of oral sensation, such as texture, oiliness, viscosity, and body—all of which can reflect a coffee's mouthfeel. Water and milk can be used as examples to distinguish differences in mouthfeel.
Among these, Golden Mandheling and similar coffees have a relatively full body, while Kenya Asalia is more like a juice-like mouthfeel.
Flavor
Flavor refers to the overall impression we get from drinking this coffee.
It combines various sensations produced by smell and taste. These directly reflect the taste of this coffee, and are also the direct basis for describing the coffee's flavor characteristics.
For example, Geisha coffee carries distinct floral and tea-like notes, Guatemalan coffee carries a tobacco-leaf sensation, Kenyan coffee is renowned for its berry-like flavors, Colombia Rose Valley brings to mind the aroma of strawberries, and Honduras Sherry is more like a liqueur chocolate.
Aftertaste
Aftertaste refers to the various flavors and aromas that remain in the mouth after drinking the coffee. If good flavors linger for a long time, we can describe the coffee as having a long, lingering aftertaste.
Balance
Balance refers to whether the various indicators of the coffee are well proportioned.
For example, whether it is too sour or has a prominent bitterness—these are the bases on which we describe whether this coffee is balanced. Balance is also where the overall experience of a coffee is judged; a balance among sourness, sweetness, and bitterness makes for a better experience. A lack of sweetness makes acidity become sharp, while too much bitterness overwhelms the coffee's other experiences, because the tongue is more sensitive to bitterness.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
