The Cooking Inn : Coffee Terminology B PageSelect an item from the list to go to it's site
An off-taste often observed in cups from weakly roasted coffees that
have been stored for a long time in unsuitable conditions.
A taste and odor taint that gives the coffee brew a flat bouquet and
insipid taste. The result of the roasting process proceeding with too
little heat over too long a period. Generally unpleasant characteristic
of having an over-baked taste in an over-heated coffee. Ranks in the
following order of intensity: cooked, baked or burnt.
This is a difficult term. When tasting coffees for defects,
professional tasters use the term to describe a coffee that does not
localize at any one point on the palate; in other words, it is not
imbalanced in the direction of some one (often undesirable) taste
characteristic. As a term of general evaluation, balance appears to mean
that no one quality overwhelms all others, but there is enough
complexity in the coffee to arouse interest. It is a term that on
occasion damns with faint praise. The Mexican sample should be most
balanced, but it has less to balance than the other two coffees. If you
tasted the Yemen Mocha against a standard Ethiopian Harrar you would
probably sense how the Yemen coffee is similar to the Harrar, but much
more balanced. A well-balanced coffee contains all the basic
characteristics to the right extent.
Sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. Characterized respectively by
sucrose, tartaric acid, sodium chloride, and quinine.
Specific aroma of an insufficiently roasted coffee that has not been
able to develop its full aroma.
A basic taste characterized by solution of quinine, caffeine, and
certain other alkaloids. Perceived primarily at the back of the tongue.
Generally normal characteristics of coffees connected with their
chemical constitution, influenced by degree of roasting and the method
of preparing the brew. Canephora are more bitter than arabica coffees. A
desirable characteristic at a certain level.
Dead coffee beans that have dropped from the trees before
harvesting. Used as the basic unit for counting imperfections in grading
coffee on the New York Coffee Exchange. Has a detrimental effect on
Lacking coffee flavor and characteristics. A primary coffee taste
sensation created as the sugars in the coffee combine with the salts to
reduce the overall saltiness of the coffee. Found most often in washed
arabica coffees grown at elevations below 2,000 feet, such as a
Guatemalan. Bland coffees range from soft to neutral.
Body or mouth feel is the sense of heaviness, richness, and
thickness at the back of the tongue when you swish the coffee around
your mouth. The coffee is not actually heavy; it just tastes that way.
To follow a wine analogy again, burgundies and certain other red wines
are heavier in body than clarets and most white wines. In this case wine
and coffee tasters use the same term for a similar phenomenon. The
Mexican coffee should have the lightest body and the Sumatran the
heaviest, with the Yemen Mocha somewhere in the middle. If you can't
distinguish body, try pouring milk into each coffee. Note how the flavor
of the heavy-bodied Sumatran carries through the milk, whereas the
flavor of the Mexican dies away. If you drink coffee with milk, you
should buy a heavy-bodied coffee. If you drink black coffee, you may
prefer a lighter-bodied variety. The physical properties of the beverage
resulting in the tactile sensations perceived in the mouth during and
after ingestion. Used to describe the mouthfeel of a drink,
corresponding to a certain consistency.
The total aromatic profile created by the sensations of gases and
vapors on the olfactory membranes as a result of the volatile organic
compounds present in the fragrance, aroma, nose, and aftertaste of
A taste fault giving the coffee brew a salty and alkaline sensation.
The result of salts and alkaline inorganic material left after
evaporation of water from the brew due to excessive heat after brewing.
Bready taste manifests in coffees that have not been roasted long
enough or at a high enough temperature to bring out the flavor oils.
Specific taste of a good home brew prepared properly.
Applies to a coffee that has been over-roasted.
A relatively high level of oily material suspended in the coffee
beverage. The result of substantial amounts of fat present in the beans.
Most often a characteristic of high coffee-to-water ratio brews.