Micro-roasters have expertise in the selection and roasting of coffee to bring coffee to life. Everyone has a unique technique for roasting their coffee beans and thus offering coffees with very few defects. Whether it's single origin coffees or blends, they create an ideal balance between aromas to obtain products with a unique aromatic profile to suit everyone's tastes. Renowned for its finesse and aromas, specialty coffee, like wine, is a fine drink with an organoleptic richness; an ability to impress sensory receptors. The New Coffee Wave offers six categories that cover the three flavors in coffee (acidic, bitter and sweet) as well as the aromas that are taken from everyday words (fruits, flowers, or cooked foods for example) to describe the flavors noticeable in a cup of coffee. As the vocabulary of coffee is a little complex and unrecognized, our goal is to simply equip you to allow you to better choose the coffees that suit you.
Acidity: light, velvety, balanced, sharp, lively, complex, intense, wine, bland, spicy, dry, astringent, acid, syrupy, aggressive… Texture: Delicate, elegant, supple, structured, viscous, syrupy, thick, film-coated, aqueous, hollow, grainy…
Aftertaste: rough, harsh, neutral, pure, lasting, sweet… Tart: Desirable taste, which is marked and pleasant but not spicy. The term "tangy" as it is used by coffee professionals refers to a lively and shiny coffee compared to heavy, old and tasteless notes. Bitter: It is a strong and unpleasant taste when it is strong. Which produces a sour, unpleasant (eg bile) or stimulating sensation Caramelized: Flavor reminiscent of the burnt; caramelized sugar taste. Balanced or round: Acidity and body are present to a fair extent. Floral: This aromatic description recalls the fragrance of flowers. It is associated with the light scent of different types of flowers, including jasmine, rose ... Aroma generally subtle, not very intense. Fruity: Coffee with fruity acidity, which tastes of fresh fruit. Sweet: Good coffee, very clean, devoid of any harshness with characteristic fruity, chocolate and caramelized notes. A slightly pronounced general flavor. Vivid: Biting sensation.
The perception of flavors in coffee
There are only three flavors in coffee: sour, bitter and sweet. Cupping (a tasting method designed to assess coffees as objectively as possible) is used to measure the intensity of these flavors. Like acidity, bitterness is appreciated in coffee when it remains moderate while sweetness is particularly appreciated because it suggests the presence of a food rich in calories. This flavor is directly associated with the feeling of pleasure felt when tasting coffee. The different processes (washed, honey, natural) during the cherry harvest period, as well as the level of roasting and the blends (blends) greatly influence the bitterness-acidity balance and the development of coffee sugars.
Roasting plays on the balance of flavors. The more a coffee is roasted, the less its acidity is pronounced and the more the sugars develop.
Perceptible aromas in a cup of coffee
The terms used to describe the flavors are taken from everyday words, fruits, flowers, or cooked food for example. A specialty coffee has an aromatic complexity, which means recognized aromatic impressions when tasting this coffee. Please note that these are not added aromas but rather aromas that are perceptible to the taste.
