How to describe the aroma of coffee professional terms 36 common aroma names of coffee

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Friends who often drink coffee should know that the word flavor mainly describes the aroma, taste, aftertaste and other perceptions of coffee. Qianjie Coffee often meets many guests who wonder why I feel so familiar after drinking this cup of coffee, but I just can't remember it. In fact, this situation is very common and normal. When most people eat something, they will not pay too much attention to the food itself. They may eat while chatting, or watch a dinner drama. Under the influence of these external factors, it is difficult to keep the flavor of the food in mind, that is, without a systematic understanding of the flavor. Qianjie coffee in each into a coffee bean, there will be several rounds of roasting adjustment, and then to the cup test brewing, the cup test process, the cognitive ability of coffee flavor is very emphasized. Therefore, Qianjie Coffee will carry out a lot of flavor awareness training. Today, Qianjie Coffee will tell you about the flavor of coffee according to its own experience and perception.

What is the flavor of coffee?

The performance of the four tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and salty coffee is closely related to the degree of roasting, so the flavor wheel is classified as light, medium and deep roasting. Coincidentally, the shallow medium-baked "sour and sweet" flavor has low molecular weight, high polarity and high water solubility, which is often dissolved in the first half of the extraction. However, the "bitter and salty" flavor, with high molecular weight, low polarity and low water solubility, is often dissolved in the second half of extraction.

Coffee light roasting medium roasting taste is mainly low molecular weight and medium molecular weight sour and sweet taste, but too many defective beans or improper baking, even shallow roasting will appear thankless salty taste. So that deep baking is dominated by high molecular weight bitterness and saltiness. But deep baking is not useless, the rarest deep baking flavor spectrum-"thick but not bitter, mellow moisturizing throat".

The proportion of water-soluble flavor substances in coffee

The above data are the weight proportion of sour, sweet, bitter and salty soluble flavors of coffee cooked beans, although the sweet ingredients are the most, accounting for 39% of the soluble substances, followed by bitterness 26.4%, salty taste 14%, sour taste the lowest, no more than 5.4%, the total is 84.8%, and the rest not listed should be flavors with less content.

Do not read the percentage and feel that the proportion of sweetness is so high, coffee will be as sweet as honey. This is not the case. The bitter sour or salty taste of black coffee can easily interfere with the original sweetness, and the four flavors will be complex to offset and complement each other.

Four flavor spectra

Qianjie coffee suggests that sour, sweet, bitter and salty coffee can be divided into four taste profiles.

1. Acidity spectrum

Sour taste is originally the most important feature of shallow roasted coffee. Coffee beans contain a variety of organic acids, including phenolic acids, fatty acids and amino acids, which have the greatest impact on the taste of coffee.

In addition, in the process of baking, sucrose degrades the product, from light baking to medium baking, sucrose will gradually degrade, and the concentration of acetic acid and lactic acid will increase, but at a certain point, it will drop dramatically, so the sour taste of coffee baked in light will be more obvious.

2. Bitterness spectrum

The bitter taste of coffee can be classified as smooth taste and hindrance, the former refers to the natural slightly bitter taste of caffeine, fenugreek, aliphatic acid and quinine vinegar, while the latter refers to the heavy bitterness of chlorogenic acid degradation products chlorogenic acid lactone (Chlorogenic acid lactones), defective beans and carbonized particles.

Third, sweetness spectrum

Although the volatile aroma of caramel is easy to enjoy with the technique of returning air to the nose and the sense of smell behind the nose, it is not easy for the taste to drink the sweetness of black coffee, because the sweetness is often disturbed by other sour, bitter and salty ingredients, and it is not easy to jump out. Unless the sweet ingredients of ripe beans are higher than the average, it is possible to break out and drink sweet taste. In other words, smell is far more likely to enjoy the sweetness of coffee than taste.

The sour and sweet taste of the shallow and medium roasted "sweet spectrum" is the interactive taste of sweetness and sour taste, which most often appears in the water-washed beans above 1300 meters above sea level. If the content of citric acid, malic acid and acetic acid is not low, it will have a sharp sour taste, but if the sugar content of the coffee is high, it can neutralize some of the fruit acidity, making the acidity supple, dynamic, and fruit flavor, and there is an interesting "sour and sweet shock" taste.

IV. Salty taste spectrum

Although the salty taste of coffee is omnipresent, it is often hidden under the interaction between sour and sweet. Once the black coffee is salty, the sour and sweet organic matter has been oxidized, causing the salty taste of inorganic matter to be highlighted, which can be regarded as a warning that the coffee is stale or stale.

How to see the coffee flavor wheel?

First, let's take a look at a complete picture of the coffee flavor wheel.

| Flower and fruit aromas

Floral: a light, slightly sweet, elegant fragrance

Fruity: a slightly sweet, fruity and floral blend of ripe fruits.

In boutique coffee, the fragrance of flowers is relatively rare, the most representative of which is:

1 chamomile-smelly, slightly choking fragrance, it will be a little pungent at first, representing the fragrance of flowers and sweet-scented osmanthus. The fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus is more obvious in Polsa, Guatemala.

Front street coffee Guatemala Polsa coffee beans

Rose-fragrant type, with a peaceful and soothing feeling, representing the scent of flowers and lavender. Sidama Sakuran in the sun is most prominent in the fragrance of roses.

Qianjie coffee Huakui coffee beans

Jasmine flower-fragrance type, aroma rising and vibrant, representing the fragrance of flowers and coffee flowers. This flower-scented type of coffee is more. Panamanian blue standard rose summer, Yega Chuefei Erica is the jasmine scent type.

Front Street Coffee Yega Chevy Coffee beans

Panamanian Emerald Manor Red Standard Rose Summer aroma is both jasmine and rose.

Qianjie Coffee Panamanian Emerald Manor Red Standard Rose Summer Coffee beans

The most representative of fruit acids are:

1. Yejachefi red cherries exude strong fruity aromas of dried fruit, Brin, strawberries and lemons.

Qianjie Coffee Yega Chevy Red Cherry Coffee beans

two。 The Lim entrance has a delicate fragrance of grass, with aromas of apple, Umei acid and berry finish.

Front Street Coffee Lim Coffee beans

3. Heart of Africa Burundian citrus and tea, light acidity, strong texture, Brin, kumquat, lemon, dried fruit, caramel.

Front Street Coffee Heart of Africa Coffee beans

| | Green plants / herbs |

At the beginning of this category, the flavor needs to be explained a little.

Under-Ripe: unripe fruit on a tree that tastes like a grapefruit peel.

Fresh (Fresh): freshly cut grass.

Dark green vegetables (Dark Green): boiled green vegetables, such as canned spinach that Popeye eats.

Plant (Vegetative): the slightly spicy taste of green vegetables, the reference given is canned asparagus.

Herbs (Herb like): spice leaves are more suitable. Such as incense leaf, basil, thyme.

Peapoo: the taste of beans and legume products. (the aromatic acid in the sour category, although it is also beans, but that one is more sour. )

Qianjie Coffee Gold Manning Coffee Bean

Coffee items, represented by Gold Manning of Sumatra, Indonesia, can sometimes smell the fragrance of fairy grass after roasting to medium-deep roasting, which is unique.

| | Nuts / cocoa |

Coffee beans are roasted as a result of the Mena reaction. This aroma is more common, including:

Nuts: roasted almond Roasted Almonds, roasted peanut RoastedPeanuts, roasted hazelnut Roaster Hazelnuts, walnut Walnuts.

Cocoa: dark chocolate BlackChocolate

Front Street Coffee Brazilian Queen Manor Coffee beans

The Queen's Manor of Brazil as a representative. Strong chocolate, smoked, nutty, creamy flavors, sweet caramel, berries and pineapple.

| | Sweet

The aroma of caramel produced by caramelization due to the cracking of acid aroma during baking.

According to the two major categories of sugar in the flavor wheel, Qianjie coffee takes two representative coffee beans as examples:

1. Toffee, caramel, honey, maple syrup

The first sign of discrimination is its "stickiness", which is related to both our taste and the degree of sweetness, and can be confirmed by our sense of smell. We can simply boil it down to toffee > caramel > honey > maple syrup. This consistency can be expressed as we smell the coffee at the bottom of the cup after drinking coffee. Does it make you feel bored? Or is it lighter? In addition, the taste of honey is a little sour and fermented, while the smell of maple syrup is light and woody.

Front Street Coffee Flower Butterfly Coffee beans

Panamanian sun-treated flowers and butterflies as a representative. Floral, citrus, lemon, sugar, honey, hazelnut, oolong tea.

two。 Black sugar, yellow sugar, white sugar

The second category is to distinguish sucrose in terms of purity and sweetness. although in terms of purity, white sugar > yellow sugar > caramel, we have to add a sense of smell to coffee, which makes the sweet black sugar > brown sugar > white sugar in coffee, and the rich degree of sweetness is different, so it gives us different feelings.

Front street coffee Costa Rican priest rose summer coffee beans

Costa Rican priest Rose Xia as a representative. Floral, citrus, lemon, sugar, honey, hazelnut, oolong tea.

| | Spice

Generally produced during deep baking, including: spicy (Pungent): such as the sharp taste of the nose, the reference is an orange essential oil. The taste will be represented by the tiger Mantenin, which has the fragrance of Chinese traditional medicine.

Qianjie Coffee Tiger Mantenin Coffee beans

| | sour / fermentation |

Aromatic acid (Sour Aromatics): an acidic product, such as (Bush's Pinto Beans), a canned black-and-white spotted bean.

Citric acid (Citric Acid) and malic acid (MalicAcid): more emphasis on sour, astringent taste, more intense.

Butyric acid (Butyric Acid): the taste of some old cheese, such as cheese Parmesan.

Isovaleric acid (Isovaleric Acid): it is also the taste of some old cheese, such as cheese Romano

There are citrus, lemon, grapefruit, nuts, almonds flavor of Rosa Village CHAKA as a representative.

| Alcohol / fermentation

Overripe: although the reference is banana, it also refers to the sweet, slightly sour, moist, moldy or earthy taste of other overripe fruits or vegetables.

Wine (Winey): the reference is Yellow Tail CabernetSauvignon

Whisky (Whiskey): the reference is Jack Daniel's TennesseeWhiskey Old No. 7

Fermented: the reference is Guinness Extra Stout beer

Front street coffee Honduras Shirley coffee beans

Whisky is represented by the fermented Honduran Shirley. It smells of vanilla and cream, with whisky, berries, almonds and dark chocolate in the mouth, with maple syrup in the finish.

Front street coffee Honduras litchi orchid coffee beans

Honduran litchi orchid fermented in brandy barrels is represented. After brandy barrel fermentation, the beans have soft lychee and honey aromas, combined with alcoholic brandy and oak aromas.

| | Bake |

Bitterness (Acrid): especially the bitterness after baking. The bitterness you usually drink is the bitterness of caffeine, not necessarily the bitterness after baking.

Smoky: the smell of wood ash after burning wood.

Browning (Brown, Roast): purely refers to the feeling of being baked.

| | other |

Stale: lack of freshness, fermented bread, taste of expired bread.

Moldy/Damp: the smell of damp in the basement.

Mildew / dust (Musty/Dusty): wheat germ, similar to the taste of cereal crumbs.

Phenols (Phenolic): this is not a misplaced picture, nor is it a still picture of 50 shades of gray. This is the old-fashioned harness room, damp space, with the smell of animals.

Among them, the woody aroma is produced by dry distillation in the process of deep baking. This flavor has received mixed praise and criticism. People who like it enjoy the woody flavor of the coffee and do not like it to affect the flavor of the coffee itself.

The 85 flavors of coffee do not mean that there are 85 flavors of coffee, but the different flavors produced by the environment, genes, processing methods, storage and transportation, roasting degree and roaster skills in the process of planting, processing and roasting.

The flavor of coffee is actually complex and multi-layered. If you want to understand coffee, Qianjie Coffee advice also needs to start with the following three conditions:

The first one: have you ever experienced a similar sense of taste and smell? if you haven't eaten peaches, of course you can't taste peaches.

The second: Qianjie coffee is recommended to wait until the coffee is completely cold before tasting it, because usually the fruit tone of the coffee will be recognized after it is cold, and the coffee flavor will unfold as the temperature drops.

Third: the intensity of coffee can also affect the tonality of a cup of coffee. If it is a lightly roasted coffee that is over-tuned, Qianjie Coffee suggests diluting it, opening the taste spectrum and making it easy to find the taste in it. (this is a good explanation for why the ratio of powder to water measured in the cup is 118.18).

How to taste a good cup of coffee in front of the street

1. Drink coffee with a small sip, drink slowly, or even gargle and gently stir the coffee liquid in your mouth.

two。 Each mouthful will expand with the change of temperature, the first two tongues will be bitter, when the coffee temperature is cold, slowly from bitter to sour, subtle citrus acid.

3. In the middle of the drink, the coffee changes from sour to sweet, from bitter to sweet, begins to taste sweet, has a sweet taste on the tongue, and finally has a sweet aftertaste to caramel, staying between the mouth and nose, tasting the aftertaste of coffee through the sense of smell behind the nose.

4. Do not rush to wash the cup after drinking, to smell the sweetness of the bottom of the cup.

How to distinguish the smell of front street coffee

The whole process of identifying smell: the brain receives information-compares-analyzes-remembers.

As the Qianjie Coffee said at the beginning, many people can smell a smell, taste a taste, but can not accurately describe it. The flavor wheel can classify all the taste systems perceived by human beings, corresponding to the smell system is the smell wheel, with the practice of the two, we can clearly sense the slightest difference among all the odors.

When many people come into contact with coffee, bitterness is strong, strong is fragrant. When they meet such guests, Qianjie coffee will patiently explain what the flavor is, strong is not necessarily fragrant, bitter is not necessarily, but for a person who has never studied coffee, can be compared with the above flavor wheel introduction to learn, you can also have a look, after all, not everyone has such a professional experience, the reason there is such a difference It's just different descriptions of the same compound in different regions of culture, life and diet, so coffee tasting, the most important thing is communication, tell us how you feel about this bean, different cultures, different experiences, different descriptions. This kind of communication can bring a lot of fun.

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