Coffee flavor analysis 1: coffee flavor refers to what coffee flavor description

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It is not easy to try to describe the flavor of coffee. Coffee is popular because of its unique and rich flavor and aroma. Consumers, bean bakers, cup testers and traders all want to describe the flavor they drink into words.

But could the problem be that we can't describe it more accurately?

When the flavor we describe is more accurate, will it increase the experience of coffee drinkers?

A flavor that we cannot describe.

It all stems from the fact that we have to record the flavor of newly purchased Ethiopian Kelloo washed coffee. Everyone in the baking factory quickly distinguishes the sweet and sour taste of fruit like oranges and pears, but it has a strong and floral flavor that is difficult for us to describe.

The closest description is "rose", but none of us think it is very accurate. In the end, we chose the word "rose water" to describe this cup of coffee, trying to convey the weight and sweetness of the rosy aroma in the coffee.

I don't think we caught the rose-like aroma, but it all became clear a few weeks later, and my partner and I spent a rare and unforgettable holiday on a farm in Ireland.

The farm is a place full of pastoral scenery, and between the shed and the orchard, the vats of apple juice are slowly turning into vinegar. The strawberry scaffolding next to it extends sideways. In the store on the farm, mountains of apples give off an incredible fragrance.

It is this aroma that reminds me of Kelloo, which not only reminds me of the sweetness of ripe apples, but also has a rich floral flavor, which reminds me that roses and apples are actually distantly related. James Hoffmann has mentioned in the past how difficult it is to describe the flavor of an apple, which makes me think again about how we can more accurately describe drinking floral coffee.

What does this have to do with the description of coffee flavor?

Do these unique aromas mentioned above really mean that the analogy of roses can be compared with the description of coffee flavor? In other words, when we use a description of a particular variety of rose, it is meaningless and very confusing to someone who doesn't know about the rose. For people who don't know coffee, it's also a different language.

It is a problem even in the professional training tool of "wine nose". The roses described by Lenoir are mainly Damascus roses, but they are marked with "tea roses" or "red currant jelly".

Damascus roses, often used as rose water and rose essential oils, are native to China and have many different aromas such as tea, cloves and Cordyceps sinensis. On the other hand, the tea-scented rose is completely different, with the aroma of red currant jelly, it is indescribable.

After trying to mark all the different kinds of rose aromas, can I really use these aromas to describe the flavor of Kelloo? To be honest, if you ask me now, I will describe it as "pea". As for what kind of pea it is, I don't know.