Various Coffee Flavor Wheel inventory Coffee Flavor Wheel how to describe Coffee with Flavor Round tasting

On the way of learning boutique coffee, I believe everyone is particularly impressed by a colorful circle. It is the SCAA 2016 Coffee Flavor Wheel that has abused you thousands of times. Of course, this is already a "simplified" version. There are still two flavor wheels in the first edition in 1995, one is the positive flavor wheel, the other is the negative flavor wheel.

Is SCAA's coffee flavor wheel an industry authority?

In 1995, SCAA released the first version of Coffee Flavor Wheel, which serves as a reference for standard measurement, ending the era of talking with ducks and chickens. This version of the flavor wheel basically includes the possible flavor performance of coffee beans, and lists the general direction of the reasons for this flavor.

1995 SCAA coffee flavor wheel

This version of the flavor wheel can be detailed to 90 analogous flavors, targeting users who are basically engaged in coffee-related people, making it easy for everyone to communicate on the same "channel" and make a clear definition of coffee flavor. SCAA's coffee flavor wheel has gradually become a recognized authority in the industry.

In 2016, SCAA released an updated version of the coffee flavor wheel. The lineup involved in this update was packed with giants. SCAA, together with the World Coffee Institute (WCR), Kansas State University, German Agro-Industrial University and the coffee industry, analyzed and tested the flavors of 105 different samples from 13 coffee-producing countries and compiled the World Coffee Research sensory Dictionary as the basis for the new coffee flavor wheel.

SCAA and the University of California, Davis team then used novel adaptations of traditional sensory and statistical methods, and 72 experts ranked the flavor attributes of the dictionary. The data is then compiled and arranged into a wheel, which is the new version of the 2016 coffee flavor wheel.

2016 version of SCAA coffee powder flavor wheel

The new flavor wheel combines the old flavor wheel into one, condensing the negative flavor and distinguishing more positive flavor in more detail. There are a total of 85 analogous flavors on this wheel. Well, the lack is simpler and more refined than it was 21 years ago!

Of course, the coffee flavor wheel in 2016 is even more beautiful. The exquisite flavor wheel we see is the work of One Darnley Road, a creative agency in London. Each color and hue is carefully selected to better match the corresponding flavor.

Limitations of SCAA coffee flavor wheel

The flavor wheel developed by SCAA largely refers to the common flavor analogies in the United States, such as grapefruit, cherry, prunes, maple syrup and so on, which can be seen and tasted every day in the United States, but it is not common in China, so when we see a coffee described as grapefruit, maple syrup and other flavor, it is difficult to imagine what the taste is. This is the malpractice reflected in the differences between language and culture.

Therefore, some areas with developed boutique coffee culture will carry out localization transformation of coffee flavor wheel. Take Taiwan and Indonesia as examples:

The Taiwan Coffee Research Institute released a flavor wheel suitable for Taiwan in 2018. There are a total of 95 flavor substances on the Taiwan coffee flavor wheel. Including soy sauce, meat flavor and other baking flavor, ginseng, Chinese fir and other common plants in East Asia, fruits have also added longan, lotus fog, durian, jujube, smoked plum (Southeast Asian cuisine) and other local specialties.

The head of Taiwan's coffee research office also said: "Jujube, Luoshenhua, dried longan, sweet koji rice, and sweet-scented osmanthus are commonly used in Taiwan cup testing, but they are very strange to a foreign cup tester."

The Indonesian native coffee flavor wheel includes 36 aroma references and 82 sensory descriptions. Among them, there are many detailed subjects of spices, but there are only 6 spices in the SCAA version.

Mr. Christian, who helped develop the Indonesian coffee flavor wheel, said that Indonesia is a major producer of spices, which helps Indonesian cup surveyors identify more different flavors in coffee; the spice flavor in coffee may be problematic or too strong, but points should not be deducted on the flavor bar, you can give a low score in the balance item. If people can better appreciate the flavor of spices, this is a good thing.

The aroma of coffee pulp is classified as a defect in the 36-flavor bottle of the aromatic memory kit approved by SCA. This means that the taste of coffee pulp is often considered to be a negative sensory attribute. Christian believes that this must be based on washed coffee as a prerequisite, if the washed beans appear the smell of coffee pulp, it is really unbearable. But if it is tanned or honey-treated coffee, the aroma of coffee pulp is rising.

Therefore, as we on the other side of the ocean, because of cultural and dietary differences, it is even more difficult to understand the American version of coffee flavor wheel, which is actually a normal phenomenon. But what is certain is that SCAA's coffee flavor wheel is very scientific and plays a great role in promoting the coffee industry.

Flavor wheel for consumers

Although the flavor wheel of SCAA coffee is scientific and comprehensive, it is like a wordless book for ordinary consumers. Cuperus, a baking company from Belgium, has released a consumer coffee flavor wheel, which greatly simplifies the coffee flavor wheel as we usually know it. There are only six flavors of bright fruit, nutty, sweet fruit, flower, chocolate and vanilla.

If you are careful, you may find that these six types of coffee flavor are not the most common types of coffee flavor in our daily life, and they also echo the large categories of positive flavor in the 2016 new coffee flavor wheel. The use of this simple flavor wheel can make consumers understand better. Let more people understand that the flavor of coffee is the role of coffee flavor wheel, and the localization and simplification of flavor wheel is the beginning of popularization.