What do the tasting notes mean?
Not an additive, not a flavouring. What the coffee actually contains — and what you actually taste.
When a bag says “blackberry, plum, chocolate”, it does not mean we added anything. Roasted coffee contains more than 800 volatile compounds, and some of them are the same ones found in blackberries or in chocolate.
How they are arrived at: by cupping. Small cups, the same recipe, several people, blind wherever possible. What several people independently call the same thing is what goes on the bag.
Why you do not always taste them: because recognising tasting notes is learned, and personal. If you have never eaten a fresh blackberry, “blackberry” is going to be hard to find. That does not mean it is not there — only that it does not have a name in your head yet.
How to learn: do not go looking for the notes. First decide whether it is acidic or sweet, light or full-bodied, short or long in the finish. The specific fruits come later, on their own.
The single most useful exercise: two coffees side by side. On its own, a cup is “good coffee”. Two next to each other and you notice immediately which is more acidic and which is sweeter. That is exactly why we make all three roasts from the same green coffee.
Taste it
