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Expertise
Coffee 101: The basic tastes
By Rudy Trillanes
January 2009
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A good, clean coffee aroma is the mark of a truly good coffe. |
WHEN can you say that your coffee tastes good? For the people at NESCAFÉ, holding coffee cupping sessions is the experts’ way of giving a sound answer.
Cupping or tasting is a method for evaluating coffee's characteristic tastes and aroma and serves different purposes for different people.
For connoisseurs, it helps distinguish coffee varieties from one another, much similar to what wine experts do in tasting their wine. For the coffee experts at NESCAFÉ, meanwhile, the hourly cupping sessions help ensure the consistency of its coffee products.
Coffee cupping is a professional practice, but you don’t have to be a coffee connoisseur to engage in coffee cupping. Any coffee lover will surely find this activity exciting and very enriching. To get you started, just grab a cup of NESCAFÉ and read on as I guide you through its basics.
Getting started
To start the cupping session, you'll need hot (not boiling) water. Do not use distilled ones, as artificially softened water can affect taste. Also, in mixing and tasting the coffee, use only a silver spoon, which does not have off-tastes that can affect the cupping process.
After that, the tasting begins. Take one spoonful of coffee, then pucker your lips and forcefully sip it. This procedure, called "aspirating" or "slurping," helps enhance the taste experience. Slurping the coffee ensures that all the taste receptors located in different areas of the tongue experience the coffee taste more or less at the same time. This allows the tongue to better identify the coffee’s flavor. Sometimes, another reason is given for why we need to slurp: the sipping sound adds more fun to the tasting session.
Coffee cupping terms
The nuances of coffee taste are described by experts in more than a dozen ways. For starters, you can start with the following three basic terms to get a feel for coffee cupping.
Coffeeness. A good, clean coffee aroma is the mark of a truly good coffee. This quality reveals the quality of the coffee beans used in making the coffee. So it means the absence of any grassy, rubbery, moldy and other off-tastes that signify sub par coffee beans.
In addition, other instant coffees contain glucose or chicory which gives off different taste characteristics and masks some of the coffee’s natural flavor.
Roastiness. Roasting brings out the full flavor and aroma of the coffee beans. While there are various roasting levels which can be employed, it is important not to over-roast the beans to prevent them from acquiring an unpleasant bitter taste. When it comes to roasting intensities, Filipinos are known for their penchant for dark, bold roasts.
Juiciness. This term refers to that pleasant sharpness and vibrant quality of coffee, brought about by the flavor it leaves in your mouth. A juicy coffee also makes the sides of the mouth tingle and causes one to salivate. Coffee made from Arabica beans are particularly known for their juiciness.
In-between sips of different coffees, take a few bites of crackers or similar food to clear your taste buds of any lingering after-taste that could affect your taste and judgment of the next coffee.
Coffee cupping is a fun activity, and it makes for a great pastime with your friends at home. Once you get the feel for coffee cupping, you'll never look at your coffee the same way again. You'll be able to appreciate the difference between the good and the bad, and learn the shoulds from the shouldn’ts. And lastly, you’ll know what it means to truly enjoy a great cup of coffee, like that of NESCAFÉ.
For more about the basics of coffee, watch out for the next Coffee 101 lecture.
Rudy Trillanes is NESCAFE's resident "coffee man." He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Coffee Board. |
