4.

2 Tasting Coffee
Four Steps of Tasting Coffee

As we talk about the four tasting characteristics, we will refer to the

four steps of tasting coffee—smell, slurp, locate, and describe—to help
you understand when you will experience each characteristic.

1. Smell

Always smell a coffee before you taste it. Inhale deeply. Your
mouth can distinguish five tastes—sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami
—but your nose can differentiate one trillion aromas!

2. Slurp

A good, noisy slurp. Don’t be shy. This will spray the coffee across
your tongue and palate, letting you taste all the subtleties.

3. Locate

Think about how the coffee feels in your mouth. What is its weight
or thickness? Where on your tongue do you experience the
flavors?

4. Describe

What words would you choose to describe your tasting

experience? The aroma, the flavors, how the coffee feels in your
mouth. Does your tongue detect much acidity in the coffee? What
other flavors might you use for comparison?
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 Four Tasting Characteristics

When tasting coffee, focus on and describe aroma, acidity, body and
flavor—one at a time.

As you will discover, these characteristics form a complete taste

“profile” of a coffee. Some examples of flavor profiles our master
tasters used to describe different coffees:

Well-rounded with subtle notes of cocoa and toasted nuts

balancing the smooth mouthfeel
Earthy and layered with notes of fresh herbs and a lingering spice
Big, complex coffees roasted to create a refined, full-bodied blend
Delicate flavors of stone fruit with accents of toffee

A good way to start is to read the flavor notes on one of our bags and
try to locate those flavors as you taste the coffee. Keep at it. You’ll build
confidence as your palate and vocabulary evolve.
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