Explore Coffee with a Flavor Wheel

One of the most exciting things about coffee is that it is a personal flavor experience.

 Rich? Buttery? Zingy? Tangy? Juicy?

The flavor world is your oyster (maybe even literally?!) 

And coffee is the ocean of taste we get to swim around. 

With more than 1,000 distinct aroma and flavor compounds (compare this to ~400 compounds in wine or ~600 in chocolate), coffee offers us the chance to discover which flavor combinations we most enjoy and most enjoy avoiding. To support this endeavor, coffee professionals often use a flavor wheel to put words to the experience of our cup. 

The Best of Huila box set includes a flavor wheel coaster, ICR style:

When using a flavor wheel, we often start at the center and work our way out - from more general sensations into more specific descriptors:

  • What's my first impression? sweet? savory? bitter? bright?

Then,

  • what kind of sweetness do I perceive? (sugar, bakery like, fruity, candy like, etc?)
  • what kind of acidity do I perceive? (sharp? round? fermenty? tannic? sparkling?)
  • are there other sensations present once i've explored the first one?

Other questions might be:

  • Is there a particular texture I perceive? Creamy? Silky? Fluffy?
  • Does a color come up for me?
  • Does a sound come up for me?
  • Does its smell evoke a food memory?

It's important to note, we each have our own personal taste map which interacts with the compounds in the coffee. For example, some of us grow up with apples and their more mellow malic acidity, and some of us grow up with lychee and its mellow tropical floral acidity.  So, our brains reach for different language and perceive what is in the cup differently.  The flavor wheel helps us understand our own palate, and ultimately, to figure out the coffee that's best suited for its preferences! 

And of course, it can be a beautiful, colorful accent on any table or countertop or refrigerator to remind us - coffee is fun and has our back!

P.S.

You may have noticed flavor notes written on each bag of ICR coffee. 

These flavors are not added to the coffee, nor are they artificial. They are chosen by our team after cupping the roasts and noting which flavors present themselves to each of us, across our unique palates. They are intended to describe a particular penchant in the coffee and the kind of expression it may lean toward.

Understanding the complexity and diversity of coffee's composition can explain how coffee may not taste the same between different brews, different grind sizes, as it interacts with different types of water, and even the environment or mood we find ourselves in. It may inform what we perceive as "good" or "bad" cups, and allow us to make adjustments. For example, a slightly lower brewing temperature may accentuate the floral or herbaceous notes available in the roast. 

The flavor wheel can be used from brew-to-brew to identify which grind size or water temperature or type of preparation brings out the flavor qualities we most enjoy with each coffee, a descriptive kind of experimentation.

Have fun swimming!

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