Coffee Tasting Terms

Acidity – High Acid (or acidity) coffees have a sharp, pleasant, piquant quality that points up their flavour and fives them snap, verve, liveliness in the cup. Acidity may be high, medium, light, low or lacking altogether in coffees, in which case the coffee tastes flat and dull. Acidity is a characteristic of high-grown coffees.

Aroma – Refers to the odour of the prepared coffee beverage. It may be lacking, faint, delicate, moderate, strong or fragrant (also called aromatic), and distinctive as to character.

Bitter – A harsh, unpleasant taste dtected on the back of the tongue. Found in over extracted brews as well as in over roasted coffees and those with various taste defects.

Body – The tactile impression of weight and texture in the mouth. Coffees may be watery, thin, slight, light, medium, full, heavy, thick or even syrupy in body, as well as buttery, oily, rich. smooth, chewy, etc. in texture. Easiest to detect in full-strength cofee.

Burnt - A bitter, burnt flavour characteristic of dark-roasted coffees.

Earthy – A highly desirable dirt odor and flavour taint picked up by coffee when dried on the ground; also called groundy.

Flat – A dull lifeless quality due to lack of acidity.

Flavour – The total impression of aroma, acidity and body; if the impression is strong, fine and pleasant, the coffee is described as flavoury/flavourful or ranked on a scale from poor, fair, good, to fine-flavoured. Specific taste flavours may suggest spices, chocolate, nuts, or something less complimentary-straw, grass, earth, rubber etc.

Harsh – Crude raw taste; used to describe Brazils and Robustas

Light – Used to quality aroma, acidity or body; a light coffee would be delicate in flabour.

Mellow – Full, well balanced, satisfying coffee,; implies low or medium acidity.

Nutty – A specific flavour nuance, suggesting almonds and so on.

Soft – Low-acid acoffees are descrives as soft, mellow, sweet.

Spicy – Said of find aroma or flavour suggestive of spices

Stale – Roasted coffee that has faded in quality after excessive exposure to air. Aroma of stale cofee changes from flat to rancid and finally to cocoalike; the flavour of stale coffee changes from bitter to rancid and tastes cardboardy.

Strong - Term used to indicate intensity of either defects or virtues (as in “as strong, sour taste” or “a strong, fine aroma”). A strong-flavoured coffee is therefore not necessarily a fine-flavoured coffee.

Winy – Sometimes used to indicate thick body and mellow quality, but also used to denote a sappy, vinous acidity. Characteristics of certain fine coffees.