Few questions people often ask when approaching to the specialty coffee industry are:
How do I recognise quality in coffee?
How can I describe those quality attributes ?
How can a train and develop my palate?
Became a better taster
Before sharing with you tips and tricks to became a better taster you should know that:
If the quality of raw product is low, there is very little you can do to make it better as a barista or roaster. Equal do not be surprised or upset about your drinking experience, if you are paying very little for that cup. You get for what you pay.
Stop judging and enjoy the experience a bit more. Respect what you are drinking and acknowledge that behind that cup there are human beings putting lots of work. It can’t always be perfect. There is no perfection but progression.
We should not be judging but instead providing constructive feedbacks.
Here i have written my 7 tips that helped us become better tasters:
Network
Can’t stress enough of how important is to network.
Find a local roastery, coffee shop, or coffee network with regular coffee cupping and tasting. Go along to a few shops and ask if they do cuppings or know someone who does.
Research for coffee groups on facebook, instagram, blogs or even event management apps on your smartphone. I was using Eventbrite in Au and participated in more than 60 coffee events in one year.
It may seem difficult at first, especially if you live in a small town, but keep persevering; you’ll find one eventually.
Drink lots of coffee
I am sure you are already doing it but keep pushing.
Drink as much different origins, roast profiles and styles as you can to compare analyse and memorize differences and characteristics.
Anything is good even bad shots are good, that is why if I pulled a bad shot of coffee behind the machine, either a terribly under extracted or over extracted ones, I’d drunk it to understand what is good, what is bad and why is that. Very important.
Smell everything
Flavour = taste + smell
Seems safe enough to say that if you wanna become a better taster you also need to train your sense of smell. The nasal membrane can sense thousand of distinct odours, with the average person capable of differentiating 2000 to 4000 odours. Generally speaking coffee cuppers rely on a highly developed odor memory created through years of experience and training.
Broaden your diet
In order to build that muscle memory we need to get in contact with as many elements as we can. You can not taste something you do not have a memory of. That is why is very important to build and constantly train your muscle memory to then recall those memories while tasting.
Eat more fruits, candies and different type of cuisine from around the world to expand your culinary vocabulary and tasting experiences.
When going for grocery shopping smell anything you can from fruits to vegetable.
Exercise and train to improve
We also want to practise tasting some common coffee flavours.
Buy a selection of different food such as nuts, chocolate, fruits, vegetable, spices, herbs and taste them with the purpose of analysing flavours and store those informations as memories.
Generally speaking start eating and drinking things with a purpose.
Now apply your experience by using your memories to the coffee you are drinking. Write down everything you think, remembering that the purpose is to develop a skill to give constructive feedbacks to get better and do better, not to judge.
Do not stress about tasting notes
People stresses too much about tasting notes forgetting all the rest.
Tasting notes are strictly related to you being exposed to a certain type of food and drinking culture, therefore are extremely personal. Instead of asking “what does it taste like?”, ask yourself “what does it remind me of ?”
Sometimes tasting notes you see on the coffee bags are too detailed, too personal and too much pushed towards the marketing side trying to sell the coffee with interesting and “appealing” tasting notes.
Be schematic and organised
Write down or memorise a scheme, a path to follow when analysing the coffee you are drinking / tasting in order to build an easy and repeatable routine.
Refer to broader categories to better communicate with other people from different countries and cultures. I am talking about the “Flavour wheel” a tool designed to unify the tasting experience and gather notes that speak the language of the people independently from where they are from in the world. Matching tasting notes is not easy and will come with training and experience.
Describe macro categories first such as fruity, nutty, floral, chocolaty.
Indicate colors as descriptors such as yellow for citrusy fruits or orange for tropicals, red for that full red ripe and juicy fruity like flavour, brown for nuts and chocolate.
Focus also on other important characteristics such as Aroma / Fragrance / Acidity / sweetness / body / Length / Complexity / balance / Flavour.
If you would like to have a chat regarding in-depth details, tips, training methods and smart routines to become a better taster hit the “learn more” button now.
I would like to hear your thoughts, opinions and experiences. If this was helpful and inspiring tag or use #gianmarcoierardi on instagram to connect with me !
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”
All the above is based on our personal and professional experience, it is what we believe and what brought us here writing this guide.Onto the way to success there are no rules, just commitment and consistency.Ultimately the is no right and wrong but only different ways of thinking, different approaches and different methods.There is no perfection but only progression.Do not believe who says to know everything. Learning is ongoing and endless.What we believe is right today might be wrong tomorrow, stay always up to date.
Be curious.
I wrote this hoping to inspire others! If you made it to read all of this to the end..
THANK YOU !