How To Become A Coffee Snob by KWV

The first thing you've gotta do is get yourself a French Press and some good quality coffee beans ground for a french press. The course grind of the french press and the brewing technique used allows for maximum flavor, intensity, aroma, feel, taste, and presentation. Then pour yourself and a friend a nice hot mug of coffee. DO NOT add any cream or sugar during initial tasting. This alters the original taste, feel, and texture.

Smell and Aroma
Our sense of taste is directly influenced by our sense of smell, so when we taste a coffee, we should smell it first. I personally find it helpful to open the bag and gather some of the aroma of the beans before I pour my fresh brewed coffee into the cups. Cup your hand over the mug, then slightly lift up and inhale deeply. What do you notice? Describe the aromas? Some examples of aroma or scent are earthy, spicy, floral, nutty, fruity, and/or citrusy. Keep in mind, one coffee can have one, some, or all of these scents depending on the complexity of the coffee blend, the region it was grown in, and the experience of the taster.

Slurping/Tasting
When tasting a coffee it is important to slurp it first. There are two reasons for this. 1) It is HOT! You could burn your tongue. If your taste buds are burnt, your coffee tasting experience is contaminated... ruined... done! 2) It aerates the coffee as it enters your mouth, allowing the coffee to penetrate all tasting areas of ones mouth. I also like to do a double slurpping technique where I slurp the coffee into my mouth, then put my chin down and slurp again having two slurps on one mouthful. What do you notice? Describe the taste. Here is what to look for:

• Acidity: Not the actual pH of the coffee. This refers to the cleansing attributes of the coffee. Does it feel tangy? Does it make your mouth feel clean? You will notice the acidity on the sides and the tip of your tongue. A comparison test to help you learn to identify acidity is to sip on a small cup of orange juice while also sipping on a small cup of coffee and compare the acidity between the two. Coffees with high acidity are described at bright, tangy, or crisp. Coffees with low acidiy feel smooth and tend to linger in your mouth.
• Body: This is the "weight" of the coffee. No, not how heavy it is in your mug, but how heavy it feels on your tongue. Coffees that are more full-bodied tend to feel heavier. The flavor stays in your mouth longer, whereas a light bodied coffee will not linger... feeling light. A comparison test to help you learn to identify body is to compare whole milk and non-fat milk.
• Flavor: This is the best part of the coffee tasting. The more experienced you become in coffee tasting, as well as how well refined your palate already is, will determine what flavors you are able to detect in any given cup of coffee. Some flavors are so subtle that only a veteran taster may notice, whereas other flavors are so obvious that you may pick that flavor up at the smelling step. Flavor is also determined by the growing region. Latin American generally tends to have cocoa or nutty flavors and sometimes fruity and tend to be very acidic. African/Arabian generally tends to have berry, spicy, and citrus flavors. Asia/Pacific generally tends to have herbal and spicy in flavor. By having one cup of coffee on your first tasting, you will probably not be able to identify all, some, or even any of these flavors. You may think that it just tastes like coffee. Comparison test would be to have three different types of coffee, one from each region for example, and taste those in different orders to compare and identify the different flavors. *Flavor here does not mean that a nutty coffee is going to "taste" like nuts. It is a descriptive term.*
• Location: Where in your mouth are you tasting the flavors? Is it on the tip or side of your tongue? That would be acidic. Do you feel it in the valley of your tongue? That would be heavy bodied. Swish it around in your mouth. Let your cheeks taste it. Do you taste it on the back of your tongue? That would be less acidic.

Pairings

This ties in with flavor. Once you identify a certain "flavor" of a coffee, (cocoa, nuts, berries, etc.) it is good to do the entire tasting routine over again while pairing the coffee with a similar pastry, dessert, or even fruit. For example, have a small piece of chocolate with a coffee that has "cocoa" flavor. The more subtle the flavor is, if paired with that flavor, will bring it out of the coffee. When tasting with a pairing, it is a good idea to use small portions. Pastries should be cut into bitesize pieces. Put the piece in your mouth, then taste the coffee with the pastry still in your mouth. Remember to slurp! Swallow the pastry and coffee together.

Belly up and become a Coffee Snob!