- \n
- Fruity & Floral Notes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Nutty & Chocolate Notes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Spice & Herbal Notes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Roasted & Smoky Notes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sweetness, Acidity, and Body<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- And Terroir<\/em> \u2014 the taste of a specific place and time \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHow to Actually Taste Coffee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Tasting coffee intentionally is a skill, and like any skill, it improves with practice. Start by smelling the dry grounds before brewing \u2014 this is when the aromatics are most concentrated. Then taste the coffee at three stages: when it’s hot, when it cools to warm, and when it reaches room temperature. Flavors that were hidden by heat reveal themselves as the cup cools, and the full complexity of the coffee becomes clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
Coffee tasting is not about expertise \u2014 it’s about attention. Pay attention, and the coffee will tell you everything.<\/p>\nTim Wendelboe, World Barista Champion<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
At our monthly cupping sessions, open to anyone who wants to join, we work through six to eight coffees side by side \u2014 no milk, no sugar, just coffee and curiosity. We’ve seen complete beginners identify blackcurrant in a Kenya and jasmine in an Ethiopian on their very first visit. The palate is more capable than most people think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading Tasting Notes on the Bag<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When a bag says “notes of peach, brown sugar, and lemon verbena,” it doesn’t mean those flavors were added \u2014 it means those are the natural flavor compounds present in the coffee that a skilled taster identified during the cupping process. These notes vary depending on roast level, brewing method, and water quality. Think of them as a starting point for your own exploration, not a guarantee of exactly what you’ll taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Full](\"https:\/\/strakture.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/10\/pexels-jack-atkinson-1289771108-24613535.jpg\")
Credit: Michael Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n We print tasting notes on every bag and on our menu boards, and our baristas are always happy to talk through what to expect from the current offering. The more you ask, the more you’ll taste \u2014 and the more you’ll taste, the more you’ll want to explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Takeaway<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Flavor Wheel is a doorway, not a destination. Use it to open up your palate, to start conversations, and to deepen your appreciation of the extraordinary complexity that happens every time hot water meets ground coffee. Come to a cupping and taste for yourself \u2014 we’d love to share a cup with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Coffee is one of the most chemically complex beverages in the world \u2014 more so than wine, with over 1,000 aromatic compounds identified by researchers. The Flavor Wheel, developed by the Specialty Coffee Association, is the tool we use to describe and communicate what we taste in a cup. Learning to use it transforms coffee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","category-tasting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":403,"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions\/403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strakture.com\/coffee-shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}