Coffee

If you are trying to learn how to choose coffee beans, the wall of bags at a grocery store or roaster can make a simple purchase feel harder than it should. Light roast or dark? Blend or single-origin? Whole bean or ground? Ethiopia, Colombia, Brazil, Sumatra? Chocolate notes? Citrus? Washed? Natural? For a beginner, you…

How fresh should coffee beans be? Fresh enough that the coffee still has plenty of aroma and character, but not so fresh that you assume the best cup must happen the moment the beans leave the roaster. Roasted coffee changes quickly during its first days and weeks, and a short resting period is normal. For…

Coffee flavor notes are the words roasters and coffee drinkers use to describe flavors and aromas that a coffee reminds them of. If a bag says blueberry, chocolate, caramel, jasmine, almond, or brown sugar, that usually does not mean those ingredients were added to the beans. It means something in the coffee’s aroma, taste, sweetness,…

Light, medium, or dark roast? Compare flavor, acidity, body, caffeine myths, and brewing tendencies so you can choose the coffee roast that fits your taste.

If you want to learn how to taste coffee, start by forgetting the idea that you need a trained palate or a long list of fancy flavor words. Coffee tasting is simply paying attention to what is already happening in the cup: aroma, sweetness, acidity, body, finish and the flavors that remind you of something…