Taste is one of the most delightful and complex senses, crucial in our daily lives. It influences
our dietary choices, cultural experiences, and social interactions. As a quality control manager
in coffee, taste plays a significant part in my everyday life.
My first coffee cupping was a humbling experience. I found myself in the company of seasoned
veterans, some of the top professionals at the time, eloquently describing delicate floral notes
and hints of citrus zest. As a rookie, I could only think, “Uh, this tastes like… coffee?” Yep, I
was that guy—the coffee newbie, scared to open my mouth and admit I couldn’t tell a specialty
coffee from a commercial coffee. Since then, I have been curious with how we perceive taste
and articulate the expression of flavors, acidity, and body in each slurp, gulp, or sip. This blog
will discuss taste perception, exploring the journey from the tongue to the brain and the various
factors that shape our tasting experience.
The Five Basic Tastes: A Foundation for Coffee Tasting
The process of tasting begins in the mouth, specifically the tongue. Tiny structures called
papillae on the tongue contain taste buds, and each taste bud contains 50-100 sensory cells
which specialize in detecting different taste qualities that are made up of sensory cells. These
tiny sensors respond to five fundamental tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.
As coffee interacts with the tongue, its constituent molecules dissolve in saliva and bind to taste
receptors. This binding initiates the transmission of electrical signals through taste nerves to the
brainstem for initial processing. Subsequently, the signals proceed to the gustatory cortex,
culminating in the rapid and comprehensive formation of taste perception within
milliseconds.
When cupping or drinking coffee, we utilize all of our taste sensations, but there are three, in
particular, we focus on when evaluating a coffee: sweet, sour (which is refers to as acidity), and
bitter. Each of these elements plays an important role in how we evaluate coffee. Let’s break it
down:
Sweetness is often the most pleasing element, highlighting the coffee’s natural sugars and
signaling quality and proper ripeness; it brings balance and smoothness to the cup, often
manifesting as caramel, chocolate, or fruity notes. Sweetness helps soften the sharpness of
acidity and bitterness, making for a more pleasant cup.
Acidity (Sour). Sourness in coffee refers to an unpleasant, sharp, or puckering sensation that
indicates an imbalance, often signaling a flaw in the coffee’s brewing, roasting, or processing.
The good type of acidity in coffee brings a liveliness to the cup. It is often described as bright, lively, and
vibrant, like citrus or tart fruits—generally desirable. Still, sourness is the negative
extreme of this spectrum. Instead of a refreshing, crisp acidity, sour coffee tastes harsh and
unripe, lacking a well-brewed cup’s pleasing complexity and balance.
Bitterness is an inherent trait in coffee. It provides depth and structure. When balanced, it adds
complexity and counterpoints sweetness and acidity. However, if too strong, it can overwhelm
and signal flaws in brewing or roasting.
These three elements create a harmonious cup when well-balanced, allowing each coffee’s unique character to shine.
Understanding these tastes is just the beginning. Coffee is incredibly complex and our perception of flavor exceeds what our taste buds can detect.
What does Aroma have to do with taste?
When we cup coffee, most of what we perceive as “taste” comes from our sense of smell.
Aroma plays a significant role in how we perceive taste. That’s why the first step in the cupping
process is to inhale the fragrance of the dry grounds deeply, then again after breaking the crust
during a cupping session.
The aromas we detect can range from floral, fruity, nutty, earthy, or dirty—they create the
foundation for how we’ll experience the coffee once it hits our palate. Once a sip is taken, our
brain combines the aromas with the tastes detected on our tongue to form a complete flavor
profile that allows us to describe coffee in terms of notes like stone fruits, chocolate, or
bergamot—all of which come more from our sense of smell than our ability to detect sweet,
sour, or bitter on the tongue.
The connection between aroma and taste go hand-in-hand when tasting coffee. Training our
olfactory senses allows us to become more in tune with the subtleties that define different coffee
origins and processing methods. This is why it is so important to always take the time to stop and smell the roses.
Texture and Mouthfeel: Nice Body
While taste and aroma receive most of the attention, another attribute to the taste perception is
texture—or mouthfeel. Mouthfeel, also known as body, refers to the tactile sensations we feel in
our mouth when drinking coffee, such as viscosity and astringency.
These sensations are detected by mechanoreceptors and thermoreceptors in the mouth, which
sense things like temperature, pressure, and thickness. In coffee cupping, we often refer to the
body as light, medium, or heavy, describing the weight or fullness of the coffee on our
palate. A well-rounded, heavier-bodied coffee might feel thick, while a lighter-bodied
coffee might feel juicy and more tea-like or crisp.
Understanding mouthfeel is especially important in distinguishing between different roast levels
of processing methods. A dark roast PNG with more apparent oils may have a heavier body,
while a lighter roast PNG will have a lighter body and can be described as juicy and crisp. A
natural-processed PNG coffee might have a syrupy-like mouthfeel, while a washed PNG could
feel clean and crisp with a lighter body.
The Brain’s Role in Flavor Perception: Why Memory Matters
The flavor experience isn’t just about taste buds, aromas, or texture. Our brain plays a big part
in how we taste. Taste goes beyond the mouth and nose; it’s also a matter of memory. Our
memories and expectations also shape and help to articulate what we taste.
When we taste coffee, we often connect to past experiences, such as freshly baked cookies at
Grandma’s house, or camping, or waking up to the smell of grass in the morning dew.
These experiences evoke a sense of nostalgia and familiarity that helps us articulate what we
taste. A cup of Panama Geisha might transport you to tropical vacations, while a spice-forward
Papua New Guinea brew could remind you of a cozy winter day. These memories add an
emotional layer to the flavor experience and help to create mental flavor maps, allowing us to
identify and articulate specific notes or characteristics when cupping new coffees.
The connection between memory and taste allows us to catalog different coffees by creating more
reference points to build on. These mental flavor maps allow us to quickly identify specific notes or
characteristics when cupping new coffees and, over time, our palate becomes more refined and
we can articulate the nuances of a coffee more clearly.
Cause I want a taste for free
At the end of the day, taste is a combination of science and art. It’s a physiological process
involving receptors, aromas, and texture, but it’s also deeply personal—shaped by our
experiences, memories, and preferences.
Coffee transcends beyond a mere beverage. When you take the time to embrace the taste, it
takes on a sensory journey. From its cultivation by farmers to the artistry of the roaster
to its preparation at home or by skilled baristas, coffee’s flavor is shaped by
our palates, senses, and the language we use to express our preferences with each sip.
Brew a cup for yourself and sip consciously.