Need GENERAL taste profile for different coffee origins

Discuss flavors, brew temperatures, blending, and cupping notes.
mdmvrockford
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#1: Post by mdmvrockford »

For the experienced HB members, would you agree with Dieter01 's post on coffeegeek as a GENERAL description for taste for beans from each region.
https://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/espre ... 313#512313

I know best way to know taste is try myself. BUT since I just consume just one espresso shot per day (~18 to 20 grams beans) it takes me ~ 15 days per bag. Thus trying beans from each region (and varietals from each region) would take years and I'm just not that patient :(. So if I want a general guide for taste profile that I like. This exists for wines. Anything for coffee?

Please accept my apology if such guide exists on Home Barista (and thus my sucky searching) and please give me link to that GENERAL guide.

Background:
* I think I have the necessary equipment for various different coffee beans. Boss loves Ethiopia Yirchacheffe and I have bought over past 3 years different Ehiopians and think I know that region's GENERAL taste profile. Have consumed Yirchacheffe as espresso, caffe crema, drip, and Clever brew method.
* My taste vocabulary is purely elementary school level: now just Siskel and Ebert Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down. That being said I can pick up the flavors in Yirchacheffe that Ken Davids describes. I just can't put words like "jasmine" to what I am tasting. I also am somewhat foody and have visited at least 1/2 of the Michelin Starred restaurants (2012 guide) in Chicago. I know good food and drink but my vocabulary is just not there so I'll stick with my day job :)
LMWDP #568

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another_jim
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#2: Post by another_jim »

The descriptions are accurate as far as they go. Unfortunately, that is not very far.

They do not address different roast levels. They do not address overlaps between countries and variance within; for instance, nobody on earth would be able to place a coffee unknown to them in the right Central American country, since each growing country has the same variety of ecosystems and varietals as all the others. Finally, the "characteristic flavor" is a concept that is used in C coffees, which are pooled, mediocre coffees. As coffees get better, they also get more diverse. So the characteristic flavors become a property of microclimates and prep practices.

It is impossible to learn this kind of thing in the everyday consumption of coffee, even if you had ten shots a day rather than one. You need to order five different Kenyas, and cup them, slurping and spitting if you have to. Once you can tell them apart, you will know Kenyas. Go on the the next region, Southern Columbia, ie, Huilas and Narinos, and repeat. After a few years, you will understand the different regions.

Don't make the mistake of ordering five different coffees from five different regions and cupping those. That will teach you exactly nothing at all -- they don't give anthropology degrees or give diplomatic posts to people who have taken a world cruise; so don't believe you can take a coffee cruise and learn anything from it.
Jim Schulman