George Howell new flavor wheel: Highly informative way to indicate coffee notes

#1: Post by **Acavia** » August 13th, 2023, 3:58 pm

Recently George Howell started including a flavor wheel that indicates how much of flavor note the coffee has and how much of a traditional coffee taste a coffee has. This is a much more informative way to describe the notes.

Example:

#2: Post by **another_jim** » August 13th, 2023, 4:50 pm

Here is an example, the image is taken form the GH website (I thinlk this is fair use; if not oops)

#3: Post by **BaristaBob** » August 13th, 2023, 5:39 pm

Interesting...all the flavor notes on my bags of coffee never say "coffee".

I did read today that during an interview with chef Bobby Flay, he said he wants his coffee to taste like coffee!

#4: Post by **Sal** » August 13th, 2023, 5:53 pm

Here are his selections of Coffee-Coffee. lol
https://georgehowellcoffee.com/collecti ... fee-coffee

I used to be a regular at his Coffee Connection cafe before they were sold to Starbucks. I have not tried his new roaster yet, but I may have to try it if and when he has my favorite origin, Sumatra, in his offerings.

August 13th, 2023, 6:23 pm

another_jim wrote:Here is an example, the image is taken form the GH website (I thinlk this is fair use; if not oops)

image

Thank you for the example, my imagine would not display and I gave up trying.

August 13th, 2023, 6:25 pm

BaristaBob wrote:Interesting...all the flavor notes on my bags of coffee never say "coffee".

I did read today that during an interview with chef Bobby Flay, he said he wants his coffee to taste like coffee!

I assume the George Howell flavor wheel would show more coffee for more traditional tasting coffee, and flavor wheel not showing much coffee would be more modern and more light roasted specialty coffee oriented. I find no explanation for the George Howell system but that is what I assume based on look at several.

#7: Post by **rmongiovi** » August 13th, 2023, 7:22 pm

I like it. A coffee flavor wheel that admits coffee tastes like coffee. How unpretentious.

Though I must admit there's a little voice in my head screaming, "The snozzberries taste like snozzberries."

#8: Post by **Mat-O-Matic** » August 13th, 2023, 7:28 pm

The Third Wave snozzberries that taste like unripe peach pit are also pretty good!

#9: Post by **BaristaBob** » August 13th, 2023, 8:16 pm

In all seriousness, I do like the flavor wheel that George has developed. I log all my coffees and actually when my coffees taste like coffee with strong notes of chocolate and berries...I label it a god shot! They are few and far between.

#10: Post by **Jeff** » August 13th, 2023, 8:39 pm

Another roaster that has an easily consumable graphic is Moonwake. As BaristaBob suggests with his comment, some people enjoy chocolate-focused coffees, others prefer some or even a lot of brightness. The classic three-descriptor approach doesn't really address this well. Here's one that I enjoy, with useful information for those that prefer a more classic profile that a different selection might be more to their liking.

They even group their "cocoa" selections together on their website to make finding a coffee easier.