How to Judge Coffee
Coffee is judged by experts on a variety of aspects in a process called “cupping”. It is a complicated process that allows the coffee buyers to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each coffee. Most of us, though, buy our coffee based on whether or not we like the way it tastes. We’ve tried to distill coffee “taste” down to its simplest elements to make it easy to choose which one of our coffees is best for you. After reading about acidity, aroma, body, and finish, you’ll be able to pick the coffees you like.
Acidity is the sensation you feel on the back of your tongue when you take a sip of coffee. High acidity in coffee has a mouth-feel much like a dry red wine. Dark roasted coffee, like the Honduran Marcala Especial, has less acidity; whereas medium roasts, like the Costa Rican Tarrazu, have more. In coffee circles, high acidity coffees are described as being “bright” and the low acidity coffees are “muted”.
This term is self-explanatory, but what you might not know is that there are over 800 known aromatic compounds that make up coffee aroma. The concentration of each compound varies by coffee origin to make each one unique. Try inhaling the aroma from your fresh brewed cup to see what is there. Do you sense the fruitiness and floral notes in the Honduran Marcala Especial, the hints of caramel in the Costa Rican Tarrazu, or maybe the earthiness of the Tanzanian Peaberry? Don’t you just love the smell of a fresh cup of coffee?
The body of a coffee is the way it feels in your mouth. A coffee with heavy body feels heavy on your tongue and vise versa with a light bodied coffee. When you take a sip, let the coffee rest on your tongue then press your tongue to your palate to judge the coffee body. Coffee body is affected by the degree of roast, and the concentration of the brew (how much coffee you use). Chicory adds body (as well as a pleasant peppery taste) to any coffee.
The word aftertaste has a bad connotation so I like the word “finish” to best describe how a coffee tastes after you swallow. Some people like their coffee to linger and others prefer that it leave quickly. Tanzanian Peaberry and Decaf Sumatra have “long” finishes. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Costa Rican Tarrazu’s finish is “clean”. Coffee finish is influenced by factors such as soil conditions, weather, and how the coffee is processed.
Listed below is our complete line of coffees and their characteristics which makes them desirable to your specific palate:
| sumatra fair trade organic espresso roast |
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| ethiopian yirgacheffe fair trade organic |
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| market blend |
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| decaf sumatra |
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| costa rican tarrazu |
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| honduran marcala especial dark roast |
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| tanzanian peaberry |
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The most important factor in a great cup of coffee is freshness. Don’t buy coffee off a store shelf! Who knows how long it’s been sitting there? We roast yours when you order it. That guarantees freshness. We’ll roast and ship your order within 48 hours after we receive payment. Choose the coffees you like best and enjoy the fresh roasted flavor today.