Using only the words bitter and sour to describe a cup of coffee just seems too simple. In order to precisely describe the complicated flavors of coffee, five common terms Aroma, Brightness (acidity), Body, Texture, and Finish are used, yet there are still numerous adjectives could be used like smooth, clean, balance, wild, you name it.
- Aroma: Aroma is the first element or signal that one receives from coffee. It can be classified as dry and wet aroma. Dry aroma is the aroma before the coffee is brewed, and wet aroma is after the coffee is brewed. Sometimes there are significant differences between them.
- Brightness (acidity): Some people may misunderstand the acidity of coffee and come up with negative feelings. Therefore, I would like to use the term brightness to replace acidity. Brightness is the element that outlines the profile of coffee, just like some people love to add vinegar into dishes.
- Body: Body is a term for how thick and flavorful a coffee is. Let’s take clear soup and thick soup as examples. A coffee with light body is like the clear soup, and with thick body is like the thick soup. You can feel the resistance while drinking the thick body coffee.
- Texture: Texture is used to describe the fineness and roughness of the coffee. You can imagine as the differences when you touch the silk and linen. There is no good or bad for either fine or rough texture, it just depends on one’s preference.
- Finish: Finish can be described as the immediate sensation after the coffee is swallowed. Everyone may have an experience of the sweetness or the flavor starts to come out after drinking coffee, and that is the finish. The finish of an excellent coffee can remain up to 1-2 hours.
A cup off fresh-brewed coffee is just too hot to drink, human’s tongue cannot sense the complex flavors of coffee under high temperature. Instead, let it rest for a while and start with your nose. Because of the high temperature, these activated coffee particles can be sensed easily by nose and make the aroma of coffee more obvious. A good aroma definitely improves the taste of coffee. Therefore, use your nose to sense the aroma is always the first step of tasting coffee. As the temperature falls down a bit to about 140。F (60。C), it is the time to make use of your tongue, the real taste and flavor of coffee start to come out. More importantly, make sure coffee covers the whole tongue before swallow it, so you can clearly taste the complete flavors of coffee. Follow the terms describe above and keep them in mind while tasting coffee, I believe you can get the incredible experience that you have never had before !
Learn more about how to choose coffee grinder and dripper – Coffee grinder, Coffee dripper.
若只用苦和酸兩字來形容一杯咖啡似乎是太過於簡單。為了能更詳細的描述咖啡的風味，主要有五種形容詞被使用：香氣、明亮 (酸度)、厚度、質感、餘韻，還有林林總總的詞彙也可以形容咖啡，如平順、乾淨、平衡、狂野等等，因人而異。
- 香氣：當一個人品嚐咖啡時，香氣是第一個被接收到的元素或信號。他可以被細分為乾香氣與濕香氣，乾香氣是咖啡還未沖煮前的味道，而濕香氣是咖啡沖煮後的味道，有時兩者會有顯著的差異。
- 明亮 (酸度)：為了避免許多人因對酸味誤解所產生的負面觀感，因此我會用明亮這詞來取代酸度。這元素就像是一支黑筆一樣，勾勒出咖啡的圖案與輪廓，就好比為什麼許多人都喜歡在菜餚中加醋一樣。
- 厚度：厚度是用來形容咖的厚實口感，舉例來說，就像清湯與濃湯的區別，當喝到厚度低的咖啡就如在喝清湯一般，而當喝到厚度高的咖啡就如喝濃湯一般，可以感受到濃稠與阻力感。
- 質感：質感是用來形容咖啡的粗糙與細緻口感，就像絲綢與麻布，一個細緻，一個粗糙。當喝到的一杯咖啡的粒子很緊密的話，那就是細緻的質感，反之則粗糙。咖啡的細緻與粗糙沒有好壞之分，完全取決於個人喜好。
- 餘韻：餘韻指得是喝完咖啡後，後續停留或散發在嘴裡的味道。許多人應該都有過喝完咖啡或茶後舌根會有甜甜的味道，這就是餘韻的一種。一杯好咖啡的餘韻甚至可以延長ㄧ至二小時之久。
一杯剛煮好得咖啡溫度太高不適宜飲用，我們的舌頭在高溫下很難感覺出咖啡複雜的味道。所以先將咖啡放涼一下，從鼻子開始吧。也因為高溫的緣故，咖啡分子能夠輕易的散發而被鼻子輕易接收，讓咖啡的香氣更加明顯。所以用鼻子先聞聞是品嚐咖啡的第一步。等到咖啡降到約 60。C (140。F)時，是舌頭發揮作用的時刻了，舌頭可以嚐到咖啡真正且複雜的味道。更重要的是，要確保咖啡入口時能完整的覆蓋整個舌頭，才能清楚的讓味蕾接收來自咖啡的所有訊息。每次喝咖啡時照著這五大指標，我相信您將會品嚐到咖啡前所未有的味道！
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