Beginning a Taste Quest – A Coffee Tasting Mission Statement

I’m reading a book The Accidental Connoisseur – An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World, by Lawrence Osborne. I identify with him quite a bit. He mentions that he did not grow up in a wine connoisseurs’ home. But he had a desire to develop a sense of taste.

Here is the quote I like from Mr. Osborne: Taste is not learned out of books; it is not given from one person to another. Therein lies its profundity.  . . . Taste is like a perverse coral: it grows slowly and inexorably into unpredictable shapes, precisely because it’s an offshoot of living itself. Acquiring taste, then, is not a result of study; it’s a talent for living life.

So what is my understanding of Mr. Osborne’s words of wisdom? Everyone has a beginning. Our taste for coffee can only be developed by beginning to drink a lot of coffee – all kinds of coffee – from all kinds of places – of many different roast profiles – brewed by many different methods. . . Sound like fun? I’m ready to begin.

This is the beginning of a taste quest. We will investigate – we will experiment – we will taste – we will enjoy – COFFEE!

Longing for a Technicolor Taste World

Anyone who read my descriptions to my junk food taste quiz would quickly realize that I am not very eloquent nor have a very discerning palate. As far as my tongue goes, all I can say is, “salty, sweet, sour, bitter. . .”  But maybe that is just par for the course. Expect anything more from the tongue  — might just be expecting too much. If a particular food does not have much aroma – which I think is most junk food – then all we can say is what our tongue tells us.

To me a taste world revolving around the tongue is just a black-and-white world. The nerve endings of our taste and aroma receptors are in very close proximity to the emotional nerve centers in our brain. I should have some brain tissue available to discover a Technicolor taste world out there. Ok, I’m dating myself – the analogy should probably be a non-HD world and an HD taste world – but I don’t have HDTV, so I can’t use this analogy.

Let’s get a little philosophical — I’ve mentioned before that developing our sense of taste may just come with practice. I also think it comes with a state of mind. More often than not we eat for sustenance – this is out of necessity. But every now and then, we should be able to eat for enjoyment. This doesn’t have to require spending outlandish amounts of money at a gourmet restaurant. With a little bit of effort I think we can get our hands on good food. Then it just takes the luxury of finding the time to slow ourselves down from the day to day rat race and enjoy being a human being who finds simple pleasure in food and drink.

Junk Food Taste Bud Quiz

While we are on our coffee tasting journey, let’s investigate common roads we have all been on. Tell me what comes to mind, taste-wise, when I mention these foods:

Oreo cookies: crunchy, dark chocolate cookie, sweet creamy kind-of-plastic white center, got some milk?

Nacho Cheese Doritos: salty, cheesy, Mmm – MSG! crunch – orange fingers – gotta lick ‘em

Potato Chips: salty, crunch

Dill pickle: sour, crunch, pepper

M&Ms: sweet, crunch, Mmm chocolate

Coffee Tasting – Bitter on the Tongue

So I’ve been trying to find a more precise description of the taste of regular old coffee (8 O’clock – to be exact). “It tastes like coffee” just doesn’t seem right. Part of my philosophy about training our palates to appreciate good coffee is that it just takes practice and the proper vocabulary.

I used my French press with 8 O’ clock beans this morning; added a little milk; poured it into my coffee mug;  got on the bus and went to work. As I read my book – I typically borrow 3-5 books a month from the local library, in the back of my mind I kept asking myself, “So is it nutty” Chocolaty? Earthy?” Then reality hit. “It’s just plain old bitter!”

The poorer the quality of the coffee, the harder it is to get past the bitterness of the caffeine. The bitterness on the tongue just overpowers any subtle aromas the coffee may offer – or not offer.

Let’s give 8 O’ clock Coffee a break – it really is not that bitter – not like Maxwell House or Nescafe, but neither are there any subtle aromas that can overcome the bitter caffeine. At least the caffeine kicked in by the time my bus ride ended.

Coffee Tasting – Flavor Wheel

This the Specialty Coffee Association of America Flavor Wheel. To tell you the truth I find it intimidating. Many of the tastes and aromas I don’t even know. But I do feel one of the major problems in being an abled coffee taster is having the vocabulary.

So to make life easier for me and other beginners, I stripped down the wheel to three circles. Let’s see where we get.