I’ve wondered why it is easy to say if something is sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and even umami (you know, “Mmm. Tastes like steak.”). But it is much more difficult to describe the subtle flavors. We can recognize flavors – “It tastes like grandma’s chicken soup.” or “It tastes like mom’s apple pie.” But to describe what grandma’s chicken soup tastes like is not so simple.
Scientists now are able to take brain images when we are tasting something. These two-dimensional pictures of neural activity in our brain are complex and irregular. Actually these images are similar to brain images when we are looking at people’s faces. So think about this. In the same way that it is easy to recognize people’s faces, but difficult to describe them, it is the same with flavors.
So here is what I take away from all of this: I am going to stop trying to eloquently describe the taste of coffees. I may be able to have some general description, but I won’t try to recreate taste profiles you would find in a wine tasters’ magazine. So what to do? In order for me to recognize people’s faces, I have to see their faces over and over again. It is even better to be able to spend the time to become familiar with the person. I ride the bus to work and back. There are many people that I see daily. At the beginning they are a sea of faceless faces. But over time, I begin to recognize the bus driver’s face; I recognize the ladies who wait at the same bus stop with me day after day; I find out their names, what they do, one got cataract surgery, the other plays flute in a community band. These strangers even become the friendly faces of people I gradually begin to know.
It’s time to do the same with coffees. There are coffees from Africa, Indonesia, South America, Central America, Hawaii. . . . How to befriend coffee? I guess I’ll just have to drink more to taste more.
Tags: Coffee Tasting, science of coffee
