Why is coffee flavor description an essential tool?

Why is coffee flavor description an essential tool?

Although it’s hard for any barista to understand the flavor profile of a coffee when describing it to a consumer, they do help consumers understand a particular coffee.

“It’s not necessarily easier to understand the flavor of coffee through things like farm name, variety, and process than it is through flavor descriptions. That’s a very complete system. You have to spend years learning the different varieties, the different altitudes, to even start preparing for that kind of menu.

Flavour descriptions aren’t a perfect solution to understanding coffee. But for some people, they are the easiest starting point.

For consumers, discussions of origin and processing are more difficult to understand than simple flavor descriptions. After all, terroir, origin, coffee variety, processing method, roasting profile, brewing method and recipe all affect the taste of coffee. Even the water used to brew the coffee can affect the taste of the final drink.

As a result, sensory experiences are often difficult to fully explain in a brief in-store interaction between a barista and a customer. So flavor descriptions may not be perfect, but they are one of our best tools.

The more familiar consumers are with specialty coffee, the better it will help them understand flavor descriptions. The more coffee people drink, the more experience they have, or the larger their vocabulary, the better they understand what kind of coffee they want to drink and the more they pay attention to the subtle differences between different coffees. And for coffee consumers who have the same experience, the better they can communicate with each other.