I must apologize for the previous post, it was far more technical than I had intended, but I trust that it was not so technical as to be boring. Also, to understand the information contained in it is essential to understanding why your coffee tastes the way it does. This is undoubtedly a gross over-exaggeration, but generally speaking, South and Central American coffees are more typically nutty and citrus, African coffees are more floral or more “berry” in their profile, and island coffees are more typically spicey with nutty/chocolaty undertones. The region around Mocha and Yemen produces the “chocolaty” flavor after which mocha java gets its name. Obviously there is great variety within these generalities, but this gives you a basic understanding of what to expect as far a flavor is concerned in the cup of coffee you are about to drink.
That being said, most of these flavors fade to the point of being indistinguishable in most cups of coffee because the roasting companies are more concerned with uniformity and consistency than with developing fully the potential flavors that exist within each particular type of coffee. As a home roaster it is up to you to decide the general flavor profile you would like to have – dark roast for that more consistent smoky/tobacco flavor, or light roast to bring out the various flavor notes – floral, citrus, berry, nutty, caramel, chocolate, pepper, etc. This potential variety is what first lured me to roasting my own coffee. Like most people, I always just assumed that coffee was coffee and that it really didn’t matter who processed it or how it was processed. I now know from personal experience that nothing could be farther from the truth.
As a home roaster I have absolute and complete control over the flavor of the coffee that I grind and brew. I can to choose the country of origin and thus the underlying flavor profile of the bean. I can choose how dark to roast the coffee. I can choose the method used to roast the beans – stove top, popcorn popper, fluid bed (my Nesco), or drum roasted (my Behmor). Not only does the roast matter, but the means of roasting affects the flavor. The same bean will taste different depending upon how dark it is roasted, but it will also taste different if roasted in a fluid bed (hot air) roaster than in a drum roaster even if roasted to essentially the same level of roast.
Having roasted for a couple of years now, I would have to say that the African coffees are among my favorite. I very much enjoy the berry flavors in the Ethiopian coffees and the sweet (caramel/butterscotch) undertones that can be developed in them. I am least fond of the herbal flavor profile and so I have a general idea of which coffees I will like and those which I will like less well – because there is no quality home roasted coffee I dislike. This allows me to always have coffee that I enjoy, and yet leaves me free to find other coffees that I enjoy at least occasionally. In addition, it allows me to “blend” two or more varieties of coffee for a more unique and more complicated cup of coffee.
When I was young I remember that the Burger King advertising campaign was based on the theme “Have it your way.” Burger King was one of precious few fast food franchises that let you special order your meal to cater to your preferences (although it is commonplace now). The other fast food restaurants prepared the food the way they wanted it prepared and they thus dictated to you how your food would taste. When you purchase the typical commercial coffees you are stuck with coffee that tastes the way the coffee company thinks coffee should taste as opposed to you having coffee the way you prefer your coffee to taste.
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Nice article, Neil. I’m interested to hear more about the difference roasting methods have on the flavor – and I presume aroma, too.
Jonathan´s last blog ..The second in a series of videos on home brewing methods for
Jonathan, thanks for the comments, I will try to remember to address this in future posts. I really appreciate the suggestions. I know I still have material I want to cover in articles I intend to write, but I know it won’t be too long before I will need suggestions.
And, yes, you are absolutely correct, you can often detect aromas that may not be identifiable to the palate, but not often the other way around. In other words, if you can taste it, you can smell it.