Coffee is a magical word that evokes and inspires, unites and accompanies, adding an unmistakable flavor to each moment. Behind every cup of coffee that we drink, there is much more than green mountains, mules, herders and peaceful villages. There is a legacy of wise tradition that awakens and is revived with each sip.

Not all of us know which coffee flavor we enjoy, since maybe we haven’t tried many options or have gotten used to preparing it in an ordinary way and with everyday products.

An appreciation for coffee can be similar to appreciating good beer and fine wine, because of the complex variety of flavors, aromas and details involved in preparing and then savoring it.

Understanding how to taste coffee is a skill everyone can learn.

You’ll find a few tips shared by KitchenAid’s team of artisanal coffee experts:

Tips to enhance the possibilities of this immersive drink:

It’s important to have the manufacturer’s information from the packaging containing whole coffee beans or ground coffee. Before tasting the coffee, knowing its roasting and grinding process, the type of bean, its origin and the type of blend are essential.

Like all good tasters, we should refine our senses of taste and smell.

Then, to achieve that coffee flavor that will delight us, start by examining the beans and smelling them. The most aged beans indicate better quality and are generally the ones used for gourmet selections.

Grind the beans in a grinder, like the KitchenAid® Burr Grinder, and prepare the first cup of coffee with filtered water in order to avoid altering the flavors. Allow the coffee to brew and rest. Then, remove any grounds that remained on top and did not dissolve. That way, you will obtain a clean beverage, without remainders to interfere with the first tasting.

Start the tasting with a spoon and then take a larger sip, moving it around your palate. Repeat the process several times and with new cups of coffee, to be able to figure out its characteristics, like acidity, body, sweetness, citrus flavors, chocolate or touches of caramel.

Experts usually do not swallow the samples they taste. Based on that, they decide whether to approve the coffee they tasted.

“The majority doesn’t know coffee’s true taste. They have probably never made it in the traditional way, or without the attention to detail that makes the most flavorful coffee” says KitchenAid’s expert, barista, taster and owner of Gente de la Isla, Coral de Camps.

Visual: Observe the liquid’s color. A bean that has been roasted for a longer period has a darker shade. Its color can be clean, clear, matte or bright.

Robusta beans are darker, roasted and not very fragrant. They are rustic, with a harsher and more bitter taste. They are mainly used to produce instant (or soluble) coffee.

In contrast, Arabica is the best known and most valued species around the world, known for having the best quality, nuanced aromas and varied flavors, without being aggressive to the palate and with a small touch of acidity.

Body: Body is related to the texture or heaviness of the coffee. It refers to light-bodied versus full-bodied flavor.

Aroma: Sensing the bouquet of just-ground beans, which is noticeable directly through the sense of smell, is a delicious sensation. Aroma is partly determined by the roasting process of the beans, and is in the aromatic soluble components of that cup of coffee that we begin tasting and smelling. It involves more than just a “smell.” If we lacked a sense of smell, we would only perceive the taste sensations. The aroma is what provides that flavor that we crave.

Flavor: The combination of a coffee’s body, acidity and aroma produces the coffee’s flavor.

Along with nuanced aromas, we can perceive touches of caramel, fruit, chocolate, flowers and more. A delicious coffee tempts the senses with a wide variety of stimuli.

JeffreyGroup | Marketing and Corporate Communications

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