When you walk into your favorite coffee shop and order a specific blend of coffee, you may wonder how the creators of the coffee decided upon that name and taste for their blend. Coffee makers and sellers need to have a common language to use when they talk about different tastes of coffee. Professional coffee tasters work to refine the different blends of coffee that they taste. They are careful to encourage great quality and flavor in each coffee they test. Learning about coffee tasting will help you know how your favorite coffee ends up in the coffee house every day.
There are certainly professional coffee tasters, and they work hard to create a common language of words to describe and analyze the different coffee samples they drink. This helps them compare coffees, whether or not they have personally tasted them. The most important distinguishing factor is acidity; body is the texture of the coffee on the tongue; and aroma is the smell of the coffee while it is being tasted. Flavor describes the whole effect of those three characteristics, plus any other sensations which the tongue feels.
A professional coffee taster must sample coffees and give advice on blend and roasting times. The best way to become a coffee taster is to work in coffee houses. You will be like a wine connoisseur, and must love to drink coffee. Eventually, as a coffee taster, you will need to drink at least 300 cups of coffee a day.
“Cupping” is what coffee tasters call their tasting process. They slurp and sniff their coffee to find out all they can about its quality and flavor. There are even opportunities for professional coffee tasters outside of sampling. Good quality tasters are needed throughout the coffee industry. Professional coffee tasting can be an enjoyable and even rewarding job for the avid coffee drinker.