What am i missing?

[snakeoil]

Read all these descriptions of coffee such as (Loaded with fruit flavors and bittersweet roasted cocoa notes. Mango, jackfruit, and melon to red berry jam, dried apricots, and cooked peach come through as well as a strong spice mix.) been roasting for about 5 wk now and everything i have roasted taste the same to me. Don't get me wrong i love the taste of the coffee that i am roasting. At some point in time will i be able to taste all these flavors is my question?

Thanks for some answers

[chokkidog]

Hi snakeoil.

By typing 'palate, tastebuds' and, unfortunately.......'pallet' ;-)

into the CS search bar you will find some reading, especially the first two threads.

Have a read, it might help with your question ..... it's been asked before. :-D

Come back with further questions if you need. :-D

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/search.php?searchid=595395

[Yelta]

Read all these descriptions of coffee such as (Loaded with fruit flavors and bittersweet roasted cocoa notes. Mango, jackfruit, and melon to red berry jam, dried apricots, and cooked peach come through as well as a strong spice mix.) been roasting for about 5 wk now and everything i have roasted taste the same to me. Don't get me wrong i love the taste of the coffee that i am roasting. At some point in time will i be able to taste all these flavors is my question?

Thanks for some answers

Don't be to concerned about it Snakeoil, I sometimes think the wine and coffee industry compete for honours when it comes to over the top descriptions of their products, either that or they have vivid imaginations.

I've been drinking and enjoying good coffee for more years than I care to divulge, do I taste "fruit flavors and bittersweet roasted cocoa notes. Mango, jackfruit, and melon to red berry jam, dried apricots, and cooked peach come through as well as a strong spice mix." nope, every now and again I will get a whiff of something that surprises me, but, for the most part I enjoy a brew for what it is and don't get bent out of shape because I cant pick the flavours that others say they can detect.

However I can certainly detect differences between bean varieties, give it time, it will come.

BTW, welcome to Coffee Snobs.

[Bames]

Hi snakeoil,

It does depend on how far you are roasting your beans as well. Essentially the longer you roast, the more of those delicate flavours are being "roasted out" of the coffee and being replaced by roast flavours. If you're hearing 2nd crack you've probably roasted much of that out.

Roasting lighter for manual methods (pour over, french press, aeropress etc) will usually preserve these flavours more, but using that light roast for espresso will usually lead to overly sour taste. Espresso roasting is a delicate balance between preserving varietal acids and developing enough sugars to get a balanced shot.

Try a roast where you drop as soon as first crack finishes - around 205-210, and then cup that roast (couldn't find a guide here, so coffeegeek.com/guides/beginnercupping) and see if you can pick up those flavours. Then try roasting a little lighter than you normally do for espresso, and see if you can find a balance between those flavours, acids and sugars, and see if you like it.

Don't worry too much tho. After trying lighter, if you prefer the taste of your original roasts, do that. You don't have to find those flavours!

[bigdaddy]

Hi snakeoil,

Crikey....That's a complete different language...Soon they'll be saying "this bean is grown on the Eastern side of the west hill in the northern part of the northern hemisphere...I can taste it"

As a newbie myself to this forum and just starting out with roasting using a popcorn machine ...I have a pretty good idea of what coffee I like...I keep it simple, as I can only understand simple and it works for me...I like a light to medium roast with a sweet taste...I find if I go to a reputable coffee merchant and tell them what I like, they generally guide me in the right direction...I can't pick the fruity flavours, it may come with experience but if it doesn't I'm not worried...So long as I get what I like...Having said all that I'm OK with darker roasts, it's just that I don't prefer them...

To summarize... I am limited in my tastes, I can tell the difference between a light or dark roast and I can tell if it is a sweeter bean or not...Whilst I don't mind trying to detect all the said flavours, and it may come with experience... I'm not worried if I never can detect any more of the said qualities, so long as I keep enjoying my brews... That's all I'm after. Mind you I can certainly tell if it is a lousy coffee or not and have more than once or twice left a full cup of coffee on a cafe's table....

Cheers.

[richard_m_h]

Obvious questions is can you detect the different flavours in beans roasted by an expert like Andy? I.e. is it your palate or is it your roasting or coffee making technique causing the problem.

[Dragunov21]

If it's any consolation, my identifiable positive flavours in espresso over the last year have been limited to varying amounts of "chocolate", "caramel", "brown sugar", "nuts", "fruit" and "berry" and "tobacco", and the last two only in two specific roasts.

Most of the time it's just "is it sweet?", "is it smooth?", "is the combination of unidentified flavours interesting/pleasant?", "Done".

If you're into trying to taste individual flavours, you might want to try aeropress or pourover or something; I find espresso is too intense to make much sense of.

Crikey....That's a complete different language...Soon they'll be saying "this bean is grown on the Eastern side of the west hill in the northern part of the northern hemisphere...I can taste it"

Soon? You've not come across microlot coffee then? :P

[Recaffinated]

Read all these descriptions of coffee such as (Loaded with fruit flavors and bittersweet roasted cocoa notes. Mango, jackfruit, and melon to red berry jam, dried apricots, and cooked peach come through as well as a strong spice mix.) been roasting for about 5 wk now and everything i have roasted taste the same to me. Don't get me wrong i love the taste of the coffee that i am roasting. At some point in time will i be able to taste all these flavors is my question?

Thanks for some answers

i hear you. I have always preferred the flavours of dark roasts and was sceptical about whether such descriptors as referred to in your post were real or if it was frankly a bit of a wank. that was until I was served a Yirgacheffe done as a filter roast where I could distinctly taste floral notes. It was a real revelation because I don't think I've got a great palate but it was clearly a different and distinct flavour profile. What was really surprising was that despite preferring dark Italian style espresso coffee flavours I thought the Yirgacheffe worked very well. It gave me an insight into what may be possible.

[snakeoil]

Read all these descriptions of coffee such as (Loaded with fruit flavors and bittersweet roasted cocoa notes. Mango, jackfruit, and melon to red berry jam, dried apricots, and cooked peach come through as well as a strong spice mix.) been roasting for about 5 wk now and everything i have roasted taste the same to me. Don't get me wrong i love the taste of the coffee that i am roasting. At some point in time will i be able to taste all these flavors is my question?

Thanks for some answers

Thanks guys for the response and help.

[robusto]

Gee, I don't know.
To me, it just tastes like coffee.

[Rocky]

This is an interesting thread with the usual intelligent replies.
I have been a wine aficionado for over 40years and still marvel at the descriptions of some wines.
I will say however that whether wine or coffee, it requires training/learning to move into that next level of appreciation where the more esoteric or subtle influences can be discerned.
My experience is that it is hard to do on your own, but a lot easier with skilled mentors who can guide you as to what you are tasting, and of course you need to be doing it pretty well constantly so that you quickly build on what you learn and retain the information in the forefront of your mind.
My coffee appreciation is pretty two dimensional but no less satisfying for that.