When it comes to coffee tasting the most important factors to evaluate are aroma, acidity, body and flavour. However, personal preference also plays an important role.
The way our senses perceive a particular coffee is the sum total of the sensations recorded by most of our sense organs. The most important in this case are the senses of taste and smell.
Vision
Within the first few seconds our eyes evaluate the quality of an espresso before we’ve even tasted it. Our eyes help us make a rapid evaluation of the intensity of colour and the consistency and marbling of the crema.
Taste
The five different basic tastes, sweet, salty, umami, sour and bitter, are detected on the tongue. Each of these sensations can be mapped to a particular area of the tongue
Smell
The nose detects the volatile aroma com-pounds that emanate from the coffee cup.
The human nose can distinguish between as many as 10 000 different aromas. About 80 % of taste sensations are actually perceived through the nose.