From Crop to Cup: A Lesson on Tasting
If you would like to evaluate your morning cup of coffee or afternoon shot of espresso beyond an impression of "that was good"/ "that was bad" then you need new terminology to articulate your impressions. The specialty coffee industry has developed a format and terminology to evaluate a cup of coffee. The format consists of organizing your sensory evaluation into five descriptive categories. They are: Aroma, acidity, body, flavor, and Finish. Words such as "complex", "deep", "resonating", "rich", "deep", "floral" etc. are used to describe an impression that is shared with something familiar. For example; by using the term floral, we are describing the presence of a vague, soft sensation reminiscent of flowers, not a veritable garden in bloom overpowering coffee's inherent taste. And as with smelling fresh flowers, you will sense this "floral" essence high in the back of your nose. Don't let the jargon intimidate you. You'll get it. The following guide is a guide only. Everybody has different abilities and sensitivities to taste various flavors. If you can't pin down that elusive floral aroma in your Ethiopian Yirgacheffe don't despair.

Body
Think of how milk coats your tongue vs water. This tactile sensation of weight and viscosity is the "body" of a coffee. Often the single term "rich" is used to describe this tactile sensation of weight and smoothness.
The body of a coffee comes from the oils and soluble, fibrous solids extracted during brewing and left suspended in the brew. If a coffee has a moderate to high level of oil, it leaves a slick residue on the top of your palate and is described as being smooth, buttery, or creamy. When it feels as though a coffee has covered your teeth and tongue with a rough-like thickness it is due to the particulate matter suspended in the brew. We describe this sensation as being thin, delicate, all the way to being heavy or thick. For simplicities sake, we typically consider the overall presence of these two sensations together and describe a coffee as being light, medium, or full-bodied.

Acidity
Understanding what Acidity means as a taste term is perhaps best understood by first knowing what it is not . "Acidy" as a taste term is neither acidic as a measure of ph, nor sour. The specialty coffee trade has borrowed some of its lexicon from the wine industry when trying to describe the acidy character in coffee. The term acidy is often compared to the bright, brisk character of a dry white wine or a resonating vibrancy reminiscent of a red wine. The presence of an acidy sensation in a coffee is felt under the edges of your tongue and on the back of your palate. Without acidity, a coffee has a flat, one-dimensional taste. Red wines have a warm, ripe character hinting at dark fruits such as plum or berry. White wines have a drier, more pleasantly astringent character that localizes itself on your palate with a delicate sweetness or tangy quality. Coffees from Africa are very acidy; with a winy character reminiscent of a red wine. Coffees from Central and South America have an acidy character (void of a ripe, explosive fruit-like quality), more reminiscent to a crisp, dry white wine. It is also common to call upon the sensation of something familiar such as an orange or lemon to denote a citrus, clean, bright, sweet taste in many coffees. Such distinctions are subtle, but revealing. They help describe how a tangy, tart, bright, or crisp acidy quality is originating from a familiar lemon essence, or more rounded raspberry sweetness, or apricot.

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