CoffeeHQ Academy
Tasting Lab
A worksheet for tasting coffee on purpose: one cup, two side by side, or two blind. You supply the tasting. This page supplies the structure.
CoffeeHQ does not publish tasting notes of its own. Nobody here has cupped the coffee in your kitchen, and a description written without tasting is a guess presented as a fact. So the Lab works the other way round: it gives you the attributes professional tasters separate, a vocabulary to choose from, and a way to compare two cups, and everything it records is yours.
The worksheet
Rate what you notice and leave the rest. There is no score and no right answer. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere; you can copy it as text or keep it in this browser.
Your note
Your own observation — not a CoffeeHQ tasting note
Rate an attribute, choose a flavour family or write a few words, and your note appears here.
Notes kept on this device
None yet. Notes you keep stay in this browser. They are not sent to CoffeeHQ, and clearing your site data removes them.
How to taste with it
- Smell first. Most of what makes one coffee different from another is aroma, and it is strongest before you drink.
- Let it cool a little. Very hot coffee hides acidity and sweetness. Taste again as it cools; cups change.
- Take the attributes one at a time. Ask only about acidity, then only about body. Trying to describe everything at once is why tasting feels difficult.
- Choose a family before a flavour. “Fruity” is a real answer. Reach for “blueberry” only if it is unmistakable.
- Describe, then judge. Whether you liked it goes in its own box, last.
- For two coffees, go back and forth. Differences are far easier to perceive than absolutes, which is why side by side is the best way to learn.
Blind mode exists because expectation changes perception. Knowing which cup is the expensive one, or the one you brewed carefully, alters what you taste. Have someone else pour, write your notes against Coffee A and Coffee B, and reveal afterwards.
The seven attributes
Each is rated in words, from one end to the other. Neither end is better: “light” body and “heavy” body are different, not ranked.
- Aroma — sensed by smell
- Smell the cup before you taste. How much is there to smell? Scale: Very faint · Faint · Moderate · Strong · Very strong.
- Acidity — sensed by taste
- The bright, mouth-watering quality. Is it barely there, lively, or sharp? Scale: Flat · Soft · Lively · Bright · Sharp.
- Sweetness — sensed by taste and smell
- Does the cup seem sweet, without any sugar in it? Scale: None · Slight · Moderate · Sweet · Very sweet.
- Bitterness — sensed by taste
- Felt late and towards the back. Separate it from sourness and from dryness. Scale: None · Slight · Moderate · Pronounced · Dominant.
- Body and texture — sensed by touch
- The weight of the liquid in your mouth: closer to tea, or to cream? Scale: Very light · Light · Medium · Full · Heavy.
- Clarity — sensed by taste and smell
- Can you pick out separate flavours, or do they merge into one? Scale: Muddled · Blended · Fairly clear · Clear · Very distinct.
- Finish — sensed by taste and smell
- After you swallow: how long does the taste stay? Scale: Gone at once · Short · Medium · Long · Very long.
Sourness, bitterness and astringency are the three most often confused. The basic tastes exercise separates them with things from a kitchen cupboard.
A flavour vocabulary to work from
The family names follow the broad groups on the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel. The questions are CoffeeHQ's, and “often found in” is a tendency, not a prediction: any family can turn up in any coffee.
Fruity
Does it remind you of fruit — fresh, dried or cooked?
- Narrower words:
- Berry, Citrus, Stone fruit, Tropical fruit, Dried fruit.
- Often found in:
- Lighter roasts, natural-processed coffees and many East African coffees.
- Easily confused with:
- Fermented notes, which are fruit that has gone further; and plain sourness.
Floral
Is there something perfumed, like blossom or tea?
- Narrower words:
- Jasmine, Rose, Chamomile, Black tea.
- Often found in:
- Light roasts of washed coffees, and varieties such as Gesha.
- Easily confused with:
- Herbal notes, and the lightness of a thin body.
Sweet and caramel
Brown sugar, caramel, honey, vanilla?
- Narrower words:
- Caramel, Honey, Brown sugar, Vanilla, Maple.
- Often found in:
- Medium roasts, where browning has developed without taking over.
- Easily confused with:
- Body. A heavy cup can read as sweet without being so.
Nutty and cocoa
Nuts, chocolate or cocoa?
- Narrower words:
- Almond, Hazelnut, Peanut, Milk chocolate, Dark chocolate.
- Often found in:
- Medium to darker roasts, and many Brazilian and Central American coffees.
- Easily confused with:
- Roast flavour itself, which is darker and less sweet.
Spice
Warm spice or pepper?
- Narrower words:
- Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg, Black pepper, Cardamom.
- Often found in:
- Some Indonesian and Indian coffees, and some darker roasts.
- Easily confused with:
- Astringency, which is a feeling and not a flavour.
Roasted
Toast, smoke, ash or burnt sugar?
- Narrower words:
- Toast, Dark caramel, Smoke, Tobacco, Ash.
- Often found in:
- Dark roasts. This is flavour created by roasting, not by the coffee.
- Easily confused with:
- Bitterness, which usually travels with it and is a taste.
Green and herbal
Fresh herbs, cut grass, peas, or raw vegetables?
- Narrower words:
- Herbal, Grassy, Pea-like, Hay, Olive.
- Often found in:
- Under-developed roasts and under-ripe coffee; in a mild form, some washed coffees.
- Easily confused with:
- Floral notes at the pleasant end; a roasting fault at the other.
Winey and fermented
Wine, rum, overripe fruit or vinegar?
- Narrower words:
- Winey, Boozy, Overripe fruit, Vinegar.
- Often found in:
- Natural and extended-fermentation coffees. Pleasant or a defect, by degree.
- Easily confused with:
- Fruitiness, which it grows out of.
Earthy and woody
Damp earth, wood, cedar, or cardboard?
- Narrower words:
- Earthy, Cedar, Woody, Papery, Musty.
- Often found in:
- Wet-hulled Indonesian coffees; also old green coffee and stale roasted coffee.
- Easily confused with:
- Staleness. Papery and cardboard notes are usually age.
Five kinds of statement, kept apart
CoffeeHQ keeps these separate everywhere, and the Lab is where the fifth lives.
1. Measured
A quantity someone measured and published with a method.
On CoffeeHQ: Production figures on origin pages; caffeine ranges; the oil content of filtered and unfiltered coffee.
2. Sourced description
What a standards body or authoritative reference states.
On CoffeeHQ: Cupping procedure, grading rules, the families on the flavour wheel.
3. Common tendency
A generalisation that usually holds and has exceptions.
On CoffeeHQ: “Naturals tend to be fruitier.” “Paper filters tend to give a cleaner cup.”
4. CoffeeHQ explanation
A mechanism reasoned out from the above. Plausible, and not a test result.
On CoffeeHQ: The brewing method comparison model; most “why” paragraphs.
5. Your own note
What you tasted, in your cup, today.
On CoffeeHQ: This worksheet. It is the only kind of statement on CoffeeHQ about how a particular cup tastes.
Put it to use
- Your first side-by-sideAny two coffees, three plain words each. The quickest way to find out you can already taste.
- Labelled, then blindThe same two coffees with and without their names, to see what expectation adds.
- A first triangle testWhether a difference you believe in is one you can detect.
- Sensory foundations and Cupping and tastingThe two Coffee Expert levels this worksheet belongs to.
- How brewing methods change the tasteFor comparing one coffee brewed two ways: what the model expects, to set against what you find.