What Are Coffee Tasting Notes, Anyway? A Guide to Tasting and Cupping at Home
You open a bag of coffee and see “orange, honey, and chocolate” on the label. You make a cup, take a sip, and think, I taste… coffee.
That is a perfectly good place to start.
Learning to taste coffee takes a little practice, but you do not need special training to begin. Give yourself a few minutes, try a couple of coffees side by side, and pay attention to what comes to mind. You might be surprised by what you notice.
Does “chocolate” mean there is chocolate in it?
This comes up a lot. On a bag of unflavored coffee, tasting notes describe flavors and aromas that remind us of other foods. Nothing has been added.
A coffee with notes of chocolate might have a cocoa-like aroma or a bittersweet finish.
One described as citrusy might have a brightness that reminds you of an orange. You are still drinking coffee; those words help describe the little details that make one cup different from another.
Those differences begin at the farm. Coffee is the seed of a fruit, and its variety, growing conditions, processing, and roasting all help shape its flavor. Your water and brewing method have a say, too.
Start with what you know
You do not have to pull “jasmine” or “bergamot” out of your first sip. Start with something familiar. Does the coffee remind you of chocolate? Fruit? Toasted nuts? Does it feel light, or does it have some weight to it?
Here are a few things to look for:
• Aroma: Smell the grounds before brewing, then smell the coffee again after adding water. What changed?
• Acidity: Think of the brightness in an apple or an orange. In coffee, acidity can make a cup feel lively and
refreshing. It does not have to mean an unpleasant sour taste.
• Sweetness: Does anything remind you of honey, caramel, brown sugar, or ripe fruit? The impression can be
subtle, especially if you usually drink coffee with sugar.
• Body: This is how the coffee feels in your mouth. Some coffees feel light, almost like tea. Others feel fuller or
silky.
• Finish: After you swallow, what stays with you? Cocoa? A little fruitiness? A dry or bitter feeling?
If all you can say is “this one is fruitier than that one,” you are already noticing something useful. A coffee flavor wheel can help you find words as you go.
Try a cupping at home
Cupping is a way to taste and compare coffees using the same simple brewing method for each one. You put ground coffee in a cup, add hot water, and taste it with a spoon once it has cooled enough.
Two coffees are plenty for your first try. Use matching, heat-safe cups or bowls with room for at least 180 g of water, plus the grounds. You will also need a scale, grinder, kettle, timer, and spoon.
1. Grind and take a sniff
Weigh 10 g of each coffee into separate cups. Use a medium-coarse grind, roughly like coarse sand, and keep the setting the same for both. Before adding water, smell the grounds. Write down the first thing that comes to mind, even if it is simply “sweet”
or “nutty.”
2. Add the water
Pour 180 g of water at around 200°F / 93°C over each sample, making sure all the grounds get wet. Start your timer when you pour. Leave the cups alone while they steep.
3. Break the crust
At four minutes, gently push your spoon through the layer of grounds floating on top, stirring just the surface two or three times. This is called breaking the crust. Lean in carefully and smell the aroma as you do it. Rinse your spoon before moving to the next cup.
4. Skim and wait
Scoop away the foam and floating grounds, then give the coffee several more minutes to cool. Leave the grounds that have settled at the bottom undisturbed. There is no need to rush into a hot spoonful. You want it comfortable enough to taste.
5. Taste, then come back to it
Take a small spoonful from near the surface. You can slurp it or take a normal sip. Try one coffee, then the other. Which feels brighter? Which feels fuller? Does one remind you of fruit while the other reminds you of cocoa?
Come back to both cups as they cool. A flavor you missed at first may become easier to recognize. For this first tasting, try them without milk or sugar so you can get to know each coffee on its own.
This recipe is a simple home exercise. For professional assessment, the Specialty Coffee Association publishes its Coffee Value Assessment resources.
Your notes do not have to match the bag
Try writing your impressions before looking at the label. If we taste orange and you taste tangerine, that makes sense. We all draw on different foods, memories, and experiences when we describe flavor.
The more you taste, the more familiar those differences become. Smell the fruit you cut for breakfast. Pay attention to the difference between milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Those everyday experiences give you something to recognize later in your cup.
At TRACER, we love that a cup of coffee can lead to a conversation about a farm, a producer, or a flavor you remember from home. Pick two coffees, put the kettle on, and see where the conversation goes.
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