A coffee flavour profile describes what someone notices in the brewed cup: its aromas, flavours, acidity, body and finish. Notes such as chocolate, berries or jasmine are comparisons, not ingredients added to the beans. To choose coffee, start with the flavours you already enjoy, then consider the roast, how you brew and whether you drink it black or with milk.
Two people can drink the same coffee and notice different things. One might say “berries”; the other might simply notice something sweet and fruity. They may be describing a similar impression at different levels of detail, or they may actually perceive parts of the cup differently. Either way, the words are a starting point for a conversation.
That’s why I want our tasting notes to help you choose a coffee, not make you feel as though there’s a test you haven’t studied for.
What do coffee tasting notes actually mean?
When we describe a coffee as chocolatey, we mean its flavour reminds us of chocolate. We haven’t added cocoa. A berry note is a comparison too, not a sign that the beans were soaked in fruit. Coffee can remind us of other foods and aromas because of what happened as the coffee grew, was processed, roasted and brewed.
The notes are a guide to a particular coffee, not a promise that every person will taste every word on the bag. If we say “red grape” and you notice dark chocolate first, you haven’t missed the point. You’ve noticed the part of the cup that stands out to you.
I find it easier to begin with broad descriptions before trying to name a specific fruit or flower:
- Chocolate, caramel or nuts: Familiar, comforting notes you may already know you like.
- Fruit or floral notes: These can be subtle or prominent; they don’t mean the coffee will taste like juice or perfume.
- Acidity: In coffee tasting, this often means the lively quality that gives a cup lift. Pleasant brightness and an unpleasant sour brew are different experiences.
- Body: How substantial or light the coffee feels in your mouth.
- Finish: The flavours and sensations that remain after you swallow.
You can prefer a full-bodied dark roast and still appreciate a fruity coffee now and then. There’s no requirement to develop a more “advanced” palate before buying what you love.
Why does Alejandro cup our coffees?
Alejandro brings both farm experience and trained sensory skills to Crickle Creek. He worked on our family farm in El Salvador, earned Q Grader certification through the Coffee Quality Institute’s earlier program, and now helps select, roast and assess coffees here in Calgary. His story is one of my favourites because it explains how the person who once lived in spreadsheets became the person we rely on for so many coffee decisions.
Cupping is a structured way to taste coffees under comparable conditions. Rather than brewing one as espresso and another as a pour-over, tasters use a consistent preparation so they can pay attention to the coffees themselves. They smell the dry grounds and brewed coffee, then taste as it cools, noticing flavour, acidity, body, finish and any unwanted characteristics. It gives Alejandro a useful way to compare lots and check what a roast is bringing out.
His training matters because it helps us evaluate and describe coffee carefully. Your preference still matters. A technically impressive coffee with prominent fruit notes may not be the one you want every morning; the dark roast you look forward to is a good choice for your routine. Alejandro’s job isn’t to tell you that you should taste jasmine. It’s to help us select and roast coffees with real character, then describe them honestly enough for you to choose.
How do I choose coffee beans by flavour?
Start with the cup you actually drink. These three questions are more useful than asking for “the best coffee”:
- Do you want familiar depth or something more adventurous? Think chocolate and caramel versus more noticeable fruit or floral character.
- Do you like a lighter-feeling cup or a bold dark roast? Read both the tasting notes and the roast description. “Dark” tells you something about the roast, but every dark coffee won’t taste alike.
- Do you drink it black, with milk, or both? A delicate note can be harder to notice under a lot of milk. That doesn’t make a milk-based cup any less worth enjoying.
For a balanced cup with chocolate and a little lift, try our El Salvador Bourbon. It’s grown on our family farm in Apaneca and has notes of dark chocolate, brown sugar and gentle red grape. If you want a smooth everyday medium roast, Colombia Santander brings caramel, cocoa and soft berry notes. And if what you really love is an unapologetically dark cup, Bow is full-bodied with caramel and smoky notes.
Those three bags aren’t a ladder from beginner to expert. They’re different answers to “What do I feel like drinking?” Our full coffee range gives you more ways to follow the flavours you enjoy.
Why does the same coffee taste different to two people?
People can differ in their sensitivity to tastes and aromas, their familiarity with flavour words and the things they enjoy. We also rarely taste under identical conditions: one person may add milk, another may brew with a different grinder, and a cup changes as it cools. Even when two people share the same brewed cup, they may use different words for similar impressions. That does not mean all tasting claims are equally accurate; trained tasters use shared references and consistent preparation to compare coffees more reliably.
This is one reason professional cuppers train and use a shared protocol. They prepare coffees the same way, taste under comparable conditions and use agreed terms and reference flavours. That helps different tasters describe and compare a coffee more consistently. It doesn’t make their senses identical or mean everyone must like the same cup. Describing what is there and deciding whether you enjoy it are two different questions.
The Specialty Coffee Association’s Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel is a useful example. First published in 1995 and updated with World Coffee Research in 2016, it helps tasters move from broad impressions such as “fruity” towards more specific descriptions. World Coffee Research also developed a sensory lexicon with 110 flavour, aroma and texture attributes. You don’t need to memorize any of them. Start with the centre of the wheel, find a broad word that fits and stop whenever the description becomes useful to you.
How can I get better at tasting coffee?
Try two different coffees with the same brewer, water and recipe. Smell the grounds before brewing. Taste each cup while warm and again as it cools. Ask yourself three questions: What do I notice? How does it feel? Which one would I happily make again?
If the answer is simply “this one tastes sweeter,” that’s a useful observation. If you can name a fruit, wonderful. If you and the person beside you notice different things, tell each other what you noticed. Those conversations can make tasting more fun.
The point of our tasting notes is to help you find a cup you love. Alejandro brings the trained palate and the farm-to-roastery experience; you bring the final verdict on what belongs in your mug.
Adriana