The always-interesting Jim Hoffman recently wrote a helpful piece about developing your coffee palate.
It got my interest because that’s exactly what I’m always trying to do – and feeling a bit frustrated with the lack of progress!
I strongly recommend having a read of Jame’s article because it offers good, practical, commonsense advice and suggestions for achieving that goal. But the line that really caught my attention was this one:
“What does the coffee professional have access to, that the consumer doesn’t, that allows them to progress so fast? It isn’t cupping bowls, or spoons. It isn’t scoresheets, or large amounts of data about where the coffee is from. It is regular opportunities for comparative tasting.“
It caught my eye because of the blindingly simple truth! If you want to improve your coffee tasting skills, simply do more of it. In particular, taste more different coffees. Here’s a few suggestions:
- Break from always buying your favourite or habitual origin or blend and branch out in your choice, choosing single origins.
- Buy a number of smaller packs of coffee, each a different origin, so you can taste them side by side.
- Set aside some time regularly to brew up two or three origins and taste them side by side.
- And here’s one specially for us Aussie coffee drinkers: If you normally drink your brewed coffee with milk, start changing that and dropping the milk. You can’t really develop your palate for coffee when all you are tasting is the Lite White!
Ideally, run a simple tasting session with 2 or 3 other coffee geeks and compare notes. You don’t have to do it formally, or even keep notes (although I find that really helpful), just enjoy the experience. You will soon find that your ability to pick qualities and flavours will start to improve.
Now, where’s the plunger…
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