coffee-tastings
This note is part of my Zettelkasten.
Notes on my coffee tastings. Sometimes I do structured blind comparison tastings of coffees to train my tasting and more clearly understand what I like in different coffees.
My general procedure for blind tastings is to write A/B on the bottom of the cups to designate what’s what, and after switching them blindly, write “L” and “R” for left and right on the cups and use that for my notes until revealing.
2024-09-12 Blind Comparison
| Left | Right | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Neues Schwarz | Neues Schwarz |
| Name | El Limoncillo | Lobo |
| Roast | Filter | Filter |
| Location | Nicaragua, Matagalpa | Brazil, Sul de Minas |
| Height | 850 - 1150 m | 1000 m |
| Variety | Ethiosar | Topázio |
| Process | natural | anaerobic fermentation |
| Notes | orange cest, pomelo, cocoa nibs | honey, golden kiwi, dark chocolate |
AeroPress: 12 g coffee, 180 g water (boiling), 13 s stirring, then press
Notes
- L has a more chocolatey smell
- R more fruity (wine gum again?)
- R more acidic, some more sweetness
- L also sweet, a little less acidic, more chocolatiness
- this time both are brewed better, no astringency in either, both delicious
- L more balanced
- at this point once again I let Katrin try one, and she accidentally revealed the letter on the bottom of the cup
- sigh.
- she preferred L due to being less acidic
- ANYWAY – my first thought even before the reveal was that L is probably what was R yesterday and the other way around
- so R = Lobo, due to being more acidic and fruity
- and L = El Limoncillo, due to being more chocolatey, more balanced and less acidic
- which was correct and fits what I tasted yesterday, yay
- Lobo yea I’m still going with wine gum, funkiness
- last lime I tasted El Limoncillo as sweeter, this time I think they’re similar or even Lobo more
- might be due to the better breweing, without the astringency in Lobo the “wine gum”my sweetness comes through better
- I really like both: El Limoncillo might be a better one to serve to other people due to less funkiness, less acid more balanced taste, but personally I like Lobo as well
- the wine gum sweeetness fits that IIRC I had an aerobic fermented coffee from Machhörndl before that I also quite liked for its fruity-funky acidity
- also: in my tasting from 2024-09-09 I also identified Lobo as quite sweet, acidic and funky
- so it does fit
Conclusion
- anaerobic fermentation is really quite interesting
- compare more of them vs. naturals, does it yield more funky acid wine gumminess in general?
- which is what I enjoy in naturals as well
- still interesting that my tasting doesn’t line up with the tasting notes from the package sooo much
- although I guess differentiating dark chocolate from cocoa nibs is somewhat esoteric anyway
2024-09-12 Blind Comparison
| Left | Right | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Neues Schwarz | Neues Schwarz |
| Name | Lobo | El Limoncillo |
| Roast | Filter | Filter |
| Location | Brazil, Sul de Minas | Nicaragua, Matagalpa |
| Height | 1000 m | 850 - 1150 m |
| Variety | Topázio | Ethiosar |
| Process | anaerobic fermentation | natural |
| Notes | honey, golden kiwi, dark chocolate | orange cest, pomelo, cocoa nibs |
AeroPress: 12 g coffee, 180 g water (boiling), 13 s stirring, then press
Notes
- L smells a bit floral, some acidity maybe? I wanna say whiskey
- R smells cereal
- L acidity, some astringency, funkiness, not a lot of sweetness
- R less acidity, but still some, more sweetness, less funkiness, no astringency
- R really quite sweet
- L definitely less sweet, a bit bitterness
- both have some chocolatiness
- L really has some fermentation / funkiness R doesn’t have, I’d say that’s the “whiskey” smell
- could be described as candied fruit maybe?
- L wine gum!
- R has some more chocolate
- R has more sweetness, again
- both are too sour though, probably underextracted
- finished both
- I think I preferred R
- the wine gum L was definitely interesting and nice
- but in the end R was more balanced and the sweetness made it more enjoyable
- question is: would I have enjoyed L more if both were better extracted?
- I might even have appreciated the funky acidity in L over R if it haven’t had to much base acidity already
- what is what?
- I’ll say R was A (Lobo), because of the sweetness (honey and golden kiwi)
- and L fits B (El Limoncillo) better: more acidity fits pomelo and orange cest, less sweetness fits as well, cocoa nibs vs. dark chocolate
- well fuck, it’s exactly the other way around
- L is Lobo, R is El Limoncillo
- so:
- Lobo: more acidic, a little less sweet, wine gum
- El Limoncillo: less acidic, more balance, sweetness
Summary
- now I’m wondering whether I flipped the cups (probably not)
- saaaaad, I was so hopeful
- oh well.
- I’ll try to repeat the same comparison
2024-09-09 Blind Comparison
| Left | Right | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Neues Schwarz | Neues Schwarz |
| Name | Lobo | Ana Marcos |
| Roast | Filter | Filter |
| Location | Brazil, Sul de Minas | Guatemala, Huehuetenango |
| Height | 1000 m | 1600 m |
| Variety | Topázio | Caturra |
| Process | anaerobic fermentation | washed |
| Notes | honey, golden kiwi, dark chocolate | raspberry, yellow plum, maple syrup |
AeroPress: 12 g coffee, 180 g water (boiling), 13 s stirring, then press
Notes
- starting after already quite some cooling down
- L not very bitter, not a lot of acid, some sweetness
- R honestly quite similar :/
- R similarly non-bitter
- R maybe a little more acid?
- R cereal?
- no, L has more acid, some more fruitiness
- okay, acid is similar
- but L has some funkiness
- L also has some more sweetness
- paused a few minutes, was only warm at this point
- L actually quite sweet
- R less sweetness, similar acidity is right
- R similar acidity, but in a less “funky” way
- my guess: L is the natural, R is the washed one
- L quite fruity
- R hard to describe, cereal fits it well
- I think I prefer L, but both are very nice
- reveal: I was right! L is natural, well, anaerobic fermentation, R is washed
- I love confirmation bias: now that I see the tasting notes, I think I can taste the dark chocolate in L
- apart from that L tasting notes fit my feeling well: sweet (honey, chocolate), fruity (kiwi)
- R fits less well: I did detect some acid, but not a lot of fruitiness, and cereal?
- what I tried to describe cereal might be what they noted down as maple syrup, sweet, but with some richness, caramael, butterscotch stuff
Conclusion
- it’s fascinating how my perception of the tastes changed as I tried them more and more
- I think I need to train my vocabulary more
- didn’t smell a whole lot except “coffee” though
- maybe try doing that earlier while still hot
2024-08-05 Blind Comparison
Coffees
| Left | Right | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Machhörndl | Machhörndl |
| Name | Lamana | Primavera |
| Roast | Filter | Filter |
| Location | Papua-Neuguinea, eastern highlands | Brazil, Alpinópolis, Sul de Minas |
| Height | 1550 m | 1050 - 1150 m |
| Variety | Typica, Bourbon | Red Catuai |
| Process | natural | natural, yeast fermented 72 h |
| Notes | papaya, peach, kumquat | mango, pineapple, strawberry |
AeroPress: 16 g coffee, 240 g water (boiling), 12 s stirring, then press
Notes
- L good acidity
- R a little less acidity
- R floral?
- L quite sweet
- L quite bright
- R cleaner
- L a little astringency
- R a little nut or chocolate?
- L fruity
- one was washed, one was natural / yeast-fermented
- my guess: L is natural, R is washed
- R has some sweetness as well, but a less fruity sweetness, more chocolate-y, “herb” sweetness
- revealed at this point
- I mixed up, both were natural, but R was yeast fermented
- I tested L before, also noted the acidity
- but noted it as not very sweet before, now as quite sweet…
- definitely more differences between the two than in the previous comparison
- I definitely judged R differently than the roaster’s notes
- maybe what I noted as chocolate-y sweetness was the fermentation?
Conclusion
- need more practice
- I liked both, although I think I preferred L for its fruitiness
- so maybe not a fan of yeast fermentation?
2024-07-27 Blind Comparison
Coffees
| Left | Right | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Machhörndl | Machhörndl |
| Name | Lamana | Businde |
| Roast | Filter | Filter |
| Location | Papua-Neuguinea, eastern highlands | Burundi, Kayanza |
| Height | 1550 m | 1600 – 2000 m |
| Variety | Typica, Bourbon | Bourbon |
| Process | natural | washed |
| Notes | papaya, peach, kumquat | wild berries, red currant, floral |
AeroPress: 16 g coffee, 250 g water (boiling), 12 s stirring, then press
Notes
- L good acitity
- L very little bitterness
- L not very sweet
- L clean tasting
- R has less acidity
- R something funky, maybe gummi bears?
- R a little sweeter
- at this point Katrin tried them and I accidentally saw the letter on the cup bottom
- R Katrin liked it fine, said not very bitter
- was surprised because normally Katrin found every coffee to be bitter
- even if they weren’t in my opinion
- L Katrin also liked it, but less
- R smells floral
- L Katrin says smells floral though
- L didn’t smell a lot, but thought I detected some candied fruit
- already found out, confirmation bias?
- after cooling down:
- L detected some more funkiness
- R now also floral in the taste, not just smell
- again, could be confirmation bias, but also the cooling
Conclusion
- liked both a lot, couldn’t pick a favorite
- I need to practice tasting more
- next time: more smelling
- compare what I notice through at different temperatures
- only reveal after fully cooling down