To understand the above questions, we have to start from the flavor of coffee.
Some people say that all coffee is bitter, some say that coffee is either bitter or sour. So what exactly is the flavor of coffee? I refer to Mr. Han Huizong's "Fine Coffee" in the statement: coffee is "bitter, sour, sweet, salty" four flavors. This should be a more authoritative statement.
Of the four flavors, bitter and sour are the most well known, and thus become the representative flavor of coffee, while sweet and salty are not so significant, but in fact do exist.
A word about sweetness. The sweetness of coffee is inconspicuous; it's not as immediate as honey. Its sweetness is sandwiched between acidity and bitterness, which you have to savor and experience slowly. Generally speaking, boutique coffees have a high level of sweetness, while low-end coffees generally have a low level of sweetness. Drink more boutique coffee and compare it with low-end coffee, and you will experience the sweetness. I have drunk in China, the sweet taste of the coffee is obvious: Hua Kui, part of the sun West Dharma, honey kiss, Panama Cui Xia.
Plus the savory flavor. It is also present. In my own experience, I once had a cold, my tongue's taste buds dulled, and I took a sip of cooled J?germeister and it was sour and salty. Another time, I had a very light cup of cold coffee at a hotel and tasted salty as well. But it's so unobtrusive that it can be ignored for the average person. There is also no coffee in the world that is known for its savory flavor.
Although coffee has four flavors, these four flavors are not the basis for judging whether coffee is good or bad.
According to The Complete Book of Coffee Knowledge, the primary basis is aroma - the flavor that the tongue and nose can perceive.
The richer the aroma, the better the coffee.
I think the word "flavor" is easier to understand than "aroma". That is to say: if a cup of coffee has a higher quality and richer flavor, it is more premium.
If you're still feeling a bit abstract, let's take a look at the process of scoring coffee - "cupping".
In the industry, if you're going to review a coffee properly, then a cupping test is done. Everyone involved in a cupping test will measure a coffee according to the following points.
As you can see, a good coffee is really not easy, it has to be an all-rounder: it has to be fragrant enough, pure enough in flavor, sweet enough, acidic enough to be good, mellow, with lots of flavor, and a sweet, long-lasting aftertaste ...... It's really not easy. In reality, there aren't many coffees that get high scores in every category. But it doesn't have to be, as long as the final score is more than 80 points, it can be considered a fine coffee.
There is a detail to note: the four flavors of coffee, "sweet" and "acid" correspond to the judging indicators "sweetness" and "acidity". ". The so-called sweetness refers to the strength of the sweetness of a coffee; the so-called acidity, on the other hand, has two sub-indicators: strength and quality. This requires a coffee to be not only acidic, but also acidic in a good way. For example, acetic acid is not considered to be a good acid, as it does not score well even if it is strong, whereas citrus acid is considered to be a good acid, and it scores well if it is very pronounced. On the other hand, bitterness and saltiness are not judgmental indicators .
So, if you look at the flavor alone, if a coffee has a lot of sweetness, good acidity, pure flavor, and a balance of flavors, it's relatively easy to become a high-end coffee; if a coffee is only bitter but not acidic, or if it's too acidic, it's more likely to be a low-end coffee. Of course, the final result also depends on the coffee of the various flavors of the good and bad and strong.
I will speak from my own experience, more specifically about the difference between high and low-end coffee in the four flavors of "bitter, acidic, sweet and salty".
Let's start with the salty flavor. In fact, we can ignore the salty flavor, because its presence is too low.
As for sweetness, it's easier to explain: generally speaking, the better the coffee, the sweeter it is. I've said this before and won't repeat it.
Let's talk about acidity. Low-end coffee is likely to be the lack of acidity, such as the average Robusta coffee beans, the bitterness is significant, drink into the mouth feel only bitter and not acidic. Some other low-end coffee is very high acidity, but acid "bad", such as some of the coffee in Kenya, there is a "phosphoric acid" flavor, a mouthful can make people's five senses shrink into a ball. Boutique coffee acid but the acidity of fruit, much better. For example, sun-dried yerba mate has a citrus flavor, washed yerba mate has a lemon flavor, these are very good sour taste. Other fine coffees that are also known for their acidity are Sidamo, Colombian, Cuisinart, and many others. Of course the sweetness in these coffees is also higher than in the lower end coffees.
And then there's the bitterness. (The following is controversial and is only a personal opinion). We usually say that this coffee is bitter, that coffee is also bitter, in fact, it is very generalized. We also have to distinguish how it is a bitter method. Bitter low-end coffee is the kind of poor-quality bitter, specifically may be mud, smoke, rubber, leather, moldy flavor of the formation of the bitter; while the bitter boutique coffee, there is no such poor-quality flavor, can be said to be "good bitter. In this regard, I think the most typical American Kona coffee. Kona coffee has a unique "volcanic ash" flavor, in fact, it is a bit earthy flavor "bitter". However, if you simply say that it tastes "a little bitter", you're confusing it with the bitterness of low-end coffees, right? I can't help it! The truth is that Kona coffee is very good: sweet, aromatic and fresh, like a spring stream - with this indefinable "volcanic ash" or "bitter" flavor. It also has this indefinable "volcanic ash" or "bitter" flavor. In order for more people to understand the flavor, I have to describe it as "sweet with bitterness", or "less bitter", or "good bitter"; while some people just say it's just a flavor, not a bitter. not bitter.
Then again, we hear people say that so-and-so coffee is completely " no bitter ". Isn't it true that all coffee has a bitter flavor? My understanding is that if a boutique coffee, which is acidic in base and sweet, masks the bitterness very well, we can just call it "no bitter". For example, the previously mentioned Honey Kiss, Blossom, and Cuisinart. But if you tell a beginner to say "no bitterness", in fact, a certain degree of misleading. I once brewed a pot of Cuisinart for a friend who is not yet old enough to drink it, and he said that the first sip was still a little bitter, so how can you say that it is "free of bitterness". In his mind, only the real juice is "no bitter", Cuisinart is only a little bit like juice, still with bitter. In fact, maybe he's right. But I can't bear to call Cuisinart bitter.
Fellow coffee drinkers, I hope the above information will help you in your coffee tasting!