I’m a coffee newb - bought an Aeropress and a Rhino hand grinder, and I’ve sort of flailed around changing things randomly and ended up with an enjoyable repeatable cup by sticking to the same beans, grind, water temperature, brew time & method that seems to work for me.
My issue is I’m not really sure about the terms used to describe the basic aspects of coffee taste - eg bitter, sour, acidic, under extracted, over extracted, etc. I feel like if I did understand them, that would give me the skill to try different things (such as a different roast) and adjust the other factors to match them to get something that suits me, or to be able to make a cup of coffee that would suit someone else’s taste.
I’m wondering if you’re able to tell me how to deliberately create these other tastes - I imagine I could comparatively taste them and mentally match the words to the sensations. For example, how can I deliberately create an obviously bitter cup, an over extracted cup etc.
The resources I’ve got for this project are the Aeropress and grinder mentioned, Nespresso machine, a medium and a dark roast, a French Press, and whatever coffee I can get from a supermarket.
Does this sound like a viable plan? If so, what are the tastes I should learn, and how can I create guaranteed and slightly exaggerated versions of them?
I know that your question is about tasting basics, and I think the answers here will get you on the right path.
There’s a lot that goes into coffee tasting on the advanced end. Ever wonder who decides that a coffee tastes like “raspberry” and “chocolate”? A few years ago, I found a local roaster that runs barista classes, and I got tickets to their coffee tasting session. It’s really interesting to learn about all the process and procedure that goes in to tasting coffee. They take something as subjective as taste and turn it into (somewhat) objective and quantifiable data. I also learned how coffee beans are graded, and how roasters source their beans.
The official term for this process is “cupping”, so if you’re interested, look in your area for cupping classes. I had a great time!