What kind of characteristics and flavors do you get from your roasts? What are the main factors for getting those flavors? How does batch size affect things?
I would have added more descriptors, but only realized there are maximum 20 options after I started the poll, so perhaps if I do this again, I’ll be more strategic in the options to cover the fuller spectrum of sensations.
However, this will be a good starting point and looking forward to suggestions and comments!
Use this poll and check as many boxes as flavors and chadscteristics as you might typically expect from your roasts. Don’t worry about the why. For example, if one person prefers Ethiopian naturals, they will likely experience different flavors than someone who prefers washed Guatemalan, but that has nothing to do with the bullet. Don’t worry about that, as this is not specific to the Bullet, as much as more about us as Bullet users.
*I think one of the bigger flavor notes I missed was “nutty”. What else did I miss? 
Flowery
Winey
Earthy
Spicy
Complexity (is it really a flavor note, or just a characteristic? )
Complexity is a legitimate roasters note.
I feel like we can roast for simplicity or complexity.
And I do think my Bullet is prone to complexity.
I should have added “flowery” to the poll, but that tends to be more green dependent, and can be present in both light and medium dark roasts.
Regardless, I should have included it. It is better than some of the things I put in there.
@billc if I make an improved poll thread, I’ll include yours or anyone else’s notes where possible. I had originally intended to have like 50 different things. But 20 is the max.
I created this poll, because I see a lot of discussion about curves and targets, and trouble shooting dirty sensors, but I don’t see many poles about the results…. The coffee.
My perception/connotation of complexity is different from how complex the roasting roasting process can be.
For me, a complex coffee is one that has a lot of things going on.
A simple washed, well roasted coffee bean can be great. But, just a good mug of coffee. Nothing really stands out, but is delicious to drink.
A complex cup of coffee intrigues me and draws me in. There might be something in the aroma before the first sip. And as I sip that cup of coffee, things change. Some flavors may turn on and then a little while later another flavor will turn on. I encourage my friends to sip slowly and experience the different flavors as the coffee cools and keep sipping all the way to room temperature.
I have walked aroung the house some days just smelling the cup and smiling. Enjoying the aroma as I make my way to my home office.
A big one you left out was bitterness. Some bitterness can be really good.
@keward
I’ll have to make a new poll. Bitterness is essential. But this poll/thread will help towards workshopping “roasting flavors” as opposed to inherent bean flavors and brew profiles.
Bitterness is perhaps so obvious I overlooked the fact that I left it off?
CoffeeMind has a great flavour wheel. It’s interesting how they’ve placed bitterness. Makes sense actually.
That’s a pretty good one. It is more expansive than a strictly 20 options that the pole could do here. I might do 2 poles, and get 40 options. As long as it isn’t confusing to people here.
The CoffeeMind flavor wheel looks interesting, I wonder how it compares to the SCA one. Interesting CM has “umami” in there.
Flavor to me depends also on the beans. I had managed to roast the India Monsoon Malabar and got a hint of Japanese genmaicha tea out of which blew my mind. I don’t roast this bean often but when I do I go back to that same roast profile in order to get that flavor again.
CoffeeMind has an audio Podcast on that page describing how they came up with their flavor wheel. ( It is 43 minutes long. )
One of the things that I found interesting and totally agree with is the fruits that are listed on their flavor wheel have to be available in a grocery store so you have a common reference to those fruits.
Another thing that they talk about is NOT serving and drinking your coffee hot. You can’t taste all of the flavors that are in the cup if it is too hot. I always try to get the recipients of my coffees to slow down and sip until the coffee reaches room temperature.
It can be fun watching someone that you’ve just given them a cup of an up-front blueberry Yirgacheffe and you’ve told them to sip it slow. They start off: “I can’t taste any blueberries” then after the coffee cools a bit, their eyes light up and: “There’s blueberries in there. Where did they come from?”
I brew my coffee in a thick bottom highball/Whiskey glass to start the cooling process immediately after brewing.
Then it is S & S: (Sip and Savor)
It’s standard procedure in cupping. You don’t take your first sips until well over 5 minutes. It’s the first thing you should know when drinking coffee. Unfortunately, depending on where you live, it’s very hard to explain to people. They nod and, as soon as you’re done talking, they chug the whole thing in one go and say the coffee doesn’t taste the way it’s supposed to. Also, drinking and/or eating hot stuff can lead to serious health issues. I would advise anyone who speaks Italian and has access to Rai3 to watch “La Repubblica della ciofeca”. It’s some cringy stuff. You can see people submerging the cups in boiling water before pulling a shot, because coffee cannot suffer a thermal shock at any point.
A brief comic relief, before the flavor wheel. Did you know that Nékojita FuFu will be out this year? Nékojita means you have cat tongue, which is a term used by the Japanese to refer to someone who has difficulty drinking or eating scalding things. The FuFu part is self-explanatory. But there’s someone who can explain the wonders of modern technology better than me.
The flavor wheel is based on the Sensory Lexicon by the World Coffee Research. You can download your copy by clicking on this link. It contains much more info and instructions than the flavor wheel, and should help beginners more.
