Yesterday I received a response to my post on why you should drink straight espresso shots. The response in question commented that I should do a blog on how to tell a good shot from a bad one and what to look for as far as taste in espresso. I have to admit, I'm embarrassed that I didn't think to include that information within the post and decided to correct the error. Here it goes:
There are five things that we can taste on our tongue. Bitterness, saltiness, sour-ness, and sweetness are the ones that most people are familiar with. The one you may not be familiar with is called umami, though, you have most-likely tasted it. This taste can best be described as savory or meaty such as you would taste in soy sauce or cheese. This taste is commonly associated with aged or fermented foods. Along with these five tastes, we can also feel body and acidity on our tongues. When it comes to body, think about the difference between 2% milk and half and half. One feels thicker or heavier on your tongue because one has more body. Acidity is essentially the sensation of dryness that the coffee leaves under the edges of your tongue and on the back of your palate. If you drink wine, think about how a pinot gris enters your mouth, and, while the tastes in your mouth absorb, you'll be able to understand a high acidity.
These five different tastes plus body are going to be the main basis for evaluating a shot of espresso for quality. A good shot should have a balance of all five tastes. Some espresso may taste sweeter or heavier than others but you should still be able to taste all five. In a bad shot of espresso, one of these tastes will drastically overpower the others. The most common example is a shot that tastes very sour. If it tastes so sour that you cannot taste any sweetness, then the shot was not pulled correctly. As a side note, the creamy, brown stuff on top of your shot is called "crema;" which a good shot should have, but it will maintain a sour taste to it. The crema adds substance, or body, to your shot of espresso. You may want to swish the coffee a little in your cup or sip under the crema to avoid having a lot of it in your mouth without much of the espresso. You can also use these principles to evaluate regular coffee. The next time you have a cup, think about what you are tasting in the coffee, how the five tastes work with each other, and what kind of body and acidity you feel in your mouth.
You may be thinking to yourself, "Hey Josh, I've heard people refer to coffee as tasting nutty or floral. Where does that come in?" First of all, stop interrupting me when I'm writing. Secondly, the taste buds on our tongues are not the only things interacting with the coffee when we're tilting back that cup of joe. Our sense of smell is what gives us a nutty or fruity sensation. So, along with taste, the next time you're in your favorite coffee shop, take a good whiff of the coffee before you drink it. You can also help amplify this sensation by making really annoying sipping noises. As you sip, the coffee turns to a kind of mist which spreads it across your whole tongue and sends some fragrances up your nose. I recommend this method because it makes people stare at you at which point you can explain how you're tasting the coffee and impress everyone with your extensive knowledge.
Before I go, I'd also like to address a concern I commonly hear as a working barista. The concern has to do with how the perfect shot of espresso is pulled or how the perfect cup of coffee can be brewed. You see, there are all sorts of industry standards that try to address this question. Some say that you should use "so much coffee" or the shots should come out in "this" much time. However, at the end of the day, taste is what really matters. If you brew me a cup of coffee in a butter churn and it has good balance and flavor then more power to you. I'm not against standards but if you're the kind of person who goes into a coffee shop and complains because the shots took 30 seconds instead of 26, then you should taste the shots and, if they aren't balanced, go ahead and complain. But if your shots are balanced and full of flavor then shut up and enjoy your coffee. To everybody else: have fun with your new-found knowledge and try lots of coffee!
There are five things that we can taste on our tongue. Bitterness, saltiness, sour-ness, and sweetness are the ones that most people are familiar with. The one you may not be familiar with is called umami, though, you have most-likely tasted it. This taste can best be described as savory or meaty such as you would taste in soy sauce or cheese. This taste is commonly associated with aged or fermented foods. Along with these five tastes, we can also feel body and acidity on our tongues. When it comes to body, think about the difference between 2% milk and half and half. One feels thicker or heavier on your tongue because one has more body. Acidity is essentially the sensation of dryness that the coffee leaves under the edges of your tongue and on the back of your palate. If you drink wine, think about how a pinot gris enters your mouth, and, while the tastes in your mouth absorb, you'll be able to understand a high acidity.
These five different tastes plus body are going to be the main basis for evaluating a shot of espresso for quality. A good shot should have a balance of all five tastes. Some espresso may taste sweeter or heavier than others but you should still be able to taste all five. In a bad shot of espresso, one of these tastes will drastically overpower the others. The most common example is a shot that tastes very sour. If it tastes so sour that you cannot taste any sweetness, then the shot was not pulled correctly. As a side note, the creamy, brown stuff on top of your shot is called "crema;" which a good shot should have, but it will maintain a sour taste to it. The crema adds substance, or body, to your shot of espresso. You may want to swish the coffee a little in your cup or sip under the crema to avoid having a lot of it in your mouth without much of the espresso. You can also use these principles to evaluate regular coffee. The next time you have a cup, think about what you are tasting in the coffee, how the five tastes work with each other, and what kind of body and acidity you feel in your mouth.
You may be thinking to yourself, "Hey Josh, I've heard people refer to coffee as tasting nutty or floral. Where does that come in?" First of all, stop interrupting me when I'm writing. Secondly, the taste buds on our tongues are not the only things interacting with the coffee when we're tilting back that cup of joe. Our sense of smell is what gives us a nutty or fruity sensation. So, along with taste, the next time you're in your favorite coffee shop, take a good whiff of the coffee before you drink it. You can also help amplify this sensation by making really annoying sipping noises. As you sip, the coffee turns to a kind of mist which spreads it across your whole tongue and sends some fragrances up your nose. I recommend this method because it makes people stare at you at which point you can explain how you're tasting the coffee and impress everyone with your extensive knowledge.
Before I go, I'd also like to address a concern I commonly hear as a working barista. The concern has to do with how the perfect shot of espresso is pulled or how the perfect cup of coffee can be brewed. You see, there are all sorts of industry standards that try to address this question. Some say that you should use "so much coffee" or the shots should come out in "this" much time. However, at the end of the day, taste is what really matters. If you brew me a cup of coffee in a butter churn and it has good balance and flavor then more power to you. I'm not against standards but if you're the kind of person who goes into a coffee shop and complains because the shots took 30 seconds instead of 26, then you should taste the shots and, if they aren't balanced, go ahead and complain. But if your shots are balanced and full of flavor then shut up and enjoy your coffee. To everybody else: have fun with your new-found knowledge and try lots of coffee!
No comments:
Post a Comment