SCAA Flavor Wheel

Describing coffee flavor is hard.  Impossible even.  Is it earthy or spicy? Piquant or nippy?  Acidic or bitter?  Aromas can be equally puzzling.  Was that pine I smelled?  Oh no, that is definitely floral.  Errr...oak-like?  Many foodies know conveying flavor is fraught with generalizations and the impossible barrier of communicating something so delicate and nuanced as taste in words. 

The SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) created the solution to our descriptive problems.  Behold the "Coffee Wheel"!  Now, we can utilize grandiloquent words like camphoric, enzymatic, and phenolic, along with easier descriptors such as citrus, nut-like, turpeny, and carmelly.

How to use:
1.  To describe Taste, use the left side. Aroma, right side.
2.  Work outwards from the center to the periphery.

Now, my coffee reviews shall be quite exact with the perfect adjective to describe what I am tasting.  Check back this weekend, as SCAA has a second wheel to describe the roasting process.

Citation: Picture grabbed from Sweet Maria's Coffee!  Click here for larger picture.

Fritz Frischer, Flavored Coffee, and the Girlfriend

Good morning! I wanted to stop in, and do a quick post. As of late, my graduate work has been overwhelming my blogging responsibilities. As seen in the pic, this hasn't stopped my coffee consumption, in fact, it has done the opposite. The most recent book I read was Germany's War Aims in the First World War by Fritz Fischer. This behemoth weighs in at a paltry 600 pages, and has jealously gobbled up my precious spare time.

In other coffee news, the Girlfriend bought some Dunkin Donuts coffee that was pre-ground, (ehh!), but it was mint infused. I opened up the air tight canister she put it in, and the aroma that permeated reminded me of Andes candies, which is a good thing! Initially she put brewed it using a French Press, but stated the taste came out way too strong. This morning, (I haven't had the chance to talk to her), she used the drip machine which will reduce the boldness of the coffee.

(Clearly not my hands: credit to Wikipedia Commons)

My question is, when coffee chains use flavors, artificial or natural, do they purposefully make the flavors extra bold to overcome the flavor stealing paper filters, which then makes it difficult to drink from a press pot?

I have heard good things about Starbucks's natural infused coffees from dailyshotofcoffee.com (who gave it a 3.75/5!). Hmm, perhaps tonight I shall try out this Andes-like DD coffee.

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*Update*

Since writing this post, the Girlfriend has stopped drinking the Dunkin Donuts Mint coffee. She brewed it in a drip machine and in the French Press, and states that the results are inconsistent. Naturally, this may be attributed to barista error, but I would never say so. My experience with flavored coffees are hit or miss, and I would rather spend my money on quality single-origin beans. Nevertheless, my question still remains whether coffee companies over flavor their coffee to hide bad beans and to account for paper filters.

Thank you for Daily Shot of Coffee for citing me in Fresh Brews. Be sure to check them out, one of the best coffee blogs on the internet with daily posts and continual content.