Doram Try to give a legend to the notes you use, as you did with the Kenyan example in your blog. Then, if people want to know what the note actually means, they can find more information.
This is a great idea - I think there is more that can be done to ‘describe’ the flavour notes that are being used, which could go some way towards addressing the variability that exists.
Doram Use notes facing consumers only after confirming (in blind tasting) that a few people recognised those notes. It doesn’t have to be scientific, but if you let five people taste a coffee and four of them say “strawberry” (without any pre-knowledge), then it’s probably safer to write that on the website than to use a very specific note that only came up from one person.
another good, idea and this is the general principle we always follow within our team. Still, even with blind tasting, it’s almost inevitable over time that the tasters will become calibrated with each other - and not necessarily closer to what the customer may experience.
Doram People did taste “fermented” on a natural or “harsh” on a Robusta, but they didn’t agree on any “Rum”, “honeysuckle” or “strawberry milkshake” sort of notes as far as I remember. From my perspective, if a note is a personal association that most other people will struggle to find, then it shouldn’t be written on the product’s page or on the bag.
This is interesting and I agree. It’s easier to get people on board with the broader terms - these would tie in more with the ‘inner’ ring on the flavour wheel. Again, some audiences will always want more detail though and this is where the shorthand comes in. In conversations with other industry people, something like honeysuckle actually means ‘floral notes, but with some sweetness and not as strongly perfumed at something like jasmine’. Maybe that’s what we should actually be writing (might be a bit difficult to fit on a bag though!)
Doram Thank you Lee for listening and trying to understand how this works for normal people, this is commendable in my opinion.
Thank you, that’s kind - but honestly, I hope you don’t ever think that your experience of flavour is any less valid than anyone else’s. Some of us may have had sensory training but that doesn’t help anyone to taste ‘better’, it just indoctrinates you into the accepted jargon that is being used by everyone else around you. That’s what jargon does right? - whether intentional or not, it excludes outsiders.
It’s worse in coffee - in other areas, you can learn what the jargon means and that allows you to communicate with other people in that field more efficiently.
