We print flavour notes on every bag we sell. Bergamot. White peach. Dark chocolate. Toasted almond. These notes are the result of formal cupping sessions conducted by our roast team, using the SCA cupping protocol, with multiple tasters independently scoring and describing what they detect. They are as accurate as we can make them.
They are also, inevitably, subjective. And they are a starting point, not a destination.
Why Flavour Notes Are Difficult
Flavour perception is deeply personal. Your ability to detect bergamot in a cup of coffee depends on whether you have ever tasted bergamot — specifically, whether you have a reference point in your sensory memory for that particular aromatic compound. If you have never tasted Earl Grey tea, the word bergamot means nothing to you as a descriptor.
This is not a failure of the language. It is a limitation of how sensory memory works. You cannot taste something you have no reference for. The solution is to build references — deliberately, systematically, over time.
How to Build References
The most effective exercise we know is comparative tasting. Brew two coffees side by side — ideally from different origins, different processes — and note the differences rather than trying to name them in isolation. One is brighter. One is heavier. One has a quality in the finish that the other lacks. Start with relative descriptions before you attempt absolute ones.
Then work backwards. When you notice a quality — a particular sweetness, a fruity note, something floral — ask yourself what it reminds you of. Not what it is, but what it reminds you of. That association is the beginning of your personal sensory vocabulary.
What the Notes Are Actually For
Our flavour notes are not a promise that you will taste blueberry and jasmine in every cup. They are a description of what our team detected under specific controlled conditions, with calibrated equipment and years of tasting experience. They are a direction, not a destination.
If you brew our Ethiopia Guji and you taste something fruity but cannot identify it as blueberry specifically — that is fine. The fruit quality is there. Your vocabulary for it may be different from ours. What matters is that you are paying attention, building references, and developing your own relationship with what is in the cup. That relationship, not the notes on the bag, is what makes coffee interesting.