SMELL
Always smell a coffee before you taste it. Inhale deeply. Your mouth can distinguish five tastes—sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami—but your nose can differentiate one trillion aromas.
SLURP
Take a good, noisy slurp of your coffee. Don’t be shy. This will spray the coffee across your tongue and palate, letting you taste all the subtleties.
LOCATE
Think about how the coffee feels in your mouth. What is its weight or thickness? Where on your tongue do you experience the flavors?
DESCRIBE
What words would you choose to describe your tasting experience? The aroma, the flavors, how the coffee feels in your mouth. Does your tongue detect much acidity in the coffee? What other flavors might you use for comparison?
