There have always been many questions revolving around what the flavor notes on a coffee bag mean. If it says the coffee tastes like peanut butter, is it safe to taste this coffee if you have a peanut allergy? If it says florals, are you adding flowers to the coffee beans? What about when it says “co-fermented?” In the paragraphs below, we’ll share what flavor notes truly are, what co-fermentations are, and how they come to be!
What are flavor notes?
Flavor notes are often what you see on a coffee bag or in a coffee description online. Most times, there are three listed total. Sometimes, they can go up to five or six total. Flavor notes do not indicate added ingredients. These notes are what you’ll taste when you drink the coffee, without anything added! Elevation, soil type, and water quality play a big part in how your coffee can taste, as well as processing method, varietal, and roast level.
How do you determine what the flavor notes are?
Taste is subjective and depends on a person’s palate, which is why it’s important to us to have as many people cupping and tasting as we can from our team. Oftentimes, cuppings to determine flavor notes are led by Ricky, our QC, and Mike, our Roastmaster and Green Sourcer. They can also involve Heather, our CEO, Shawn, our VP of Operations, Natasha, our Brand Manager, and Ephney, our Account Manager.
For espresso blends specifically, we’ll still do a cupping, but typically, we’ll actually roast the blend and bring it to our training lab to dial it in on an espresso machine. That way, our flavor notes reflect the recommended brewing method!
What is a cupping?
Each company may do cuppings slightly differently, but we generally all stick with standard protocols as outlined by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). We prepare 14.3 grams of coffee for each bowl, with two bowls per coffee, and grind the beans slightly coarser than you would for a paper filter drip. Our cupping bowls are black on the inside so the color of the coffee doesn’t skew our perception or opinion of the taste, either. Once the coffee is ground and in its bowl, we’ll go around the table to smell each cup for fragrance. Then, once everyone has gotten the fragrance, we pour water that’s approximately 200ºF into each bowl, all the way to the rim of the bowl, and start a timer. After about four minutes, we’ll do what’s called “breaking the crust.” As the coffee has been brewing, the grounds have been floating to the top and forming a semi-solid layer on top. We’ll get really close to the cup with our noses, take our cupping spoons (which are more concave than the average spoon, more similar to a soup soon), stick them into the crust, and push the crust away from us while taking in the smell. This is then noted down as our wet aroma for evaluation.
Once we’ve broken all of the crusts, we’ll use two cupping spoons to scoop as much of the grounds off the surface as possible. After about ten more minutes, when the temperature of the coffee has reached about 160ºF, we’ll begin to taste. Scoop some of the coffee into your cupping spoon, and slurp it out of the spoon. You’ll want to mimic a vacuum, as you want to sharply intake all of the liquid to aspirate it around your mouth as much as possible, particularly so that the coffee is hitting your tongue and upper palate. Everyone will go around the cupping table and cup each of the bowls, we’ll pause to evaluate and take down notes, and we’ll go around at least two more times so we’re tasting the coffee as it cools down as well. We’ll each share what flavor notes we pulled from the coffees, and we’ll determine what the overlapping choices were, or come to an agreement on what notes are most prominent. There are times where we taste different things or someone tastes something others haven’t tried before, but ultimately, we determine flavor notes together as a group through cuppings.
How do these flavors change based on the coffee?
Flavors can differ based on origin country, coffee varietal, farm, producer, time of year, processing method, and more. Starting with terroir, the first key factor is soil. Coffee trees pull nutrients and flavors from the soil, so if other fruits are planted nearby or were planted there previously, that can and will affect the soil and the flavor. A lot of high value coffees are grown near volcanos, as volcanic soil contains extra nutrients and minerals that can help coffee trees thrive. Weather is another factor for terroir. Droughts and dry spells can heavily impact a season’s crops, and heavy winds may blow coffee cherries off the trees before they have a chance to fully ripen. Elevation also plays a critical role, as higher altitudes slow cherry development, allowing more time for sugars to form and resulting in brighter, more complex flavors.
Beyond terroir, coffee varietal influences the flavor potential of a coffee, with some varieties naturally expressing more floral, fruity, or chocolate-driven profiles. The decisions made by producers further shape the final cup, including how and when cherries are harvested, sorted, and fermented. The processing method is one of the most impactful variables. Washed coffees tend to be cleaner and more structured, while natural and honey processes can introduce heavier body and fruity sweetness. Time of year and freshness also matter, as recently harvested coffees typically taste more vibrant and aromatic compared to older lots.
All of these factors work together, layering influence at each stage, to ultimately determine how a coffee tastes in the cup.
What is a “co-ferment”?
As producers continue to experiment with different processing methods to bring additional flavors and options to their coffee, co-fermentation is one that’s rising in popularity. Co-fermentation is a process where fruits, spices, herbs, or yeast are added alongside the green coffee beans into a sealed tank before the drying process. No flavoring oils are added to the coffee post-roast, and nothing is roasted alongside the coffee. The only additive in the co-fermenting process is whatever fruit or fruit juice the producers add into the chamber alongside the coffee cherries, to soak in some of the flavor.
How is co-fermentation different from regular flavor notes?
While regular flavor notes describe what you naturally taste from the coffee itself, co-fermented coffees involve an intentional step during processing to influence flavor. In traditional coffees, notes like chocolate, citrus, or florals develop from the bean’s origin, varietal, and processing method, and nothing is added at any point.
Co-fermented coffees, on the other hand, gain some of their flavor through the introduction of additional ingredients during fermentation. Fruits, spices, herbs, or specific yeast strains are added alongside the coffee cherries in a controlled environment, allowing those flavors to interact with the coffee before drying. This creates more pronounced, and sometimes more unexpected, flavor profiles.
Because of this difference, there’s also an important consideration for those with allergies. If you’re allergic to a specific ingredient, you can generally still enjoy coffees that list that flavor as a note (since nothing was added). However, with co-fermented coffees, the added ingredient was present during processing, so it’s best to avoid those if you have a related allergy.
Do you have co-fermented coffees?
As a company, we love highlighting experimental processes and bringing in new and fresh ideas for everyone to try! We first started bringing in co-fermented coffees two summers ago, with a passionfruit co-ferment and a lychee co-ferment. Since then, we've also brought in our Colombia Huila Pink Bourbon Tabi Pineapple Co-Fermentation that's still available now, and also our best-selling watermelon co-ferment. We anticipate having more co-fermented coffees this summer, including the watermelon co-ferment, and some new and delicious co-ferments we haven't had before.