The wheel of flavors

When you try a coffee and think "this reminds me of something," the wheel of flavors helps you find the word. The best known was published in 2016 by the SCA and World Coffee Research. It orders the flavors in rings: in the center, the great families; out, increasingly concrete notes.

The idea is to go from general to particular. First the family decides; then it fins. These are the nine families, explained in our way:

• Fruity: red and forest fruits, dry fruit, bone fruit, apple, tropical and citrus fruits.
• Acid and fermented: the sour and what reminiscent of wine or very mature fruit.
• Green and vegetable: grass, leaves, raw or tomato notes.
• Other: what should not be, such as paper, moisture, old wood, earth or chemical notes.
• Toast: cereal, toast, malt, tobacco and smoke.
• Species: pepper, nail, cinnamon and other sweet or spicy spices.
• Dry fruits and cocoa: hazelnut, almond, peanut, chocolate and cocoa.
• Sweet: brown sugar, candy, molasses, honey and vanilla.
• Flower: jasmine, rose, flowers in general and black tea.

Some leads to tasting: first it smells the freshly ground coffee and then the cup; let it warm, because many flavors appear when the temperature is down; and compare two cafes at once, because it is easier to notice differences than to describe one.

There are no wrong answers. If it tastes like strawberry jam to you, put it on. With practice, your memory of flavors grows and the wheel becomes a tool, not an exam.