ou make a cup, carry it to your desk, and twenty minutes later it is empty and you could not say one thing about how it tasted. That is drinking, not tasting.

Tasting is just drinking with your attention switched on. The routine below slows you down for two minutes so the cup actually registers.

You do not need special gear or a trained palate to start. You need one cup, your nose, and the patience to take a second sip a little later than usual.

The routine, start to finish

Most of what we call flavor is actually aroma, so the routine starts at the nose and ends with a couple of written words. Run it the same way each time and the steps become automatic.

A two-minute tasting pass, the same order every cup.

  1. Smell

    Dry grounds first, then the brewed cup.

  2. Sip

    A normal sip, let it coat your whole mouth.

  3. Slurp

    Aspirate air across the coffee to lift aroma.

  4. Let it cool

    Taste again as it drops from hot to warm.

  5. Note it

    Two or three plain words, written down.

The two-minute tasting pass, in order: smell, sip, slurp, let it cool, note it.

Smell the dry grounds before you brew, then smell the cup once it is poured. Take a normal sip and let it sit across your whole mouth rather than swallowing straight away, then note your first honest impression in plain words. Sweet or sour, light or heavy, fruity or nutty is plenty to begin with.

Slurping and letting it cool

Slurping looks odd at a kitchen table, but it works. Aspirating a thin spray of coffee with a sharp intake of air spreads it across your whole palate and pushes aroma up the back of your nose retronasally, where most flavor is actually read. It is optional, though it is worth trying once you are past the first sip.

Then wait. Coffee changes as it cools, and a cup that is warm rather than scalding often reads its acidity and sweetness far more clearly. Taste the same cup again a few minutes later. Some notes only show up once the heat is gone, which is why a coffee you wrote off as flat when fresh can turn out to be the interesting one.

Keep it low-pressure

Write down two or three words each time and stop there. The point is not a perfect description, it is a habit. Over weeks the words come easier and your vocabulary grows on its own. There are no wrong answers here, only your honest read of the cup in front of you.

Common questions

Why do people slurp coffee when tasting?
Slurping aspirates a fine spray of coffee across your whole palate and carries aroma up the back of your nose retronasally, where most flavor is read. It feels strange at first, but it makes faint notes much easier to pick out. It is optional for home tasting, though encouraged.
Why taste coffee as it cools?
Coffee changes as it cools. A cup that is warm rather than scalding often shows its acidity and sweetness more clearly, and some notes only appear once the heat drops. Tasting the same cup again a few minutes later tells you more than one hot sip alone.
How do I start tasting coffee like the experts?
Start small. Smell the grounds and the cup. Take a slow sip, then taste it again as it cools, and write down two or three plain words. The biggest shortcut is tasting two coffees side by side, because contrast trains your palate faster than any single cup can.

Related guides

Referenced by