# Tips on how to improve my coffee palette



## itguy (Jun 26, 2015)

Hi everyone

I have got to the stage now at home where I can pretty reliably make drinkable coffee all of the time for my wife and myself.

We are both exclusively milk based coffee drinkers, although I certainly aspire to be an espresso drinker in the future.

I am wondering what tips/videos/known ways there are to help me improve my coffee tasting palette so I can proceed to dial in the absolute best from the coffee I buy.

I have read all the theory, watched a lot of videos etc etc all about the inter relationships between grind, dose, yield, temperature etc, all of which have been very helpful in me getting to where I am now.

BUT - I still struggle to know what I am actually tasting - bitter, sour, sweet notes vs acidity, fruity notes etc etc.

What I do know is that sometimes I will make a cup and it just tastes fantastic. And then the next time it tastes just a little bit off, but I can't tell which way.

I'm wondering if there is a way I can make a range of drinks to try which will help me identify the different flavours, tastes etc (almost at the extremes) so I can start to develop my palette further.

Thanks

Will.


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

itguy said:


> What I do know is that sometimes I will make a cup and it just tastes fantastic. And then the next time it tastes just a little bit off, but I can't tell which way.


 OK, so what notes do you keep on your prep & regime (e.g. ratio, grind setting, origin, score for each cup)? Making 1 cup brews & espresso, you're going to get a little variation cup to cup with the same coffee (so give the odd 'not so stellar' cup the benefit of the doubt, make changes when changes in liking are really clear), but you can raise your strike rate of good cups by focussing on the inputs.

If you get a great cup, followed by a poor/not so good cup, you don't really need to know which way to adjust, pick a change (finer grind) & make a few more cups (not one after the other, at a normal pace) gradually going finer...if after a couple of cups things have got worse & stay that way. Stop & go back to original setting, then coarser. See if that is where the improvement lies.

It's less important to know what a cup tastes like/of, it is most important that you like it.

Remember that coffees are not equal when it comes to your personal preference. E.g. I might have a preference for Kenya, Rwanda & Colombia, it is unlikely (but not impossible) that I will enjoy a Brazil quite as much, even when made well.


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

itguy said:


> I'm wondering if there is a way I can make a range of drinks to try which will help me identify the different flavours, tastes etc (almost at the extremes) so I can start to develop my palette further.


 With espresso & immersions you can only usually explore under-extraction as an extreme, but there's a catch...a little under-extracted can taste awful, but flavour can improve with further under-extraction (like maybe a 1:1.2 ratio in 15s, or a coarse 1min steep at 90g/L for instance), confusing issues. So, I'd suggest sticking to what you know works, get consistent, then maybe explore the extremes when you have a comfortable place to retreat to when you want a good cup & not an experiment.

If you're at a ratio where you average score is neutral, neither good nor bad, it's probably a good idea to change something, like a longer ratio for espresso and see if your liking scores go up.


----------

