Develop Your Coffee Palate With These Simple Tips

What can you do to recognize more easily the different acids present in coffee?

If you ended up on our blog, you are one among many who wants to taste coffee like a professional barista. Imagine having such a fancy palate you can find drinking coffee even more enjoyable! If you really wish to become an expert, do not waste your time! As we age, we have fewer taste buds on our tongue, and our gustation becomes less sensitive as the nerves that send taste signals to the brain wear out over time.

The moment is now! Also, you should start by learning new vocabulary to describe different flavors and textures. Developing a good coffee palate is a matter of practice and attention. You can do it at home with friends and family if they want to join, or try to sign up for classes in coffee bars and barista schools. That being said, if you are a coffee business owner, this is a good strategy to gain some extra money and have more loyal clients.

Before starting you have to change your mindset: coffee does not taste just like coffee. To train your palate, you do not have to drink coffee every hour. Exercises to taste more flavors are way more easy and entertained than that.

Here is what you can do to add more depth into the process of refining your palate:

• Taste food or aromatic items: as long as they are related to coffee, they all count. Honeydew, vanilla, dark chocolate, apple, and peanut butter are our favorites. Savor them together and individually. Then describe the difference and uniqueness of each one. Do it a few times a week.

• Smell aromas: Your mom will probably tell you smelling food is just bad manners, but if you want to be a coffee connoisseur, not that much. Smell all kinds of flavor, including the spicy ones, and pass their aromas to your tongue. Identify as many characteristics as possible.

• Do some journaling: write down every change you have noticed in the past weeks and add all the descriptions of flavors and aromas you came across with. Write about each cup of coffee you tried.

• Plain dark: try coffee without sugar or any additional ingredients, because they can affect flavors and aromas. For each time, choose a cup with different brewing techniques

• Try different temperatures: coffee does not taste the same when hot or cold. By cooling down your cup, the flavor becomes more intense. But when is hot enough you can challenge yourself to find the taste layers apparently missing.

• Learn about beans: in the coffee world, there are two main types of beans: robusta and arabica. Learn about them and buy some to try them out until you can find their differences in their aromas and taste.

Practice as much as you can! Isn’t it an exciting game? At Coffland Corp we want to help you become the best version of yourself, especially if you are a coffee lover. Contact us if you wish to know more about our services as coffee providers and keep visiting our blog for more content like this one.

Take mental notes on the different flavor experiences!

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What Does Whiskey-Infused Coffee Taste Like?

Jack Daniel's coffee is a non-alcoholic drink. You can taste it any time of the day!

It is known that you can mix coffee with almost everything in your kitchen. Although this drink is compatible with some ingredients, there are others that maybe were destined to be with your favorite beverage.

We can't guess if you believe in love at first sign, but here at Coffland Corp, the only thing we are sure is that a coffee cup can make anybody fall in love with its tastiness. We wrote today's entry thinking about romances with coffee.

No, we won't do a rating of Romeo and Juliet's copies, but we will share with you a delicious story about two big drinks that fell in love and now are happily married with our palates:

Coffee-infused whiskey?

Once upon a time, Jack Daniel’s company thought that their whiskey needed an innovating touch. Although this alcoholic drink is sold worldwide, they want to make every sip a new experience to their followers.

That's why they join forces with World of Coffee industry and, after some time of experiments and food science stuff, they created the first coffee-infused whiskey of the world!

Wanna know how it tastes it? First, this drink is non-alcoholic. That means you can taste it before going to work without sacrificing your productivity at the office.

According to some drinkers, the coffee-infused coffee can be distinguished to other coffee drinks because of its particular flavor: a vanilla-coffee mix with a little touch of whiskey in the fragrance, but not on its taste. Also, the aroma of the beans before grind has a cocoa powder thing that bewitches drinkers.

If you want to try it for yourself, the Jack Daniel's website promotes the selling and shipping around the world. Therefore, some alternate markets are still selling the product.

Here at Coffland Corp, we promote creativity and empowerment in the coffee world. This experiment surely revolutionizes the way we drank coffee and whiskey, that's why you should taste it and share your experience with us on our blog or our social media accounts!

This combination is perfect as a happy hour drink, or when you need to boost your energy in the mornings!

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Meet Sunalini Menon

In a tea-growing country, Menon was the first coffee taster in her continent!

Coffee is not just a delicious beverage sold around the world. It has had an impact on many lives, which makes it hard to count how much this industry influences worldwide.

A perfect example of this, is Sunalini Menon, a woman who is considered one of the most influential people in the coffee universe!

The first lady of coffee

Sunalini Menon was born in India, a place where coffee culture didn’t exist until some years ago. On that time, people in India only drank tea or related drinks. Menon was graduated as a dietetic specialist, and one day she saw an opportunity that changed her life.

But many years ago, a child Menon was visiting her uncle in Munan. He had a job as a tea taster and every day he spent most of his time watching tea decoction and taking notes.

Menon was so interested in her uncle's job that she tried for herself. When she spit the tea product, she was amazed: that was horrible! What kind of people enjoy a drink that uses a disgusting source? Due to this taste experience, Menon realizes the importance of the tasters to improve the products quality.

While she was looking for a job in dietetics, she saw a casting for coffee tasters in an Indian coffee company. Such a rare announce! Who loves coffee more than tea in India? Intrigued, Menon decided to take the test.

On the first sign, she was the only female candidate, but that didn’t decrease her confidence. Menon was brilliant, and since then her professional office is related to coffee tasting, making her the "First Woman in Coffee" in whole Asia.

Sunalini Menon today

Since then, she trained her senses to evaluate the quality of Indian coffee against the European one. Menon was convinced that Robusta coffee could lead the coffee market even when Arabica and other coffee products have an advantage.

After 20 years as an Assistant Coffee Taster in the Indian company, she assumes a role leading the Cupping department. But on that time, Menon discovered that she had enough experience to start a new way in the area. That's why she started her own coffee tasting business to support Robusta coffee. She attended to many courses around the world, winning some important partners.

Nowadays, Sunalini Menon is one of the big bosses in coffee tasting. As the only female in this charge, she becomes a coffee star, being an example of excellence and hard work for other women who want to join the coffee business.

Here at Coffland Corp, we support this kind of coffee stories because of their passion and integrity. Would you like us to share another inspiring story? What's yours?

Sunalini Menon is an example in the cupping profession.

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Cup of Excellence: An Award for the Best in the Coffee Industry

In the Cup of Excellence, the best coffee farms around the world are tested!

This week we are dedicating our entries to cupping: the science behind tasting your morning cup! Coffee tasting is a way to evaluate the quality of the beans before it passes to the last production management when it's sold to the client.

Farmers work too hard bringing only the best harvest, and the roasters select the beans due to its natural properties. Because of that, the coffee market is still fussy about the product consumed by the drinkers.

As a way to inspire the coffee industry, every year it celebrates the Cup of Excellence. In this competition, tasters around the world reunite to test the selected coffee products. Here at Coffland Corp, we want to invite you to follow this brilliant event where your favorite beverage it's the only starring. Keep reading and find out how this works!

What is Cup of Excellence?

This competition was born in 1999 when it was necessary to improve the standards of the coffee industry. On that time, in Brazil, producers around the world picked the best coffee samples, discovering a new possibility on the market.

Every year, regarding harvesting, the coffee producers from almost any coffee-grounding country meet to prove that their coffee is the tastiest and fragrant of all. Cup of Excellence is a challenge for both farmers and tasters due to the strict quality score established in the industry.

To enter in this competition, farmers, roasters, and producers must choose the best harvest considering all factors that can change the final product like climate, soil conditions, etc. On the other side, tasters have to sniff and drink every sample without knowing which products are from, in a game where they are practically blinded.

When all the ceremony of cupping is complete, the tasters certificate every sample according to the standards in a score between 1 and 100. Only the coffee products that have more than 86 points pass through the second round.

The second part of the competition is worldwide. The Cup of Excellence get together the highest score product for every coffee country and compare them according to a judging panel with the most recognized tasters around the world.

Thus, all the 150 samples of the national jury become 90 and then, in the international competition, these 90 become only 40. On the final day of International jury, the top 10 is scored to determinate the final countdown! The winner has the honor to hold the Cup of Excellence and the chance to introduce itself to the purchase market.

Here at Coffland Corp, we celebrate the integrity and transparency of these types of contests. If you're lucky to attend this event in your country, don't lose the chance to drown yourself into the other side of the coffee world: the one behind the espresso machine and the cute mugs!

An award for the best coffee maker!

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How to Test Your Coffee Cup Properly

Making a perfect cup is possible only with the best coffee products.

Cupping is a delicate technique in the coffee industry. This tough job requires studying the proper coffee profile by training your five senses.

Although this career is reserved only for experts, here at Coffland Corp, we can teach you some methods to test your brewed coffee. That way, you'll know how to choose the best quality option. Surprise your friends with the most delicious coffee mugs!

Cupping: the science behind likeness

While coffee tasters prepare themselves for a cupping session, coffee producers put on a table multiple cups with samples of their product in a triangle shape.  

At the top of the triangle, they put a sample of the green beans. At first sign, coffee tasters evaluate oiliness and aroma. Then, the roasted version of these beans is placed on a side. The roasting process is made 24 hours before cupping. That way, the grain rests just enough to test its properties.

After that, coffee producers grind the same samples to examine its characteristics before putting it in the espresso machine. Producers let two or three empty cups for the next cupping steps.

How do I test my coffee?

At this point, to evaluate the quality of coffee, tasters can score these principal features:

• Aroma: coffee tasters sniff the dry samples to assess its fragrance. Then, they add hot water and check the immediate aroma right from the cup. Depending on the product's properties, coffee tasters smell the fruits, flowers or spices mixed with the coffee beans.
• Flavor: once the drink has a normal temperature, the tasters slurp it strongly, using a spoon. This technique allows them to recognize the coffee flavor. At this point, its aroma and body are heavily evaluated.   
• Acidity: generally, they classify acidity according to coffee's sweetness and its fresh-fruit character. This feature depends on the roasting process and the beans natural properties: The "darkest" the toasting, the less acid the drink will be.
• Sweetness: tasters can search the percentage of some carbohydrates due to the coffee’s sweetness. This property can change the final beverage once is mixed with other ingredients.
• Body: coffee's body can be perceived once is tasted. Its intensity scores the heaviness of a coffee drink: The lightest coffee has less presence for palates than others with highest bodies.
• Balance: the balance of a coffee sample is tested according to the taster's impressions of acidity, aroma, and flavor. These features must complement the final result. If not, coffee will receive fewer points.

As you may see, cupping is an inexact science. Coffee professionals aren't always agreed with their final scores. This office accredits the quality of a product according to the profile that the professional prefers.

Besides well-trained senses, coffee tasters are the specialist of reviewing the beauty of a great coffee cup. Now, here at Coffland Corp, we also appreciate the aesthetic of the coffee world, both from production to consumption. But now that you know a little more about cupping why not teach us your exercises? Remember: practice makes a master!

Coffee tasting allows you to measure some aspects of your brewed coffee.

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