Le Nez du Cafe - mastering coffee tasting

     "You can derive great enjoyment simply by drinking a good cup of coffee, but your pleasure will be heightened if you can distinguish your impressions, appreciate and gauge the richness and complexity of the coffee."A few years ago, David Cook of the Fire Roasted Coffee Company introduced me to a kit of 36 coffee aromas known as Le Nez du Cafe (literally translated from French, "the nose of coffee").Read: The 36 Tastes of CoffeeRead: Le Nez Du Vin – learning flavorIts inventor Jean Lenoir had created a similar kit for wines, and followed it up years later with the coffee kit, "a collection of the most typical aromas found in the world's top coffees".

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I finally decided to invest in this kit.  I'm happy to say I've started my journey into better understanding coffee flavor.  One of the keys of Le Nez du Cafe is that it not only isolates specific aromas of coffee, but it names them so that you can better remember the aroma, connect it with familiar aromas, and use common language when discussing it with others.

     Take Vial #1: Earth.  This is a vial carrying literally the distinct aroma of earth (dirt, mud).  It is a very distinct aroma found in many coffees.  On one hand, it is attributed to poor handling in the case of cheap robustas, or a coveted (and very intentional) flavor found in fine Ethiopian coffees.  Combined with other information (and aromas), you could use this to determine a great deal about the coffee.  And be able to identify it and discuss it with others.

My palette is admittedly weak.  I know what I like and don't like in a coffee, but have always lacked in being able to put words to it.  Also, there are aromas to coffee that I just don't know, or don't know well.  For instance, it is simpler for me to identify Vial #26: Dark Chocolate, because I eat a lot of dark chocolate and know the aroma well.  By contrast, Vial #3: Garden Peas will take practice to identify, because I don't eat them and don't know the aroma as well.

Here is my training plan: I pulled vials #1-3 only, and smelled them over and over until I could put them in the correct order every time.  Then, as you can see in the picture above, I added vials #4-6, and smelled them over and over until I could correctly identify all six of them blind.  I plan to keep adding three vials at a time, until I can put them in the correct order without fail.  I expect with each new addition of vials, it will take me longer to correctly identify them all, and that's the point!  Eventually, I'll have all 36 in the mix, and I'll know I'm a coffee tasting master when I can randomize and correctly identify them all.  In fact, the highest certification of coffee taster in the world incorporates Le Nez du Cafe in its testing.

In addition, I'll be looking for these aromas in the coffee I drink, now that I am able to identify them.