We often get asked about the tasting or flavor notes on our 12 oz or 5 lb bags of coffee. When people see “fruity”, “milk chocolate” on our bag or “caramel” and “nut”, there’s sometimes a misconception that we’ve added flavoring to our beans.
Flavors are not added, the flavors are natural characteristics inherent to the coffees! Much like wine or beer, coffee can have many different inherent flavors based on where or when it’s grown, how it’s processed, how it’s roasted, the kind of variety, and even how it’s brewed. So when we’re tasting notes of “fruity” or “milk chocolate” there is not actually any fruit or chocolate in the coffee, we’re tasting either the same, or very similar, compounds that are in chocolate and fruit.
Sometimes tasting notes are obvious, but other times, they’re more subtle. Our coffee department tastes dozens of coffees a day and are experts at identifying the particular flavors that each one naturally exhibits.