When describing coffee, you always hear terms like “roundness” and “aroma”. But what do those terms exactly mean? Read on to discover more about it in our journey around coffee…
When can one talk about a coffee’s roundness? What factors contribute to the aroma? Read on and learn everything you need to know about these two main coffee features.
The two most relevant coffee traits: aroma and roundness
Roundness
A coffee can be described as a “round” one when you experience a flawless balancing of the organoleptic properties. The way you test the coffee’s roundness is by appreciating its smell and by tasting it.
A coffee is round if there is no harshness in any of its aroma’s components, and while savoring it, there is no sensory profile that clearly prevail on another. Especially from an acid/bitter balance point of view, where neither one should prevail on the other.
“Round” also describes the sensation you feel when actually tasting the coffee: it has to be smooth and soft, and permeate your mouth for several minutes. This feeling is opposed to any kind of stiff sensation in your mouth.
Aroma
“Aroma” is the second most relevant element in a coffee tasting. Your sense of smell will detect scents coming from the coffee in 3 moments:
“Aroma” is the second most relevant element in a coffee tasting. Your sense of smell will detect scents coming from the coffee in 3 moments:
- the moment before the coffee enters your mouth, when you take the cup near to your nose
- once you swallow, when the aroma travels back up to your nose and you percieve of smell from the inside
- once the tasting is over, thanks to the fact that you can still perceive the scent and taste of the coffee in both your mouth and nose for quite a bit
Aroma is something you will perceived even if the coffee is watered down, thanks to its intensity.
It is lab-proven that you can find as many as 800 aromas in just a single coffee bean. Therefore, you can sense them when tasting a good espresso: maybe not all of them, but definitely at least some.
Some might recall wood, some caramel or raisins, some can recall different type of spices, fruits or flowers. Experienced coffee tasters could surprise you by detecting as many as 30 different aromas with just one sip.
When it comes to coffee aroma, there is a sophistication in it that makes each coffee bean unique. This sophistication must be preserved, and that’s why each and every aspect of the process needs to happen in the best possible way. From picking the best plantation to implementing the best roasting process.
The roasting process is when the almost unrecognizable green berry becomes the more familiar coffee bean that we all know, while delivering its unique scent: here the aroma is shaped, together with the other elements that will make your espresso unique.
This is the phase in which we are able to produce the same aroma in each coffee line, because thanks to years of experience with raw materials, the fine tuning of our methods and our technology, we can now replicate the same exact conditions for each batch.
Select your perfect coffee
So, for sure, your perfect coffee is out there! However, you might not have tasted it yet: thanks to this simple yet useful introduction to roundness and aroma, you’ll be able to spot it!
Our mission is to share as many notions as possible about coffee with you, so that you can really understand our product and buy the perfect coffee for you. Take a look at our online store at caffeaiello shop where you can select your favourite coffee through the selection of your taste in roundness and aroma! Also, look up our blog, you’ll find much more info about coffee and how to enjoy it best!
Our upcoming piece will be about sweetness and body, other two very important elements when it comes to coffee.
