How does coffee get its flavour?

In the world of specialty coffee, roasters come up with all sorts of flavour notes to describe the aroma and taste — such as chocolate, hazelnut, banana bread, candied apples, lemon zest, toffee, caramel… and the list goes on!

Since we don’t add any flavouring to our coffees, how do we get these flavours?

Well… they mainly come from 4 things:

  • The environment

    where the coffee is grown

    (ex. climate, altitude, soil, sunlight, rain)

  • The types and varieties of coffee beans

    similar to how the flavour of wine depends on the type of grape

  • How the coffee is processed

    referring to how much of the coffee fruit is removed from the beans after they’re picked

    (ex. washed, natural, honey)

  • The science of roasting

    using heat to bring out the natural flavours of the beans

When we roast our coffees, we look for information about the first 3 things to help us understand what characteristics we want to highlight in each coffee. Then we’re able to create unique profiles through the roasting process. 

This is also why choosing the right roast level – light, medium, dark – can make a big difference in the flavour.

Of course, there’s much more to it than that, which is what makes this industry so interesting!