How to Taste Coffee

A hands-on guide to understanding how coffee stimulates our senses and how to analyze these experiences to get the most out of drinking coffee, featuring nearly twenty tasting exercises and copious information to equip readers with the confidence to develop their palate and increase their enjoyment.

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Winner of the 2024 Midwest Book Award in Cookbooks; 2024 IACP Cookbook Award finalist; 2024 Society of Midland Authors Richard Frisbie Award honoree




Home coffee-making authority and author of Craft Coffee: A Manual introduces you to the wide world of coffee flavor

Have you ever purchased coffee based on delectable flavor notes—strawberry jam, milk chocolate, hazelnut—only to find none of it in your cup? It’s a common experience among coffee lovers.

These days, high-quality coffee can taste all kinds of ways, thanks to roasting techniques that help draw out the qualities of the bean. In addition to that characteristic coffee taste, you really can find hints of fruit, chocolate, and nuts in your cup—all it takes is a little knowledge, a little practice, and the ability to slow down and savor.

That’s where How to Taste Coffee comes in. With the same accessible, no-shame approach she took in Craft Coffee, bestselling author Jessica Easto explains why flavor notes are not always as straightforward with coffee as they are with other beverages, such as wine, beer, and spirits. You’ll learn how our senses perceive coffee, what creates and affects coffee flavor, and how to practice your sensory skills, using the same tools and resources as coffee professionals.

With nineteen exercises designed to help you identify and talk about what you’re tasting, you’ll come away with a more developed palate, an improved ability to choose coffee you’re going to love, and a better understanding of the astounding complexity contained within these tiny beans.

A must-read for any lover of coffee, How to Taste Coffee inspires readers to taste widely and sip consciously, with more appreciation, more discernment, and a greater sense of wonder.