Learn how to taste coffee like a pro

The boys from KEEN COFFEE, Bonne Postma and Rob Kerkhoff, are here to share their top tips with you on how to taste coffee like a real pro. After all, there is a huge difference between just drinking coffee and properly tasting it. Tasting requires your attention, searching for the flavours and, subsequently, being able to describe them. So, where do you start?

1. Visit open cupping sessions
These are tastings, usually organised by local roasters or coffee bars. This is the place where you will learn from professionals and can taste various seasonal coffees. The cuppings are often announced on social media.

​2. It helps to compare!
Judging one coffee can be hard, that’s why we usually cup in tandem. When you taste multiple coffees side by side, it is a lot easier to recognise and name differences in flavour. This can help you learn how to differentiate them much quicker.



3. You can be influenced
Be aware that your surroundings have a major influence on your taste experience: smells, colours, sounds and most importantly opinions of other people! When your neighbour Vincent enthusiastically calls out the taste banana in his coffee, chances are you all of a sudden taste this too. That is why it is important to write down your own observations first, before sharing them with others.

4. Use the coffee Flavor Wheel
Use the official SCA Coffee Tasters Flavour Wheel. Once you first start out, it can be quite hard to come to very detailed flavour descriptions. So, when you are tasting coffee, try to associate the flavour with a colour of the Flavor Wheel. You will find that maybe you meant to say “citrus” when you associated a taste with yellow!

You can download the wheel for free at keencoffee.com/education.

KEEN will supply their excellent coffee for the Mindful Coffee Tasting Experience, the brand new multi-sensory and meditative coffee tasting experience at the Festival. They’ll also be on hand to guide visitors through the cupping and tasting session.

With only very limited spaces on the Mindful Coffee Tasting Experience, be sure to secure yours now with our VIP Day Tickets.