Green River Coffee VS. Mass Produced Coffee

Firstly is the recognition that no mass produced or “supermarket” coffee can be delivered to the consumer prior to the staling process. The green bean is the pit of the coffee cherry after it has been cleaned and dried. The green beans can can stay on the shelf without being comprised for many years. In fact, some species are especially prized if they are aged. Once the beans are roasted, basic science takes place and the staling process begins shortly thereafter. Some say after one week some say after ten weeks. To assure the ultimate coffee experience, we suugest purchasing only what your household can consume in one week. 

Over 95% of coffee consumed today is stale due to the realities of getting a mass produced product delivered en mass to the consumer. Mass produced coffee is one of the very few products on our shelves that does not have a production or best before date precisely for this reason. Stale coffee is why we typically add cream and sugar in an attempt to mask these bitter and acrid flavours.

Coffee flavours are created through the roasting process when the sugars carmelize and oils are released. As with all oils, coffee oils will eventually turn rancid. The rancidity of the coffee oils in stale coffee is a factor for many people experiencing “gut rot” and other digestive challenges after drinking coffee. Staleness and rancidity mask the true flavours created by the environment in which the coffee bean is grown.  

A General Overview of Coffee Tasting

Green unroasted coffee beans have very little taste. Yet freshly roasted coffee is one of the most complex beverages available with over 800 flavour components created during the roasting process. This makes freshly roasted coffee twice as complex as red wine.

The two main tasting sensations in coffee are acidity and body:

Acidity

Acidity is the sweet tingling sensation on the tongue, the pleasant and sharp quality of coffee that keeps it from tasting muted. It is a desirable characteristic that shouldn't be confused with the bitter connotation its name suggests nor the bitter or sour taste associated with stale or low quality beans.

Acidity is the most difficult of the taste categories. In fact, many coffee buyers, under the misapprehension that high acid coffees are sour, tend to see it as a negative. A high acid coffee is zingy on the tongue, sometimes almost effervescent. This is especially apparent when the coffee cools. Acidity also shows up in taste as crisp, pleasantly tart fruit flavors.

Body

Body is the weight of the coffee as it rests on the tongue - the mouth feel. Great heavy bodied coffees are oily-viscous and rich tasting. Great light bodied coffees are also pleasant, feeling slightly buttery.

Both body and acidity vary depending on country of origin, ranging from Africa (high acidity / low body) to South Asia (low acidity / high body).

Coffee tastes (or flavours) are also characterized by: fragrance & aroma, taste & nose, and aftertaste. Ted Lingle, in the Coffee Cuppers Handbook, describes the characteristics as follows:

Fragrance & Aroma

Fragrance reveals the nature of a coffee beans taste - floral, spicy, etc. It is evaluated by vigorously sniffing/smelling a sample of ground coffee. The intensity of the fragrance reveals the freshness of the sample. Aroma is examined by taking long deep sniffs of brewed coffee. It reveals the aromatic character of the coffee - fruity, herbal, nut-like, etc.

Taste & Nose

Taste is examined by forcefully slurping brewed coffee into your mouth. This brisk aspiration spreads the fluid over the entire surface of the tongue, allowing all of the sensory nerve endings to simultaneously respond to sweet, salt, sour or bitter. Nose is examined at that same time as taste. Aspirating coffee over the tongue also aerates it, which causes a portion of the organic compounds to change into gases, which are then drawn into the nasal cavity. The nose tends to reveal flavours like caramel, malt, brown sugar, etc.

Aftertaste

The aftertaste reveals flavours such as chocolate, campfire smoke, tobacco, pine sap, etc.

Tasting Coffee

Cupping is the method professionals have evolved to compare many different coffees side by side. Some of the methods, terms and ideologies used can help you determine your taste profile and palate preferences which all work towards your “Ultimate Coffee Experience”.

• When you smell a coffee  breath slightly through the mouth as well as the nose. This improves acuity.
• Coffee aromas are carried by molecules of different weights. The light ones spread out more than the heavy ones. This means one can get different aromas at different distances from the cup or dry grounds. So, when smelling coffee, move your nose closer to catch the heavier, roasty, aromatics, and further away to catch the lighter, floral and fruit ones.
• Taste and mouthfeel sensations vary over the palate and tongue. When tasting coffee or any liquid, take a small slurping sip to distribute evenly over the entire tongue and palate. Pay close attention to the sensations of the liquid on the tongue as well as the basic tastes.
• The aftertaste of coffee develops over time. To speed the process, do some fake chewing and swallowing with empty mouth immediately after swallowing. This will give you the most intense impression of the lingering aftertaste.

Aroma, Taste and Finish

How good is the coffee in its aroma, taste and aftertaste? It's worth paying attention to some of the following compositional aspects of why something tastes good:

• Clarity, Transparency, Cleanliness, or Vividness:
  The smells and tastes of the supermarket coffee will be murky, as if the taste equivalent of a film of soot is between the coffee and your tongue. Green River Coffee will taste clean and vivid in comparison.
• Complexity:
  This is the consequence of transparency. The supermarket coffee will be boring; whereas Green River Coffee will have interesting and detailed things going on.
• Balance or Sweetness:
  The supermarket coffee will lack sweetness and leave a dull-bitter aftertaste. With Green River Coffee the bitter and sour elements will be balanced by sweetness, so it tastes pleasant and well rounded. This will be particularly apparent in the aftertaste; Green River Coffee leave a sweet, clean memory on the tongue.