The Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel
Originally published by the SCA “Speciality Coffee Association” in 1995, the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel is one of the most iconic resources within the coffee industry and has been the industry standard for over two decades.
Since coffee is a complex substance consisting of more than 1000 chemical compounds in one bean, the purpose of the flavor wheel was initially developed to help consumers connect coffee aromas, flavors, and taste carefully and methodically. Rather than tasting and guessing the flavors, anyone can test their senses by comparing a coffee's flavor to an actual standard.
However, due to a rapidly changing global coffee industry, we have seen more and more coffee professionals developing the wheel structure into detailed and descriptive language, providing easier access by rearranging categories and subcategories.
In 2016 the SCA and WCR “World Coffee Research” re-created a newer version of the wheel that you see hanging in cafes, labs, coffee aficionados homes, and educational hubs. Research for developing a better version has been an ongoing hunt, coffee scientists like Morten Munchow and Jonathan Gagne have restructured their versions through scientific research.
For example, the versions published by Gagne focus mainly on specific coffee varietals and processing, which gives the interpreter an insight into what to expect from a particular coffee. On the other hand, in the wheel developed by Morten (see reference below), we can note a version that focuses on aroma with more simplified descriptors that consumers can relate to.
SCA - Coffee Taster’s Flavour Wheel , property of COFFEE&strangers
CoffeeMind - Aroma Wheel, property of COFFEE&strangers
How to use The Coffee Taster’s Wheel
The Coffee Taster's Wheel consists of positive and negative attributes splitting it into nine main categories located in the center, including floral, fruity, sour/fermented, green/vegetative, roasted, spices, nutty/cocoa, sweet, and other. Ideally, as you taste coffee, you move from the inner circle’s categories to the outer for more specific and descriptive attributes.
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