Tasting on Coffee & Me

Bourbon: The Sweet Coffee From a Small Island

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:35:00 -0700

Not the Whiskey

Bourbon coffee has nothing to do with Kentucky. It is named after Bourbon Island, the old name of La Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. It is one of the two great family lines of Arabica, along with Typica , and many of the varieties you will meet on bags today are its children or grandchildren.

If you like coffee that tastes sweet, round and a little like caramel or red fruit, there is a good chance you like Bourbon.

Caturra: The Little Tree That Changed Latin American Coffee

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:35:00 -0700

The Variety You Have Probably Already Had

If you have bought a bag from Colombia, Costa Rica or Guatemala, you have very likely tasted Caturra, even if the label did not say so. For much of the 20th century it was one of the most planted coffees in Latin America, and it is a parent of many of the varieties that replaced it.

Caturra is not famous for exotic flavors. It is famous for being practical: a short tree that let farmers grow more coffee on the same land. Knowing that helps you read a bag, and understand why “Caturra” often appears next to fancier names.

Gesha (Geisha): Why One Coffee Costs So Much

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:35:00 -0700

The Coffee With the Famous Price Tag

Gesha is the most famous coffee variety in the world, and the most expensive. Its best lots taste more like jasmine tea and peaches than like what most people call coffee, and they sell at auction for prices that make headlines.

You do not need to spend auction money to try it. This guide explains where Gesha came from, why it costs what it does, how to read the label, and how to brew a bag so you get your money’s worth.

SL28 and SL34: The Varieties Behind Kenya's Famous Cup

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:35:00 -0700

Two Lab Codes Worth Knowing

Kenyan coffee is known for intense, juicy acidity and flavors like blackcurrant, grapefruit and tomato. A big part of that comes from two varieties with plain names: SL28 and SL34. “SL” stands for Scott Agricultural Laboratories, the research station in Kenya where they were selected in the 1930s. The number is simply the label of the selection.

If a bag lists “SL28, SL34”, you are holding the classic Kenyan profile. This guide explains where they came from, how they differ, and what else you may see next to them.

Typica: The Coffee Variety Behind Most of the Others

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:35:00 -0700

Why Typica Matters

When a bag names a coffee variety, you are reading something like a grape name on a wine label. Of all the names you will see, Typica is the one most others trace back to. It is one of the two great family lines of Arabica coffee (the other is Bourbon ), and for about two centuries it was the coffee of Latin America.

Today it is rarer, slower to grow and fussier to farm. But a good Typica is a lesson in what clean, sweet coffee tastes like, and knowing its story makes the rest of the variety names on your bags easier to follow.

Cupping at Home: How to Taste Coffee Like a Pro

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:34:00 -0700

What Cupping Is

Cupping is how coffee professionals taste. Importers, roasters and graders use it to compare dozens of coffees, decide what to buy and give the scores you see on some bags (80 points and up counts as “specialty”). It is also the simplest, fairest way to compare two or three bags at home.

The idea is to remove the brewer from the equation. Every coffee gets the same dose, the same grind, the same water and the same steeping time in an identical cup. Any difference you taste comes from the beans, not from your technique.

Dialing In: How to Fix a Coffee Recipe One Change at a Time

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:34:00 -0700

What “Dialing In” Means

Every new bag of coffee brews a little differently. Dialing in means adjusting your recipe until that bag tastes its best, usually in two to four brews.

You only need to understand four controls, two ideas and one rule: change one thing at a time.

The Four Controls

Control	What it is	What it does
Brew ratio	Grams of coffee to grams of water (or of espresso out)	Mainly sets strength
Grind size	How fine the coffee is ground	Mainly sets extraction and brew time
Time	How long water and coffee are in contact	Longer pulls out more
Temperature	How hot the water is	Hotter pulls out more

Grind and time are linked: finer coffee slows the water and lengthens the brew, so you usually adjust grind and then check the time.

How to Taste Coffee: Using the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:34:00 -0700

Why Learn to Taste

The notes on a coffee bag, like “blueberry, jasmine, milk chocolate”, are not flavorings. They are a roaster’s best words for what the coffee itself tastes like. Learning to taste them helps you pick bags you will enjoy, brew them better and describe what you like to a barista.

You do not need a special palate. Tasting is mostly paying attention, and having a list of words to reach for. That list is what the flavor wheel gives you.

Anaerobic and Experimental Coffees: What the Labels Mean

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:19:00 -0700

Why Coffee Got Experimental

For most of coffee’s history, there were three ways to process it: washed, natural or honey . In the last decade, producers have borrowed ideas from winemaking and brewing to control fermentation, the work yeast and bacteria do on the coffee fruit’s sugars. The results can taste nothing like “coffee flavor”: tropical fruit, cinnamon, rum, bubblegum.

These lots are often expensive and always divisive. This guide explains the terms so you know what you are buying.

Coffee Processing Explained: Washed, Natural, Honey and Wet-Hulled

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:19:00 -0700

From Cherry to Bean

A coffee bean is the seed of a red fruit, the coffee cherry. Before it can be roasted, the farm or mill has to remove the fruit around it and dry the seed down to about 10–12% moisture, dry enough to ship and store without spoiling. How they do that is called processing, and it changes the flavor of your cup about as much as the origin does.

Arabica vs Robusta: The Two Coffees You Actually Drink

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:16:00 -0700

Two Species, Most of the World’s Coffee

There are more than a hundred species of coffee plant, but almost every cup in the world comes from just two: Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (Coffea canephora). Arabica makes up most of the world’s harvest, and Robusta most of the rest. Estimates of the split vary by year, roughly 60/40.

Nearly every specialty roaster sells Arabica, and “100% Arabica” is printed on bags everywhere. That makes it easy to assume Robusta is simply bad coffee. The truth is more useful: the two taste different for clear reasons, and knowing them helps you understand espresso blends, instant coffee and supermarket prices.