Arguing Against Tasting Notes

Posted on May 14, 2010 by

More and more frequently roasters are designing their coffee labels to include tasting notes. But why are they telling people what they’re supposed to taste? Last night at a scotch tasting, the Beverage Director at the Brandy Library made the argument that tasting notes shouldn’t be a part of the retail experience. It’s the customers own experience, to experience however they want, without specific characteristics of the beverage being imposed on them. Sounds great, except that most people already have a reasonable expectation of what to expect when considering various spirits. This really isn’t the case with coffee. Different regions of the world certainly produce unique characteristics, but they’re not as commonly understood. Additionally, huge variations exist between coffees from within the same region.

Are tasting notes on coffee bags helpful? Are they part of the educational process? Or are they just a marketing angle designed to increase interest?

  • http://twitter.com/NickCho Nicholas Cho

    Tasting notes on coffee bags are helpful if they're helpful. Not trying to be cryptic… I really believe that.

  • http://shotzombies.com Mike White

    What does Wrecking Ball do?

  • http://twitter.com/tampthis alyce

    I think removing taste notes on coffeebags would be to shoot ourselves in the foot (with a shotgun). We are already strugling enough to get people to buy premium prices for special coffee, so for people to learn different coffees they need to be able to relate descrptors and tasting notes to previous experiences with coffee.

    Not every consumer has the time/funds to build a solid library of reference as we in the industry do.

  • http://sweetmarias.com thompson

    it would be nice if they didn't have to exist. but oftentimes people enjoy the “sounding board” of someone else's descriptors to further their own experience. i say “further” but mean they can reject completely what they read on a label, find partial agreement, or give a big thumbs up, because they are a smart thinking person. i too want to know what others experience with coffees, and can accept or reject it. i think labels with some descriptors simply reflect my own interest in the social aspect of tasting. if i served coffee directly to people, and had the opportunity to have a real social interaction, tasting notes would be superfluous.

  • Chris Capell

    Great post, Mike. When I first got into coffee, I was really in favour of (and really impressed by) tasting notes on bags of coffee. One of the things I liked was that it encouraged the analogy of coffee and wine, aka, encouraged the consideration of coffee as culinary. However, my journey in coffee since has led to an increased respect for the preparation of coffee and its effect on taste. In other words, I can take a single coffee and prepare it to emphasize its fruity, acidic side, or its caramel, sweet, chocolate side. Thus, the notes on the bag really only relate to the way it was prepared by the roaster at the time they were crafting the description, and that may never be repeated by the consumer. I'd happily trade taste notes for varietal, which I think is more likely to convey something about the taste of the prepared coffee across all methods/styles of preparation (region is of course equally/more important, but we always get at least that info on labels now).

  • http://www.matthewmachine.com Mat

    As an “informed” consumer with a pretty novice palette, I appreciate tasting notes on the package. I don't often read them before tasting it, or typically forget about them after buying it. It's nice to taste, see what I find, and then consult the tasting notes later. It helps me find flavours I would not see alone.

  • andyscherer

    “Are they part of the educational process? Or are they just a marketing angle designed to increase interest?”

    Can't they be both? As a consumer, I haven't had enough guidance and training to pick out any more than the most obvious sensory notes in coffees, but I enjoy trying – most of the time. Other times, I want it to taste like – awesome coffee. This morning I made a syphon of a Peruvian coffee I'd been brewing in a press, and I struggled for a bit to figure out specifically what was so pleasingly different, then I thought: “fuck it, it tastes like damn good coffee.” Lazy maybe, but I got back to enjoying my drink.

    Descriptors *can* help me out, be it coffee or whisky. I want to know before I buy a bottle if it's going to smack me with smoke, peat and iodine (how'd you like that Laphroaig, Mike?), or dried fruit and spice. I guess I agree with Nick – give me a helpful descriptor, because I have no idea what “rationally fundamentalist” tastes like.

  • elia_weg

    Tasting notes are great on a label if the person reading the label knows how those conclusions were reached, meaning those notes may not be present when the coffee is not being cupped and likely not at all if it's being brewed haphazardly. Additionally, beans mature, roast profiles change and lots can vary all before someone decides to have a label reprinted to reflect any new notes that may appear and some old ones that no longer do so.

  • http://shotzombies.com Mike White

    The Laphroaig was amazing! 10yo cask, 111 proof. The smokiest whiskey commercially available. All were fantastic though. The Glen Grant has only been made available to us in the States this month.

  • andyscherer

    It's quite a drink – and that was a hell of a lineup.

  • swagv

    Suggesting that tasting notes shouldn't be part of the retail experience is, IMO and with all due respect, ludicrous. People have developed their own palates about what they like or don't like. Even if we might taste different things from each other, it's silly to assert that less information is better than more.

    Something to remember the next time you go to a restaurant and order “protein with sauce and a side of starch” on the menu.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Arguing Against Tasting Notes | ShotZombies -- Topsy.com

  • http://twitter.com/jessekahn Jesse Kahn

    It's been loosely suggested in a couple of other comments, but that fact remains that consumers often don't get the chance to experience a coffee before they buy it. While this is more true in grocery stores than cafes, most cafes sell a wider variety of coffee than what they brew, and while we all hope that any customer who approaches a barista with questions about a whole bean purchase would be offered the opportunity to taste the coffee, tasting notes on bags can help customers make an informed decision in the absence of trained staff.

    As for tasting notes being a marketing angle designed to increase interest…sounds good to me! Great coffee can use all the interest generating marketing it can get its hands on! Farm transparency, lot number, process method, altitude, cultivar…all of this information is finding its way onto coffee bags, all of it has the opportunity to enhance the customer experience (or not), and all of it could be construed as marketing.

    The benefit of being a specialty industry is that consumer interest is at least in part generated by a sense of discovery; flavors, geography, and the other esoterica associated with individual coffees are key to this experience. Give the people what they want!

  • http://www.broadwayroasting.com Jon Cates

    Good article, interesting point. It makes me want to design a label with an area for the customer to jot down his/her own tasting notes, and give them back to us, maybe with a discount on the next pound of coffee they buy. Pay for the feedback, and I bet it would raise the education level for both customer and roaster. Develop some dialog. Fun little project.

  • http://foodzie.com Nik Bauman

    I agree. I have no problem with tasting notes. I think education is their greatest utility, and I'm hoping they will eventually lead to consumers being able to decipher more meaningful, less specific, and less heavy handed information about the coffee to help them make their buying decision.

    I think coffee and wine are in very different phases in terms of customer education – but my long term goal would be to advertise the cause of a certain flavor profile – such as: Chardonnay that is oaked or unoaked; champagne fermented on the lees or in the cuvée. These things communicate likely characteristics of a certain product but in a way that leaves plenty of room for unadulterated interpretation.

    So, in line with what Chris said – I think tasting notes bridge the gap for consumers to be able to understand:
    * Altitude
    * Region
    * Varietal
    * Process
    * Roast Profile

  • http://foodzie.com Nik Bauman

    I'd love that. You could make a it a select club and then use the community tasting notes on the full roll-out of the product.

  • http://foodzie.com Nik Bauman

    I agree. I have no problem with tasting notes. I think education is their greatest utility, and I’m hoping they will eventually lead to consumers being able to decipher more meaningful, less specific, and less heavy handed information about the coffee to help them make their buying decision.nnI think coffee and wine are in very different phases in terms of customer education – but my long term goal would be to advertise the cause of a certain flavor profile – such as: Chardonnay that is oaked or unoaked; champagne fermented on the lees or in the cuvu00e9e. These things communicate likely characteristics of a certain product but in a way that leaves plenty of room for unadulterated interpretation.nnSo, in line with what Chris said – I think tasting notes bridge the gap for consumers to be able to understand: n* Altituden* Regionn* Varietaln* Processn* Roast Profile

  • http://foodzie.com Nik Bauman

    I’d love that. You could make a it a select club and then use the community tasting notes on the full roll-out of the product.