Developing Baristas Palates

Palate Development is a vital part of a barista’s job. And yet, often it is assumed that it will be developed through daily tasting of the same coffee with no real allotted time given to developing this skill. Just like any other skill, developing a good palate takes time, intentionality, and discipline. For busy cafes, who care deeply about the quality of coffee they are serving, it is essential to develop systems and habits that allow their baristas to be curious about the coffee they are tasting and how their adjustments influence flavor.

Here are a few concepts and activities that can easily be added to your cafe to enhance the tasting skills of your baristas.

1. Tasting is an experience. Describing that experience is a conversation.
   Many beginning baristas freeze up when asked to describe how a coffee tastes because of fear of being wrong; as if there was a clear right or wrong answer. While there are more accurate descriptions of coffee and a standard to calibrate to, the only way to begin to get calibrated is by talking through what the tasting experience is like.
   
   If I tell you a coffee has a long-lasting papery aftertaste, but you say it is a long-lasting sweet aftertaste, we have something to talk through and calibrate towards. These differences can stem from different upbringings, cultural differences, or the vast differences in what we each eat daily.
   
   Calibration is a collective act and should be encouraged by setting up a space were talking about coffee is openly discussed.
   
   
2. Giving a Target to Aim for

   Everyone has their own preferences towards flavor and mouthfeel. As a shop it is important to provide a baseline for a barista to aim for. This looks like having yourself or an experienced barista dial in batch brew or a shot to how you want to highlight it at your store. Give this dialed in brew to your barista and say this is what you are aiming for.
   
   Now that barista knows what to aim for rather than dialing in to what they think tastes best.
   
   Oftentimes the difference in where barista’s land is due to taste preference rather than a complete skill issue.

3. Writing Notes for Each Coffee Tasted

   Writing out the distinct attributes of a cup of coffee allows you to slow down and pay attention to the nuances of that coffee. An easy way to track this is by having a notepad by the espresso machine or brewer to make notes.
   

   Aspects to focus on are:

   • Flavor
   • Acidity
   • Sweetness
   • Bitterness
   • Mouthfeel
   • Weight
   • Texture
   • Finish
   • Flavor notes
     
     
4. Asking what color is this coffee

   At Ceremony Coffee, we have what we call Taste by Color. You see this in how each of our coffees has a color label that matches the flavor profile.
   
   For those who struggle to pinpoint flavor notes in a cup, simplifying the range of choices to begin with is very helpful. There is a large array of flavors, but there is a handful of colors (talking about primary and secondary colors, not different hues).
   

   By deciding on what color this coffee tastes like if it was a color, you can then ask yourself “what do I think that color taste like?”

   
   

   Take the color blue for example, if you think a coffee taste blue you are probably getting some nots of blueberry, blackberry, plum, potentially a juicier body.
   

   We encourage you to begin applying one or all of these practices at your cafe. With intention and small daily practices, our baristas can quickly become excellent tasters.