The Tongue Knows! 

Your tongue is a very important organ...yep, coupled with your nose, it is able to provide you with an untold amount of pleasure...that is if pleasure is there to be uncovered.  It can also provide some really unwanted experiences...

When your tongue comes in contact with liquid coffee, it has the opportunity to really detect some good stuff:

1st, it plays a big part in detecting the "weight" of coffee...weight you say???  Yep, the tongue is the best sensor for the body, or weight, of the coffee.  This is done by allowing the coffee to rest on the tongue and slowly rubbing the tongue against the top, or roof of the mouth.  You can pick this up because coffee body is a characteristic that ranges from a very thin feel, all the way to a heavy feel, and the sensation is caused by the so-called fat content.  You will find that a medium or dark roast style coffee tends to have a heavier feel to the body than lighter roasts...while having less acidity.  Now the question folks is...why would you want to pass this up by drinking anything lighter than a medium or dark medium cup???  Don't look at me for the answer to that one!  :o)

Now the tongue also plays into this thing called acidity...sometimes said to be a good thing and sometimes said to be bad.  You see the tongue's receptors can detect the proton donation of the coffee being tasted as the liquid passes across its surface.  Just the right amount of acidity and you have a brew that allows the pleasant taste to linger awhile in the mouth and brain...very nice!  However, a coffee with too much acidity can taste somewhat sour, and is definitely seen as a defect in the coffee at hand.  One thing that has nothing to do with taste is the fact that coffee acidity is one factor to why you do not hear of food borne illness from drinking coffee from clean vessals...the acid tends to kill any harmful bodies that might impact the human body!  Nice to know, huh?

Aroma is something that the tongue has little to do with...but aroma is responsible for all coffee flavor attributes other than the way coffee feels in the month and also the sensations of sweet, salt, bitter, and sour tastes.  Aroma is not of the tongue, but boy does it get the tongue ready...don't you know! :o)  Because of this, it probably is one of, if not the most, important attribute of special coffees.

Coffee aroma is not just smell as such, the first perception is the sensing by nasal intake through the nose (I know it sounds somewhat redundant, but read on)...but it is also done retronasally.  Weird word, but retronasal perception occurs when the coffee is in the mouth or has already been swallowed...believe it!  Yep, aromatic compounds drift upward into the nasal passage and confirms the initial sensing prior to the intake of the liquid.

Did you know that the number of aromatic compounds found in coffee is well over 800 in number...matter of fact, more and more compounds are being detected!  Now, I could continue to tell you about the way these 800 or so compounds work to make up the sensation of aroma...but I do not want to put you, or myself, to sleep here!  Let's just say that they whack away at your sensory system to give you a real good feeling...that is if you are drinking your favorite mug of The Alpaca Bean Coffee today!

Now we come to bitterness in coffee...is it bad or good?  Well, at low levels, bitterness helps tame coffee acidity and adds a favorable dimension to the brew.  But, if the level is too high, a bitter coffee can overpower the other "good" components in coffee, giving the cup an unpleasant taste.  What makes for bitter coffee...well, a bunch of differing things can cause this bitterness.  I could again take up a bunch of space on this, however, I have chosen to only give you a "taste" of the causes for this taste happening.  The first causal factor is the extent of extraction...or more understandably stated...the method of the roast, the mineral content of the water used to brew, the water temperature (remember my rant on trying to find the perfect coffee maker?), the grind size and the way you brew your coffee.

Bitterness is reduced in coffee brewed with either soft or hard water rather than distilled water.  That is why you see us hauling these large containers of water to the shows were we are allowed to brew...that one thing gives us a control factor on the coffee taste.  Also, the temperature of brewing is a big factor, a coffee brewed at a temp too cool (or not hot enough) tends to have a more bitter taste.

Finally, the following three things may help in reducing bitterness...

1.  Use a medium roasted coffee because it has less soluble solids, a higher acid content, and a potent aroma when compared to darkly roasted coffee. All of these factors are known to reduce perceived bitterness.

2.  Decaffeination slightly reduces the perceived coffee bitterness.

3.  Brewing via a drip system reduces coffee bitterness relative to French press or other soaking methods, but this is likely due to the decrease in soluble solids, which is positively correlated with bitterness.

Well that is all the lessons I have in me today...if you have any questions, just ask...I am sure I can find an expert somewhere that would love to expound on a number of answers for you!  :o)