The Brew Blog

The SCA Coffee Flavor Wheel is specialty coffee's standard vocabulary reference. Here's what it is, how it was made, and how to actually use it.

Are coffee tasting notes real or marketing? They're real — here's where they come from, what they mean, and how to start perceiving them yourself.

Specialty coffee tastes fruity because of real flavor compounds — not added flavoring. Here's the science of where fruit notes come from and which coffees produce them.

Body and mouthfeel are the tactile dimensions of coffee — from light and tea-like to heavy and syrupy. Here's what produces them and how to evaluate them.

Sweetness is the quality that separates great specialty coffee from everything else. Here's what produces natural sweetness in coffee and why it's so hard to achieve.

Bitterness and astringency are not the same thing — and fixing the wrong one makes it worse. Here's what each one is, what causes it, and how to fix it.