How the bloom works
The eight petals are the flavor families of the SCA and World Coffee Research Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel. Open one and its groups fan out; pick a note and you get three different kinds of information, kept apart on purpose:
- Roasters say: how often roasters use the word, counted from 272 single-origin lot descriptions by 37 specialty roasters (of 38 whose catalogs we recorded, January–March 2026: 320 lots in all, before blends, co-ferments and descriptions that name no note are left out). Most are light or medium-light roasts (217 of 272, counted together as Light in the charts), and 18 are decafs. Words with no note on the wheel count toward none; the commonest are nougat (9 lots), rhubarb, white tea and kiwi. It shows where a word tends to turn up, by process, roast and origin. It isn't a measurement, and it can't promise what a particular bag will taste like.
- Tends to: general tendencies, such as lighter roasts keeping more fruit and acidity, with their sources.
- You noticed: your own tasting card. Add up to three notes you can taste, type in what the bag says, and see where you agree. The card stays on your device.
How to taste for a note
Most of what we call flavor is smell reaching the nose from the back of the mouth. Smell the reference first (a crushed blueberry, a strip of lemon zest, a square of dark chocolate), then sip the coffee, swallow and breathe out through your nose. Look for the same smell, not the same taste: coffee that "tastes of blueberry" doesn't taste like a blueberry.
Acids are the exception. Citric and malic acid are tasted on the tongue, so those exercises use a pinch of citric acid in water or a tart apple.
Taste the same cup again as it cools. The SCA's cupping protocol has tasters return to each cup several times from about 70 °C down, because what you notice changes.
Off notes
The leaves on the stem hold the wheel's "other" notes: papery, musty, phenolic and rubbery tastes, and the raw-potato defect found in some East African lots. Faint, a few (earthy, woody) can be part of a coffee's character; strong or persistent, they usually point to a problem on the farm, in processing, in storage or with age. Roasting doesn't fix a defect, though a darker roast can hide some of it.
Every note on the bloom
85 notes: 78 in eight families and 7 off notes. Notes marked * aren't printed on the wheel in this form: they're words roasters use often, or the wheel's notes combined, placed in the nearest group. Each note counts only its own words, listed on its card.
Roasted
- Cereal: Malt, Grain
- Burnt: Brown roast, Smoky, Ashy, Acrid
- Tobacco: Tobacco
Spices
- Brown spice: Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg, Anise, Cardamom*, Baking spice*
- Pepper: Pepper
- Pungent: Pungent
Nutty & cocoa
- Cocoa: Chocolate, Dark chocolate, Cocoa powder*
- Nutty: Almond, Hazelnut, Peanut, Pecan & other nuts*
Sweet
- Brown sugar: Caramel, Brown sugar, Molasses, Maple syrup, Honey
- Vanilla: Vanilla
Floral
- Floral: Jasmine, Rose, Chamomile, Orange blossom*, Other flowers*
- Black tea: Black tea
Fruity
- Berry: Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Blackcurrant*, Cranberry*, Mixed berries*
- Dried fruit: Raisin, Prune, Fig & date*, Other dried fruit*
- Other fruit: Cherry, Peach & apricot*, Plum*, Apple, Pear, Grape, Pineapple, Mango & tropical*, Melon*, Pomegranate, Coconut
- Citrus fruit: Lemon, Lime, Orange, Grapefruit, Bergamot*, Mixed citrus*
Sour & fermented
- Sour: Citric acid, Malic acid, Acetic acid, Sour aromatics
- Alcohol & fermented: Winey, Whiskey, Fermented, Overripe
Green & vegetative
- Green & vegetative: Herb-like, Fresh-cut grass, Hay-like, Peapod, Under-ripe
- Olive oil, raw & beany: Olive oil, Raw, Beany
Off notes
- Papery & musty: Stale, Papery & cardboard*, Musty & earthy, Woody, Phenolic
- Chemical: Rubber & petroleum*, Potato*
Keep going
- Origins atlas: where the coffees roasters describe this way grow, and when they're harvested.
- Brewing Constellations: why a paper filter shows delicate notes and a press adds body.
- Fix My Coffee: when the cup tastes sour, bitter or flat instead.
- How coffee is scored.
Sources
- Specialty Coffee Association and World Coffee Research, Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel (2016): family, group and attribute names.
- World Coffee Research, Sensory Lexicon, 2nd edition (2017): attribute definitions; notes on the Roasted, Nutty and Floral categories.
- Specialty Coffee Association, Cupping Protocols: evaluation begins at about 71 °C and the cup is tasted again as it cools.
- Specialty Coffee Association, SCA-104-2024, Coffee Value Assessment: Affective Assessment (2024): §5.4.1, the sensory defects (potato, moldy, phenolic).
- World Coffee Research, Potato taste defect (2026): where it occurs (the Great Lakes region), its link to antestia-bug damage, one bean spoiling a bag (checked October 18, 2026).
- Jessica Easto, Craft Coffee: A Manual (2017): acids in coffee; roast and brightness; brewing method chapters.
- JayArr Coffee, Coffee Knowledge Synthesis (seventeen sources): §1 extraction order, §5 filter science, §14 flavor chemistry, §17 method comparisons.
- JayArr Coffee, Lot descriptions from 38 specialty roasters' online catalogs (2026): 320 lots recorded January–March 2026; the 272 single-origin lots whose descriptions name a tasting note, from 37 of the 38 roasters, are counted; the words are the roasters', counted as written.