Coffees can be described using a wide variety of terms, but the most important taste characteristics are aroma, flavor, acidity and body.

• Aroma: This is what the nose senses as the cup is brought to the mouth to taste. How intense and pleasurable it is affects your impression of the coffee. Aroma provides a subtle introduction to various nuances of acidity and taste: bittersweet tones, fruit, floral, herbal notes, and the like.

• Flavor: Refers to the overall experience of drinking a particular coffee, which includes both taste and aroma. Specific flavor attributes can be found in certain coffees, such as fruit-like sweetness, chocolate-taste, and hints of earth or spice, a nut-like aroma or wine-like taste.

• Acidity: Is another important, though often misunderstood, term. In coffee, acidity has a very desirable, refreshing, mouth-cleansing quality. Acidity is a bright, lively taste that makes coffee the ideal morning wake-up. At best it is tart, offering rich vibrancy that lifts the coffee and pleasurably stretches its range and dimensions. In most Kenya AA it can be overpoweringly bright and wine-like while in many Sumatra's it is low toned and almost hidden. The darker the coffee is roasted, the less overt acidity it will show.

• Body: Refers to the perceived oiliness and thickness of the brewed coffee on the tongue, that buttery or almost syrupy feel in the mouth. It is that sensation of weight that gives power and persistence to taste. Body can range from light to very heavy depending on coffee origin and choice of brewing method. Body tends to increase with darkness of roast until it peaks at about medium-dark roast, then begins to thin again as the coffee is roasted darker approaching an almost black as in our French Roast.