The Coffee Tasting Handbook
A step-by-step guide to tasting coffee.
Identify and communicate each coffee’s defining characteristics
The Coffee Tasting Handbook systematically guides baristas and coffee drinkers through coffee's beguiling aromas and flavours.
Everyone can taste
Follow its step-by-step approach to identify what makes each coffee distinctive, understand why you enjoy it and describe it clearly.
Learn to taste coffee
Choosing coffees should not be unnecessarily difficult.
But tasting notes are often vague yet full of bold promises.
Learn to identify each coffee's defining characteristics.
Learn to taste coffee,
step by step
A balance of tastes
There are five basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Every tasty coffee benefits from a harmonious balance of taste.
Coffee’s beguiling aromas and flavours
Discover why a coffee’s aromas and flavours can differ, then learn to identify its defining characteristics using the Coffee Aroma Map and Coffee Flavour Wheel.
Step-by-step assessment
Assess the pleasantness of a coffee’s aroma, mouthfeel, taste and flavour, then categorise its profile as Classic, Comfort, Clarity or Curious.
Reveal what makes each coffee tasty
Bring your assessments of mouthfeel, taste and flavour together to reveal how well they align – and what makes some coffees tastier than others.
Origins and coffee production
Travel across the coffee belt to explore how origin and production methods shape each coffee’s flavour.
How do you like your coffee?
Learn how milk, sugar and ice shape flavour perception – and why most coffee drinkers adapt coffee to suit their preferences.
Selecting brews and beans
With a clearer sense of what makes each coffee distinctive, you can talk about coffee in a meaningful and compelling way to better connect coffees with coffee drinkers.
About The Coffee Tasting Handbook
Laura Edwards
Written by Tim Ridley
Tim Ridley is the founder of United Baristas and the creator of the Coffee Tasting Framework. The Coffee Tasting Handbook brings together his work on how people perceive aroma, mouthfeel, taste and flavour, giving coffee professionals and drinkers a clearer way to understand what makes coffee appealing.
Easy to read and use
The book combines step-by-step guidance, easy-to-follow diagrams and beautiful photography to bring together the history of coffee, the science of flavour and the relationship between taste and terroir.
Introducing the Coffee Tasting Framework
The Coffee Tasting Framework is accurate, intuitive and grounded in how people actually perceive flavour. The book equips baristas and coffee drinkers to identify every coffee's defining characteristics and appreciate its appeal.
Learn more about the Coffee Tasting FrameworkA structured approach to tasting
With more than 800 aromatic compounds, coffee is rich in flavour. Yet the sheer number of possible flavour combinations can make tasting coffee feel overwhelming. Beneath this complexity, however, great coffees have an underlying structure.
Packed full of resources
The Coffee Tasting Handbook includes the Coffee Tasting Worksheet, the Coffee Aroma Map and the Coffee Flavour Wheel.
Coffee tasting resourcesEnjoy drinking, and talking about, coffee
The Coffee Tasting Handbook is a practical reference for baristas, coffee educators, roasters and coffee drinkers. Buy it from United Baristas, or find a retailer near you.