You pick up a bag of specialty coffee and read the label: "Notes of blueberry, dark chocolate, and jasmine." Your first thought might be: they put blueberry in this? No. No one added anything. Those descriptors are telling you what the coffee naturally tastes like — and once you know how to read them, they become the most useful tool on the bag.
Tasting notes are one of the things that make specialty coffee both exciting and, for some people, a little intimidating. This guide will demystify them completely. By the end, you'll read a coffee label with the same confidence you'd read a restaurant menu.
Tasting Notes Are Descriptions, Not Ingredients
Let's clear this up immediately: tasting notes describe naturally occurring flavour characteristics in the coffee. Nothing has been added, infused, or flavoured. When a bag says "stone fruit and honey," it means that professional tasters — called cuppers — identified flavour compounds in that coffee that reminded them of stone fruit and honey.
These flavour compounds develop through a combination of factors: the coffee variety (there are hundreds), the altitude and soil where it's grown, how the cherries are processed after picking, and how the beans are roasted. It's analogous to wine — a Pinot Noir from Burgundy tastes different from one grown in Oregon, even though both are the same grape. Nobody added cherry flavour to the wine. The growing conditions and winemaking process created those flavour compounds naturally.
Coffee is exactly the same, and arguably even more complex. Scientists have identified over 1,000 aromatic compounds in roasted coffee — more than wine, chocolate, or beer.
How Tasting Notes Are Determined
Roasters and green coffee buyers use a standardised process called cupping to evaluate coffee. They grind a sample, add hot water, let it steep, and then taste it systematically — slurping loudly (this aerates the coffee and spreads it across the palate) while noting the flavours, acidity, body, and finish.
They reference the SCA Flavour Wheel, a tool developed by the Specialty Coffee Association that maps coffee flavours from broad categories (fruity, nutty, chocolatey) to very specific descriptors (dried apricot, hazelnut, milk chocolate). Cupping is part science, part trained sensory skill, and part shared vocabulary. When multiple cuppers independently describe a coffee as having "citrus acidity and a caramel finish," that's a reliable signal of what you'll taste.
The roasters we work with at Harbour Roast — Sey, Onyx, Hex, and Intelligentsia — all have experienced cupping teams. The tasting notes on their bags aren't guesswork. They're the result of rigorous evaluation by people who taste hundreds of coffees a year.
A Quick Guide to Common Flavour Families
Here's a cheat sheet for the flavour families you'll see most often on specialty coffee bags, and what they tell you about the coffee:
Fruity (blueberry, strawberry, citrus, stone fruit, tropical) — common in lighter roasts and African coffees, especially Ethiopian and Kenyan. If you enjoy bright, complex flavours, look for fruit-forward tasting notes.
Chocolate and nutty (dark chocolate, milk chocolate, hazelnut, almond, peanut) — the crowd pleasers. Often found in Central and South American coffees (Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil). Medium roasts tend to emphasise these notes. If you want something comforting and familiar, this is your lane.
Caramel and sweet (brown sugar, honey, maple, toffee, vanilla) — these indicate sweetness in the cup, often paired with a smooth, full body. They're common across many origins and roast levels, and they're a sign of well-developed roasting.
Floral (jasmine, lavender, rose, bergamot) — delicate, aromatic qualities most associated with high-altitude Ethiopian coffees, particularly from the Yirgacheffe and Guji regions. These coffees tend to be lighter in body and more tea-like.
Spice (cinnamon, clove, black pepper, cardamom) — subtle warmth that adds complexity. Frequently appears in Indonesian coffees (Sumatra, Java) and some Central Americans. These pair well with milk in lattes and cappuccinos.
What If I Can't Taste the Notes?
This is the most common concern, and it's completely normal. If you brew a coffee labelled "notes of peach and black tea" and all you taste is… coffee — that's fine. Tasting notes are subtle, and your ability to detect them improves with practice and attention.
A few things that help: brew with the right method and ratio (under-extracted coffee tastes sour and masks flavour, over-extracted coffee tastes bitter). Let the coffee cool slightly — you taste more complexity at lower temperatures because your taste buds aren't overwhelmed by heat. And try tasting the coffee black, without milk or sugar, at least once. Additives don't eliminate flavour, but they do mute it.
Most importantly, don't stress about tasting exactly what the bag says. Tasting notes are reference points, not a test. If the label says "blueberry" and you taste "dark fruit," you're picking up on the same compound. Your palate, your vocabulary, your experience — they're all valid.
"You don't need to be a professional taster to enjoy specialty coffee. Tasting notes are there to guide you toward coffees you'll love — not to quiz you."
Using Tasting Notes to Choose Your Coffee
Here's the practical payoff: once you understand what tasting notes mean, you can use them to shop for coffee the same way you'd choose a bottle of wine. If you know you like chocolatey, full-bodied coffees, look for Colombian or Brazilian origins with notes like "dark chocolate, almond, brown sugar." If you're adventurous and want something bright, reach for an Ethiopian with "blueberry, jasmine, citrus."
Over time, you'll build a personal flavour map. You'll notice that you gravitate toward certain origins, processing methods, or roast levels — and the tasting notes will help you find more of what you love without guessing.
Explore the Flavours
Every coffee in the Harbour Roast collection comes with detailed tasting notes and origin information so you know exactly what to expect. Browse our current selection at harbourroast.com and start building your flavour map. We ship fresh to Bermuda every two weeks — there's always something new to discover.
