CAFE SESSION WITH STEVE: JULY 2024
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Greetings, coffee enthusiasts, and welcome to our July Café Session! July is always a standout month, especially for me since it’s my birthday month—yes, I’m a proud July baby! This year, I celebrated with a fantastic park day and, of course, some tequila! I love any reason to celebrate, and I hope you found your own ways to enjoy this month too. That said, as we bid farewell to July and prepare to welcome August, the summer heat remains relentless, especially since we’ve had far less rain than last year. Thankfully, we have iced coffee to help us beat the heat as we head into the second hottest month of summer. With school just around the corner, it’s time for parents to get ready for the busy season ahead, so let’s savor the remaining days of summer.
In this month’s session, we’re diving into the rhythmic world of Coffee Playlists and exploring the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel. Whether you're looking for the perfect soundtrack to your morning brew or wanting to deepen your understanding of coffee flavors, we’ve got you covered. So grab your favorite iced coffee, settle in, and let's embark on this month’s caffeinated journey together. Cheers to coffee, music, and the lingering days of summer!
WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE COFFEE PLAYLIST? (SONGS TO PAIR WITH YOUR SUMMER COFFEE MOMENTS)
As we discussed in our March Café Session this year, the song that gets me up and going like I just drank a cup of coffee is Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock!" But there are tons of songs that feature our favorite caffeinated beverage as their focal point, and so many more that give it a brief mention in their lyrics. With that in mind, here are some songs that make me feel like brewing up some coffee and sitting on a back patio before the caffeine works its magic.
Interestingly, most of the songs I've discovered that talk about coffee come from an era of music before streaming, MP3s, and even cassette players. It seems like nowadays, you hear more songs about cough syrup in a solo cup than about an actual beverage. That said, there are some newer ones, like "Café Deluxe" by Osei The Seventh.
Here are some classic and contemporary coffee-themed songs for your ultimate coffee playlist:
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE COFFEE TASTER’S FLAVOR WHEEL AND HOW IS IT USED?
This is a great question! I remember the first time I saw the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel hung up on a wall inside a roastery. I was just talking to my dad about this recently when we chatted about his days working for The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in California. I recall visiting their roasting plant in Camarillo, CA, while in middle school and seeing this oddly shaped circle on the wall with a bunch of colors on it. It turns out, this "wheel" is used by virtually every coffee company that roasts their own beans to decipher the notes you are tasting when slurping your coffee during a cupping session, helping to distinguish the descriptive characteristics. Specifically, there are 110 identifiers for flavor, aroma, and textural attributes present in coffee.
How It Works
The World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon, which is essentially the governing body of coffee descriptions, provides a structured approach to using the Flavor Wheel. You begin in the middle of the wheel, identifying which of the initial 9 attributes best matches the coffee you are tasting. These attributes are floral, fruity, sour, green, roasted, spices, nutty, cocoa, and other. From here, the wheel breaks down into even more specific identifiers that are common among coffee brewers.
Once you identify the broader category, you refine your description to more specific terms like sweet or fruity. For example, "dark" is a common descriptor. To ensure clarity, it's helpful to use a reference point when describing these notes. For instance, when mentioning "notes of strawberries," you might specify "strawberry jam" to provide a clearer, universally understood reference. This helps everyone in the coffee community understand and agree on the taste being described.
The first time I saw this wheel, I remember noticing "lime" as an identifier and wondering how anyone could confidently use that word to describe a taste. I thought, "what if what I think is lime is different for someone else?" I asked a coffee roaster about this, and he explained that the reference tastes are used to ensure everyone in the coffee world understands the same thing when a specific term like "lime" is used. This way, "lime" has a universally accepted meaning.
To explore and understand these descriptors better, check out this cool interactive coffee wheel – you can click on the various flavors and descriptors to learn more about each one and how to differentiate them!
If you have a topic or question you’d like me to tackle next month, don’t hesitate to ask! Submit a question or problem in the comments below!