Build your palate, one cup at a time.

We’ll unpack six zones of the flavour wheel by first experiencing six aromas, six corresponding flavour examples, and exploring mouthfeel. Then we’ll cup six coffees that highlight these aromas, flavours and mouthfeel levels.
Saturday 26 Sept., 10am- 10.45am 
North Star Coffee Hub
Unit 32 The Blvd, Leeds LS10 1PZ

17 October, 9:30 - 12:30

Machina Coffee Training Lab
Unit 9 Peffermill Park
25 King's Haugh
Edinburgh
EH16 5UY

Ever tried cupping a coffee without focusing on flavor notes?

​We’re stripping coffee evaluation right back to basics. ​Basic tastes are pure gustatory sensations picked up strictly by taste receptors on the tongue (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami). Flavor is a multi-sensory synthesis: it occurs when those basic taste signals combine with retro-nasal olfactory inputs in the brain.

In this session, we isolate basic taste reception and tactile perception by tuning out retro-nasal aromas. We’ll taste solutions of the basic tastes, learn to identify them in different intensities and explore how different mixtures interact. ​After that, we take it to the cupping table where we'll focus on identifying the tactile structure and basic taste reception in the coffees.