LCC Roastery

Fruity flavor is a major part of speciality coffee. In the SCA Flavor Wheel, the fruity core ring together with floral and negative flavor sour/fermented and green/vegetative, take up almost half of the wheel. Fruity flavor are natural compounds that coffee plant stored in the seeds when it’s growing up. Flavorful components like citric acid, malic acid, sucrose, etc. will provide a positive taste to the cup. But it can also be unflavored taste like grassy (unripe cherry, too green) or fermentation (over-ripe, over processed). These are 2 sides of the coin. 

When the green coffee are being roasted, some more complex components will decompose to simple sugar or even carbon if really go too dark. Both grassy and acidic taste will be gone. In order to keep more fruity taste, light roast is the only choice. The trick is to roast to a level that all the grassy taste are gone, but still keep enough acidic taste to support the fruit flavor. 

How to taste fruity flavor?

The most important question you need to ask yourself when you’re tasting coffee is: What does this remind me of? Try to look for the following when you’re trying to taste fruity coffee:

Acidity — High-altitude coffees particularly can have an acidity that reminds you of a crisp fruit. Sometimes the prevailing acid is citric acid, reminding you of a lemon or orange. Sometimes the more noticeable acid is malic acid, which is tangy like a green apple or grape.

Aroma — Some coffees, especially natural processed coffees, have really vibrant aromas that smell quite fruity. Your retro-nasal taste receptors interpret these aromas as flavors when you swallow. Common aromas in natural process coffees include blueberries, strawberries, and flowers.

Sweetness — The actual sugars in a coffee can be noticeable and come across as a gentle sweetness. Sometimes this sweetness is like honey or caramel, but when it’s just like a hint of regular granulated sugar, it can pair with an aroma or acid to add to your brain’s interpretation of a fruity flavor.

Combination of the sensory elements that contribute to a coffee’s fruity flavor. For example, just a strong citric acid will make your feel exotic. But when combining with sugar, it will taste like lemonade which is a very favorable taste. 

What flavors fall under Fruity taste?

• Berry – The sweet, sour, floral, sometimes heavy aromatic associated with a variety of berries such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries. 
• Dried fruit – An aromatic impression of dark fruit that is sweet and slightly brown and is associated with dried plums and raisins.
• Citric fruit – A citric, sour, astringent, slightly sweet, peely, and somewhat floral aromatic that may include lemons, limes, grapefruits, or oranges.
• Others – A sweet, light, fruity, somewhat floral, sour, or green aromatic that may include apples, grapes, peaches, pears, or cherries. In CCC (Counter Culture Coffee) flavor wheel, “others” are organized under Stone Fruit, Tropical Fruit, Grape, Melon and Apple/Pear.

Where to find fruity coffee?

Best choices are East African origins like Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, etc. Coffee growing in these origins are famous of it’s complex fruity flavor. You can easily find citric tone in coffee coming from Ethiopia Yirgacheffe; berry tone in coffee coming from Kenya Nyeri. Central american like Guatemala and Panama also have a higher chance to find fruity coffee.