Interesting discussion happening at Coffeed. Coffee geek Marshall Russ asked the community:
Since Starbucks is marketing the word in a big way, some of your customers are bound to start asking for it. What will you tell them?
Counter Culture Coffee’s Peter Giuliano had a wonderful answer:
I think the words we choose to describe coffees are really interesting. It’s part of our job to describe the experience of tasting a coffee, using only language, and it’s a challenge. How do you put the sensory, transient experience of drinking a coffee into words?
Interestingly, in English, we have very few words to actually directly describe flavors. These specific words are generally restricted to those experienced in the mouth, (“taste” words)i.e. sweet, sour, and bitter. These 3 are pretty much the only words I can think of that are explicit words that describe nothing else besides a taste sensation. Maybe add “acrid”… (read the entire reply here)
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