an interactive tool
the coffee flavour wheel
the coffee flavour wheel is a circular tasting tool. it runs from broad flavour families in the centre to specific notes on the outer edge, so you can move from “this tastes fruity” to “this tastes of blackcurrant” one step at a time. tap any segment below to learn the note and see which origins we list it in.
how to use it
- 1
taste, do not sip
take a slurp that aerates the coffee across your whole palate. this is how professional cuppers taste.
- 2
start in the centre
decide which broad family the cup belongs to first. is it fruity, sweet, nutty, earthy?
- 3
work outward
move to the outer ring to name the specific note. fruity might become citrus, then grapefruit.
- 4
check it against the origin
tap the note to see which origins we list it in, then read the origin page to confirm what you tasted.
the eight flavour families
the full vocabulary on the wheel, in plain text. each note links to the origins we list it in.
fruity
the brightest, most divisive end of the wheel. fruit notes come from the bean's natural acids and from how the cherry was processed. washed coffees read as clean citrus and berry; naturals push toward jam, wine, and dried fruit.
- lemon
- sharp, clean acidity that lifts the whole cup. a marker of a well-grown washed coffee.taste it in: ethiopia, burundi, tanzania, mexico, costa rica, honduras, vietnam
- grapefruit
- bittersweet citrus with a pithy edge. classic in high-grown kenyan and ethiopian lots.taste it in: ethiopia, kenya, burundi, mexico, costa rica, honduras, vietnam
- citrus zest
- the oily, fragrant top note of orange or lemon peel, more aroma than juice.taste it in: ethiopia, burundi, mexico, costa rica, honduras, vietnam
- blueberry
- the signature of a natural-process ethiopian. soft, sweet, unmistakable.taste it in: ethiopia
- blackcurrant
- dense, tart, almost savoury. the calling card of a kenyan aa.taste it in: kenya
- red apple
- gentle, sweet-tart fruit that sits in the middle of the cup. common in rwanda and colombia.taste it in: rwanda, colombia
- stone fruit
- peach, apricot, plum. a sign of ripe cherry and careful fermentation.taste it in: ethiopia, uganda, guatemala, el salvador, panama, bolivia
- peach
- soft, juicy, floral-adjacent. the cup note that makes panama geisha famous.taste it in: panama
- tropical fruit
- mango, pineapple, papaya. high-sugar, high-drama, usually from experimental processing.taste it in: ecuador, papua new guinea
- raisin
- concentrated, sweet, slightly boozy. a hallmark of darker or sun-dried lots.taste it in: tanzania, honduras
- winey
- fermented, alcoholic fruit. natural and anaerobic coffees lean this way at their wildest.taste it in: yemen
floral
the most delicate aromas on the wheel, carried almost entirely by smell rather than taste. floral notes fade fast as a roast gets darker, so they signal a light, careful roast and a high-grown lot.
- jasmine
- heady, sweet, perfume-like. the aroma that defines top-tier ethiopian and geisha.taste it in: ethiopia, panama, bolivia
- hibiscus
- tart floral with a cranberry edge. bright and a little astringent.taste it in: rwanda
- floral
- the general bouquet of fresh flowers on the nose, before you can name the specific bloom.taste it in: ethiopia, panama, bolivia
sweet
the backbone of a balanced cup. these caramelised-sugar notes develop during roasting, when heat browns the bean's own sugars. sweetness is what stops acidity from feeling sharp and bitterness from feeling harsh.
- caramel
- cooked sugar with a buttery edge. the most common sweet note in colombian and central american coffee.taste it in: colombia, honduras, vietnam
- brown sugar
- rounder and less burnt than caramel. a comforting base note in brazilian naturals.taste it in: rwanda, brazil, mexico, el salvador
- honey
- floral, liquid sweetness. shows up in costa rican and ethiopian lots.taste it in: burundi, peru, costa rica
- honeycomb
- toasted honey and a brittle, caramelised crunch. dense and moreish.taste it in: burundi, peru, costa rica
- sugar cane
- clean, green sweetness, less cooked than caramel. a marker of fresh, high-grown lots.taste it in: ecuador
chocolate & cocoa
the most reassuring family on the wheel and the easiest to recognise. chocolate notes come from the same browning reactions as sweetness, pushed a little further. they dominate medium and dark roasts and form the base of most espresso blends.
nutty
warm, low-acid, roast-driven notes that read as comforting and familiar. nuttiness pairs naturally with chocolate and is what gives a classic espresso its rounded, savoury middle.
- peanut
- dry, roasted, a little salty. a defining note of brazilian cerrado naturals.taste it in: brazil, vietnam
- almond
- sweet, marzipan-adjacent nuttiness. clean and elegant in peruvian and yunnan lots.taste it in: peru, yunnan
- macadamia
- buttery, smooth, low-acid. the signature of hawaiian kona.taste it in: hawaiian kona
spiced
aromatic warmth from the bean and from the roast. baking spices appear in many washed central american coffees; more pungent savoury spice comes from specific processes like india's monsoon malabar.
roasted
notes created entirely by heat, not by the bean's origin. a touch adds depth and body; too much buries everything else. how roasted a coffee tastes is the clearest signal of roast level in the cup.
earthy & herbal
the savoury, vegetal end of the wheel. earthy and herbal notes are typical of wet-hulled indonesian coffees and of under-ripe or under-developed lots. in the right context they read as depth; in the wrong one, as a defect.
- earthy
- damp soil, forest floor. the defining character of wet-hulled sumatran arabica.taste it in: indonesia, sumatra
- mushroom-savoury
- umami, fungal, deeply savoury. a love-it-or-hate-it indonesian signature.taste it in: kenya, indonesia, sumatra, india
- herbal
- dried herbs and tea leaf. green, aromatic, and a little bitter.taste it in: bolivia, indonesia, papua new guinea
- tomato
- savoury, ripe, slightly acidic. a surprising but real note in some kenyan lots.taste it in: kenya
common questions
what is the coffee flavour wheel?
the coffee flavour wheel is a circular tasting tool that organises the flavours found in coffee from broad families in the centre (fruity, sweet, nutty) to specific notes on the outer edge (blueberry, caramel, almond). it gives tasters a shared vocabulary for describing a cup.
how do you use the coffee flavour wheel?
start in the centre and work outward. taste your coffee, decide which broad family it belongs to, then move to the outer ring to pin down the specific note. you do not have to reach the edge. naming the family is already useful.
what are the basic coffee flavour families?
our wheel groups coffee into eight families: fruity, floral, sweet, chocolate and cocoa, nutty, spiced, roasted, and earthy and herbal. fruity and floral notes come from the bean and its processing; chocolate, nutty, and roasted notes come mostly from the roast.
who created the coffee taster's flavour wheel?
the original coffee taster's flavor wheel was published by the specialty coffee association in 1995 and revised in 2016 with world coffee research, based on their sensory lexicon. the wheel on this page is our own original taxonomy, mapped to the origins we list, and is not a reproduction of the sca wheel.