Coffee: Flavors.

Madison.

Coffee: because it tastes so good.

Ever wonder why coffee has such intriguingly complex flavors and aromas? Here are a few nuggets of information from Harold McGee:

"As the bean's color becomes darker than medium brown, the distinctive aromas characteristic of prized beans become overwhelmed by the more generic roasted flavors - or, conversely, the flavor of second-rate beans become less obvious."

...and...

"More than 800 aroma compounds have been identified, and they supply notes that are described as nutty, chocolate-like, cinnamon, tea, honeyed, caramel, bready, roasty, spicy, even winy and gamy.

If you're really feeling it, check out these two flavor wheels created by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). It's well worth noting that not all of the possible flavors are good things. Some - like, say, skunky - are hideous, hideous faults.

You can also splurge and purchase the professional coffee aroma kit, Le Nez du Cafe. It's a collection of the most typical aromas in fine coffees, as concentrated, volatile essences. You can probably imagine most of them, but it definitely helps to have a specific aroma available to jog your memory when trying to identify a specific aroma. The kit includes 36 aromas, arranged in groups that correspond to the chemical processes that produce them:

• Enzymatic
  
  • Flowery
    
    • Coffee Blossom
      
    • Tea Rose
      
    • Honeyed
    
    
  • Fruity
    
    • Lemon
      
    • Apple
      
    • Apricot
    
    
  • Herbal
    
    • Garden Peas
      
    • Potato
      
    • Cucumber
  
  
• Sugar Browning
  
  • Caramelly
    
    • Caramel
      
    • Fresh Butter
      
    • Roasted Peanuts
    
    
  • Nutty
    
    • Roasted Hazelnuts
      
    • Roasted Almonds
      
    • Walnuts
    
    
  • Chocolatey
    
    • Dark Chocolate
      
    • Vanilla
      
    • Toast
  
  
• Dry Distillation
  
  • Spicy
    
    • Pepper
      
    • Clove-like
      
    • Coriander Seed
    
    
  • Resinous
    
    • Maple Syrup
      
    • Black Currant-like
      
    • Cedar
    
    
  • Pyrolitic
    
    • Malt
      
    • Roasted Coffee
      
    • Pipe Tobacco
  
  
• Aromatic Taints¹
  
  • Earthy
    
    • Earth
      
    • Leather
      
    • Straw
    
    
  • Fermented
    
    • Coffee Pulp
      
    • Basmati Rice
      
    • Medicinal
    
    
  • Phenolic
    
    • Rubber
      
    • Cooked Beef
      
    • Smoke

* * * * *

¹Despite the fact that they're referred to as "taints", these aren't all bad things. Some, like medicinal and cooked beef aromas, lend structure to the other aromas when present in small amounts.