"I Can't Taste The Blueberries..." Are We Making It Up?

We've genuinely lost count of how many times this conversation has happened.

Someone buys a bag of coffee, gets it home, brews their first cup, takes a sip, looks back at the label and says something along the lines of...

"Hang on... where are the blueberries?"

It's usually followed by a laugh because, let's be honest, it sounds a bit ridiculous. If you've never really explored specialty coffee before and someone hands you a bag that says blueberry, peach and jasmine, you'd be forgiven for wondering whether we've accidentally packaged the wrong thing.

The funny part is, when we first started getting into specialty coffee, we were asking exactly the same questions.

Nobody had added blueberries to the coffee.

Nobody had squeezed peaches into the roast.

So what on earth were people talking about?

The more time we've spent roasting coffee, tasting coffee and talking to customers, the more we've realised that tasting notes are probably one of the most misunderstood parts of specialty coffee. They're useful, but they're also easy to take a little too literally.

When we write "blueberry" on a bag, we're not saying you'll take a sip and think you've just eaten a handful of blueberries. We're saying that, somewhere in the flavour of that coffee, there's something that reminds us of blueberries. It might be the sweetness, the acidity or the type of fruit character that's present, but it's a reference point rather than a promise.

Wine has been doing this forever.

Nobody drinks a glass of Shiraz expecting somebody to have tipped melted chocolate or blackberries into the bottle. Those words simply help describe an experience that's otherwise pretty difficult to explain.

Coffee works exactly the same way.

One of the things that makes coffee so fascinating is that two people can drink the exact same cup and walk away with completely different impressions. One person might immediately notice bright fruit, while someone else focuses on the chocolate notes or simply thinks, "That's a really sweet coffee." Neither person is wrong.

In fact, we'd argue that's part of the fun.

We actually listened to an interesting conversation recently between Lee Safar and Bruno Souza on the Daily Coffee Pro podcast, where they were discussing whether tasting is subjective or objective. It got us thinking because, in reality, it's probably a bit of both.

Professional coffee tasters spend years training their palate. They taste hundreds, sometimes thousands, of coffees every year, and over time they build an enormous library of flavour memories. That's why you'll often see experienced cuppers agreeing on the general characteristics of a coffee.

But that doesn't mean you'll have exactly the same experience.

Every one of us grows up eating different foods, drinking different things and building completely different flavour memories. If you've never eaten fresh blueberries, that reference probably doesn't mean much to you anyway. You might think the coffee reminds you of cherries, dark berries or something else entirely, and that's perfectly okay.

Coffee isn't an exam.

Nobody is standing over your shoulder waiting to tell you you've got the wrong answer.

Something we've noticed over the years is that people put a huge amount of pressure on themselves to "taste the right thing." They'll have one sip and immediately start searching for peach or jasmine because that's what the bag told them to expect. We actually think that's the wrong way to approach it.

Instead of asking, "Can I taste the blueberry?", try asking yourself, "How is this coffee different from the last one I drank?"

Is it sweeter?

Brighter?

Heavier?

Cleaner?

Does it linger longer?

Those questions are far more useful than trying to tick off a list of tasting notes like you're playing coffee bingo.

Your brewing method plays a huge part as well, and this is something we see every day in the roastery and the cafe. The exact same coffee can taste completely different depending on whether it's brewed as espresso, filter or French press. Change your grinder, your water, your recipe or even how fresh the coffee is, and suddenly different flavours become more obvious.

We've had coffees that tasted beautifully floral as filter but leaned much more towards chocolate as espresso. Same coffee. Same roast. Completely different experience.

That's one of the reasons we always encourage people to experiment instead of chasing perfection.

Freshness plays a role too. Freshly roasted coffee that has been rested properly and ground just before brewing is almost always going to reveal more character than coffee that's been sitting pre-ground in the pantry for a few weeks. It doesn't magically create blueberry flavours that weren't there before, but it does help you experience the coffee the way it was intended.

Probably the biggest thing we'd say, though, is don't get discouraged if you can't taste everything written on the bag.

Seriously.

Some of the most experienced people in coffee don't always agree with each other, so don't feel like you've somehow failed because your palate picked up something different.

The goal of tasting notes isn't to impress you or make coffee sound more sophisticated than it really is.

They're simply an invitation.

A conversation starter.

A little nudge that says, "Here's what we noticed... tell us what you find."

Because at the end of the day, coffee isn't about proving you can taste blueberries.

It's about slowing down for five minutes, paying attention to what's in your cup and enjoying the experience.

If you happen to find the blueberries along the way...

Well, that's just a bonus.