joon.yuzuin Ambers, Spices & Gourmands · Seattle ·
Scent diaryCoffee versus cocoa in my smelling spreadsheet
TL;DR: coffee and cocoa both get their smell from the roaster, and my nose still mixes them up.
Rainy Seattle Saturday, so I set out three jars:
- roasted coffee beans: toast, nuts, a little smoke
- cocoa powder: dusty, chocolate, slightly sour
- cocoa nibs: like the powder, but woodier
The club's page on coffee's roasted, nutty notes says the aroma is created during roasting, and its sister page on cocoa says the same about cacao beans. So they share a kitchen, which explains my mix-up. That's my two cents.
5 comments
otis_in_nola
Add chicory coffee. Roasty but bitter like burnt toast, nothing like cocoa.
dex_in_brooklyn
add burnt sugar as a fourth jar, your going to find caramel sitting right between the two
thiago.berlin
In Brazil my grandmother roasted coffee in a pan and the whole street knew. I miss this smell very much.
teddy.tonka
Barista take: light roasts smell fruitier, dark ones closer to cocoa. Your spreadsheet needs a roast column.
joon.yuzu
Roast column added, plus rows for chicory and burnt sugar. Basically a new tab.