"Tastes of" vs "reminds me of"

[Johnmac]

I've been struck how coffee flavour descriptions are sometimes literally and on other occasions the flavour isn't easily expressed so we use a term that approximates that flavour. For example, the yirg that I'm drinking literally tastes of grapefruit and smells like lemon when it's being roasted. For some other descriptions like vanilla or blueberry I can see what the taster is trying to get at: it reminds you of that taste.

The same thing happens with wine. NZ Savignon Blanc can 'taste of' gooseberry or lime and I've had Australian Shiraz that 'tasted of' boysenberry juice. However, a lot of the time you'll know what someone means when they describe a claret as tasting of plums without actually agreeing that it tastes like plums.

My question is: what coffees have you tried recently that literally 'tasted of' something?

[CakeBoy]

El Bosque - licorice if roasted exactly right
La Manuela - sweet caramel when roasted to just on 2C
La Fany - a mouth full of cream
Harrar - blueberries (literally) if roasted just right
Paramito - tart blood orange for a second or two at the start of the cup
El Quebradon - smoked nuts when medium roasted
Jim's UKBC blend - green apples for the whole front end of the cup
Yirg - grapefruit

[Steve]

ok I'll go then Cakey, all of the above

[CakeBoy]

[Gouezeri]

OK, right, which one of you was copying off the other
I had a Faz Toc Da Onca earlier that was very almond like... quite a light roast (by steve) but I'm not trusting my taste buds too much at the mo due to a nasty cold... was very nice tho

[Aadje]

I can tell you this: it doesnt taste like Vegemite

[Bertie_Doe]

I remember as a kid, fishing the Thames near Kingston Bridge and the leather tannery on Summer hols. There was major development going on in the town and they seem to have struck sewerage pipes. The combined pong of leather and poo, once experienced, lives with you for ever.
The whiff reminds me of the smell of freshly ground harrar, thankfully it dose'nt appear in the cup. This may not answer the poster's question, but I thought I would share this one with you.
Quentin
ps. Nice one Aadje

[Gadders]

Kona Extra Fancy French Press ... nuts!

[Johnmac]

Thanks, that's useful. I've tried a few of those and except for the yirg and special kona haven't managed to get these flavours - I guess that often it's quite small variations in the roast that make the difference.

The combined pong of leather and poo, once experienced, lives with you for ever.
The whiff reminds me of the smell of freshly ground harrar

No that doesn't count, that's 'smells of' rather than 'tastes of' - still that's probably the better way around.

Aadje... of course Vegemite doesn't really taste like anything else, as you know it's actually a system of thought control rather than a food or beverage.

We're hap-py lit-tle Veg-e-mites
As bright as bright can be.
We all en-joy our Ve-ge-mite
For break-fast, lunch, and tea.

[Aadje]

like the song "Yvan eht nioj" . . . (from the Simpsons)

[Johnmac]

like the song "Yvan eht nioj" . . . (from the Simpsons)

You must have noticed that one of the Mods here has a signature that refers to a tale about alien invasion. Resistance is futile.
[/img]

[Gouezeri]

Sadly, I'd changed it before I'd noticed this thread
Similar though, went from a monster of the deep to mocking a cookie monster

[kingseven]

New crop of Fazenda Fortaleza tastes exactly like peanuts, weirdly so.
Intelly's Idido misty valley tastes like red wine gums.

[CakeBoy]

Where might we get hold of some of the Fortaleza Jim?

[Gouezeri]

Oooh, wine gums! Jim is just teasing us now with coffees we're not going to be able to get our hands on