Fruity, Nutty, or Floral? How to Choose Coffee by Flavour Profile

It can be tricky to choose a coffee. You might know what you like, what you enjoy drinking every morning, or you might have no idea and just love them all. That’s where we come in.

To give you an idea of what the final cup will taste like, most coffee companies put a few tasting notes on the bag. At Glen Lyon Coffee, these notes are chosen by our team with the goal of offering an impression of the flavours and aromas that we hope you will experience while brewing and drinking our coffee.

Tasting notes can be quite abstract, or they can include specific flavours. They are, of course, merely descriptive—we don’t add any flavourings to our coffee—but using them alongside this handy guide should give you an idea of whether or not you will enjoy the coffee in question.

Let’s break it down.

Medium shot of a woman in a beanie and jumper sitting in a bothy holding a Glen Lyon Coffee enamel camp mug

What Makes Coffee Taste Different?

There are several interconnected elements that determine how a coffee tastes. These can include:

Variety: in the same way that a Gala apple tastes different to a Granny Smith, so a coffee’s variety influences the final cup. For example, a Gesha coffee grown in Ethiopia will taste similar to one grown in Panama, because of the variety’s inherent attributes.
Terroir: where and how a coffee is grown also impacts its taste. High altitudes mean cooler temperatures, which means slower development of the cherry and more complex flavours. Soil composition is also important, as is how carefully the tree is tended and protected from frost, drought, and excessive heat.
Processing: how the coffee is processed after harvest is crucial. A washed coffee might taste clean, bright and sweet, while the same coffee processed naturally might be fruity and rich.
Roasting: this is where we come in. We design each roast profile to fit the coffee, which means some coffees are roasted for longer to bring out their inherent sweetness, or a bit faster to accentuate brightness.
Brewing: different brew methods will bring out different flavours and characteristics from a coffee. A pour over might accentuate a coffee’s floral notes, while a French press emphasises body and sweetness.

All of these elements (and several more) combine to give a coffee its unique flavours and aromas.

Arara variety coffee beans on the Fazenda do Lobo speciality coffee farm in Brazil

Fruity and Bright Coffees

Do you like a coffee that has a little sparkle, a nice zest that accentuates and complements the other flavours? Or perhaps you prefer something sweet that reminds you of a glass of Ribena? Sometimes both at once? Then these are the coffees for you.

You’ll often see the term “brightness” in relation to coffee, and this refers to the tangy or lively note you might taste in a (usually washed-processed) coffee. Otherwise known as “acidity”, it doesn’t have anything to do with the pH of a coffee but rather is comparable to that sweet tangy sensation of biting into a really crisp apple.

How your coffee tastes has a lot to do with how it has been processed. Natural-processed coffees often taste fruity, earthy, or even boozy. This is because the coffee bean was harvested and then left to dry while still inside the cherry; during that time, as the coffee ferments, some of the sweet, fruity flavours are drawn into the bean and imparted into the final cup.

As an example, if you drink a coffee from Ethiopia that has been processed using the natural process, you might notice that it tastes a little bit like blueberries. A washed-processed coffee from the same country might taste lighter, cleaner, maybe citrusy—this is because the cherry is removed from the bean before drying.

A lot depends on the growing region and variety grown: Ethiopian coffees are known for their blueberry or citrus notes, depending on the processing, while Ugandan coffees often have a strawberry-like flavour. Coffees from Colombia tend towards the bright and citrusy. The Gesha variety is fruity and bright, but also floral and tea-like (see further down).

Look for coffees from: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Colombia, Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru

Hot chocolate in a Huskee cup on a wooden table

Nutty, Chocolatey, and Smooth Coffees

Perhaps your perfect coffee is something rich, smooth, and chocolatey, perhaps with a hint of hazelnut—you’re not alone! These are some of the most popular coffees, possibly because they tend to reflect coffee grown in Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer.

Brazilian coffee’s famously chocolatey and nutty flavour profile comes down to a couple of reasons:

Altitude: coffee in Brazil is grown at relatively low altitudes compared to other countries, which means the coffee produced there develops faster and thus has less time to acquire the more complex flavours that characterise coffees from Bolivia or Ethiopia.
Processing: the majority of coffee from Brazil is natural-processed or pulped natural (semi-washed), which imparts that chocolatey and nutty element alongside slightly fruity notes.

Brazil isn’t the only country that produces smooth, rich, chocolatey coffees: Colombia is also known for growing this type of coffee, although this varies by region and the flavours tend towards the high-end dark chocolate compared to Brazil’s sweet milk chocolate (and with more brightness and complexity).

If you’re looking for something smooth, rich, and sweet, then you’ll probably enjoy a washed coffee from Central America. Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador all produce coffees that have a lot of sweetness and balance without losing complexity.

Look for coffees from: Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica

A coffee farmer in Rotutu, East Timor, picks coffee from coffee trees

Floral and Tea-like Coffees

These floral flavours and aromas often appear in washed coffees from East Africa, especially Ethiopia.

These coffees are usually grown at high altitudes, processed using the fully washed method, and tend to be roasted lighter. They might remind the drinker of jasmine, chamomile, or fruit blossoms, and will also likely be sweet and light-bodied.

If you enjoy high quality single origin tea, chances are you’ll like these coffees.

Look for coffees from: Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia

Choosing the Right Coffee

The great thing about coffee is that its enjoyment is inherently personal. Flavours and aromas can come from childhood memories, or taste associations with a specific meal, and two people can have totally different impressions of the same coffee.

There is no right answer, it’s just about finding which coffees work for you. This guide can help point you in the right direction, but in the end it’s about tasting lots of different coffees in order to find the ones that you love.