One of the most common types of flavor descriptors that we use are different types of sugars. The sweetnessSweetness is an important positive quality in fine coffees, and is one of five basic tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Savory (Umami). In coffee, sweetness is a highly... in the coffee can be the result of many things; the green coffee
Green coffee refers to the processed seed of the coffee tree fruit. Coffee is a flowering shrub that produces fruit. The seeds of the fruit are processed, roasted,... quality, the age or storage
Green coffee can be stored much longer than roasted coffee: Roasted coffee starts to lose its aromatics in 10 days after roasting. Green coffee can be stored months... conditions of the coffee, the roast, the rest, or even the brew. We’re not going to so much get into what leads to what type of sugar sweetness, but I wanted to speak to the differences in some of the sugar types that we use so that when you see them in a description you can have a better idea of what we’re talking about.
The sugar refining process is all about taking the raw material and taking as much of it away as possible through boiling, centrifuging, filtering and drying until all that’s left is sucroseSucrose is important to the taste of sweetness in light roast coffees, as it is completely converted or destroyed in darker roasts.: Sucrose is largely destroyed by the.... Refined white sugar can be 99% sucrose, and may have additives used as well to whiten it. Sugar in the Raw is not raw sugar at all. It’s refined, but not as much as white table sugar and also hasn’t been through a whitening process. Molasses is a liquid by-product of the sugar refining process, and in the case of brown sugars is added back to refined sugars to create a deeper flavor.
For this test, I looked at granulated sugar. I did caramelize some refined white sugar so I can speak a little on that, but I’m saving honeyIn coffee, honey-like sweetness is often found, but we use terms such as refined honey (highly filtered and processed) as opposed to raw honey rustic honey sweetness. This..., syrup, and other sweetners of that nature for another test. I did however look at Molasses granules in this test.
I tasted:
Refined White Sugar
Turbinado
Turbinado sugar, also known as turbinated sugar, is made from sugar cane extract. It is produced by crushing freshly cut sugar cane; the juice obtained is evaporated by...
Sucanat
Dark Brown SugarBrown sugar is a type of sweetness found in coffee ...a sweetness characterized by a hint of molasses, yet quite refined as well. Since Brown sugar of the...
Molasses Granules
and Light and Dark Carmelized Refined White Sugar
Turbinado is produced in the first pressing of the sugar cane and is refined just through boiling and then cetrifuging in turbines. This sugar retains much more of it’s molasses and can be used as a substitute for brown sugar but is distinctly different. Sucanat is a kosher sugar that is produced just from dehydrated sugar cane juice, with no refinement. This is a similar sugar to muscavado, panela
Panela is the minimally processed sugar with floral and vanilla accents: Found in Colombia (and noted to be best in Pitalito and Pedregal), Panela is tan-colored cakes of..., demerera, or jaggery which are all geographically specific sugars, but sucanat is actually a brand name. What was especially intersting was the difference between the sucanat and the molasses granules, which many sources identify as being the same, but from my understanding the granules I tasted were produced from dehydrated molasses, not pure cane juice.
What I tasted:
Refined white – Intensely sweet, but only on the tip of the tongue sweet, not long lasting. Only really sweet right at the point of contact. This kind of immediate sweetness without any lasting effect can be found in delicately floral
Floral notes in coffee exemplify the connection between taste and smell. Describing the taste of a specific flower is near impossible...we always default to “it tastes like it... cups, and they’re usually very clean coffees, such as coffees from KonaKona coffee comes from farms along the Kona Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii: Kona coffee comes from farms along the Kona Coast on the Big Island... or Costa RicaCosta Rican coffee is typically very clean, sweet, with lots of floral accents. hey are prized for their high notes: bright citrus or berry-like flavors in the acidity,...: www.sweetmarias.com/printable_review.php
Turbinado – A broader sweetness than the refined white sugar. Crests in the middle of the palate as there’s a bit of a brightnessA euphemistic term we use often to describe acidity in coffee. A bright coffee has more high, acidic notes. : A euphemistic term to describe acidity in coffee.... to it, and a long lasting finishSimilar to aftertaste, but it refers to the impression as the coffee leaves the palate. Aftertaste is the sensations gathered after the coffee has left the mouth. We.... Just a tinge of maltiness/molasses. Just lightly sweet on contact, intensifies as it dissolves. The Nicaragua
Nicaraguan coffees from the Segovia, Jinotega, Ocotal and Matagalpa regions are nice balanced cups. They often possess interesting cup character along with body and balance, outperforming many other... Finca
Spanish 101: Finca is the Spanish word for farm. Sometimes the term Hacienda is used to imply an Estate, which would mean the farm has its own wet-mill.... La Tormenta has this saturated, slow dissolve type of sweetness. www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.central.nicaragua.php
Sucanat – Lightly sweet on contact, round, wild tasting as it dissolves with a heavy molasses note. A bit of a fruityIn some coffee taster’s lexicon, “fruity” means the coffee is tainted with fruit, and “fruited” means a coffee is graced by positive fruit notes. We don't exactly see... quality to it like over ripe pear, but biscuity malty too. There’s a long long finish with some heavy sweetness. If you look at this archived review of this Nicaragua from Finca Maria, you’ll see how the sucanat is paired with the ripe apricot fruit note. www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.archive.2012.php
Dark Brown Sugar – Similar intensityWe have a simple scale to rate intensity in our coffee reviews, from Mild to Bold. Low intensity does not mean low quality!: We have a simple scale... to the refined white on contact, but with more depth in the dissolve. Not nearly the long finish or maltiness of the sucanat, fairly close to the turbinado, but without the bright or fruitedIn some coffee taster’s lexicon, “fruity” means the coffee is tainted with fruit, and “fruited” means a coffee is graced by positive fruit notes. We don't exactly see... quality. There’s actually a heavy molasses fragrance from it though, the most fragrant of the sugars. A lot of times, dark brown sugar is used as a descriptor in darker roasts even though brown sugar doesn’t come from caramelizationA reaction involving sugars that occurs during coffee roasting. A caramelized sugar is less sweet, but has greater complexity of flavor and aroma. Caramelization is slower than Maillard..., but because of the potency of the sweetness at these levels it’s an apt descriptor. www.sweetmarias.com/printable_review.php
Molasses Granules – This tastes like bran cereal though a heavily sweetened one, and with just a bit of cocoa quality. Not as sweet on contact as when it dissolves, a dissolving sweetness crescendo. Sweet in the middle of the palate, then biscuity in the finish. Molasses type sweetness is frequently paired with some more earthyEarthy is a flavor term with some ambivalence, used positively in some cases, negatively in others.: Sumatra coffees can have a positive earthy flavor, sometimes described as "wet... or savory elements, as with this Java
There are several types of Abyssinia variety coffee, but they are not from Ethiopia but rather Indonesia. Abyssinia 3 = AB3. PJS Cramer, a Dutch plant researcher, introduced this variety... description. www.sweetmarias.com/printable_review.php
Caramelized Light – Definitely some bittering caramelization, but the sweetness is long lasting with just a shadow of the bittering/roastiness. The long lasting sweetness with just the touch of bitterness is great with bright juicy coffees like this wet processed EthiopiaEthiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, or a coffee cultivar: Ethiopia, or more specifically the Empire under Haile Selassie, was known as Abyssinia. The name is Latin, derived from.... www.sweetmarias.com/printable_review.php
Caramelized Dark – The bittering roastiness/toastiness is omnipresent, roasted marshmallow, heavy sweet on the bottom layer. Cola like, which is very common in the earthy and herbaceous Sumatras. www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.indonesia.sumatra.php
One thing that I started thinking a lot about during this test is not just how we taste these types of sugar in a coffee, but the relationship between sugar and coffee in general. With the ability to find truly special and remarkable coffees, it’s become taboo to allow the use of cream and sugar in some cafe settings. And yes; while cream and sugar may take away the nuances of some coffees and cream and sugar in volume can make a drink one dimensional, cream and sugars in the right amount in a coffee can make it delicious. It tastes good. In tasting these different sugars, I was thinking not just about which coffees have that type of sweetness, but what a certain type of sugar might add to or amplify in a certain coffee. Wouldn’t it be nice to be told by whoever sold you a cup of coffee what the coffee might taste like if you used just a bit of turbinado, instead of scolding you for even considering it?
