{"id":909,"date":"2015-07-13T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=909"},"modified":"2016-05-30T12:44:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-30T17:44:38","slug":"general-flavor-profiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=909","title":{"rendered":"A general guide to single-origin coffees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the more fun but frustrating parts of getting into single-origin specialty coffee\u00a0is trying to figure out where to start. Let&#8217;s say that you have resolved to start buying specialty coffee, and you pop into your local specialty coffee shop. You are overwhelmed by the array of bags on the shelf. What do you choose?<\/p>\n<p>The following chart is by no means complete; I have not included EVERY coffee-growing country\/region on it, as it is not meant to be a comprehensive list. Instead, it&#8217;s meant to be a starting point for\u00a0those\u00a0who are interested in buying single-origin coffee. You might run into coffees that buck the trend every now and then, but if you know for instance that you want coffee that has\u00a0cocoa\/chocolate flavors, at least you&#8217;ll know to start looking at Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Ethiopia (natural-processed).<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, this is a very simplistic look at coffee. Not all coffees from one country will taste the same, any more than people from one country act the same. Heck, even people from the same <em>families\u00a0<\/em>don&#8217;t act the same a lot of the time! However, these are the common generalities I&#8217;ve found thus far on my coffee journey, and it can give you an idea of where to start when shopping if you&#8217;re looking for a specific flavor profile.<\/p>\n<p>For those that are into wine, it&#8217;s like finding out the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) differences between a chardonnay and a riesling, or between a zinfandel and a beaujolais. It&#8217;s great fun getting to know the different personalities inherent in each country\/region\/farm.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t be afraid\u00a0to ask your friendly local barista for help. It&#8217;s part of their job to know the different flavor profiles of the beans they have for sale. Talk to them and get their advice about what each varietal has to offer.<\/p>\n<p>If you are not somewhere where you can ask someone for help, carefully read the tasting notes printed on the bags. Most craft coffee companies get pretty detailed regarding what to expect in each brew! You&#8217;ll want to be looking closely at the bags anyway, because you&#8217;ll want to be sure that the coffee you&#8217;re buying has been roasted as freshly as possible. Stick to coffee roasted within the past two weeks for best flavor, and avoid coffee that only has a &#8220;best by&#8221; date.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy your tasting journey!<\/p>\n<p>Download the PDF here:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/CC_SO.pdf\">Handy-dandy chart to Single-Origin Coffee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the more fun but frustrating parts of getting into single-origin specialty coffee\u00a0is trying to figure out where to start. Let&#8217;s say that you have resolved to start buying specialty coffee, and you pop into your local specialty coffee shop. You are overwhelmed by the array of bags on the shelf. What do you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Want to try a single-origin coffee but don't know where to start? This flavor chart can help you find what varietals best suit your taste.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[9,114,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/tn_globe.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5356,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5356","url_meta":{"origin":909,"position":0},"title":"The best of 2018","date":"December 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I always come to the last few weeks of the year unsure about if I've had enough \"good\" coffee to fill up a top 10 list... until I skim over all of the reviews I've written over the past 50+ weeks. Then, I'm always like \"oh yeah!!!\" It's like looking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Advice&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG-5732-e1545445900354.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=9","url_meta":{"origin":909,"position":1},"title":"Review: Ah Cacao (Playa del Carmen, Mexico)","date":"March 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When Shutterbug and I found out we would be heading to Mexico for the destination wedding of some friends, I started doing a little research regarding where to buy coffee beans. Though Playa del Carmen does have a local coffee roasting company (Cafe Kaawa), they are unfortunately closed on Sundays,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;French Press&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":818,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=818","url_meta":{"origin":909,"position":2},"title":"Review: thirty-thirty Coffee Co. Kenya Kirinyaga (Peoria, Illinois)","date":"July 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the last selection in my most recent shipment from Craft Coffee. I feel like I have been drinking a lot of African coffee lately (and there are still more African coffees to come in the pipeline!), but I am also learning that there is so much variety in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Africa&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/tn_IMG_1117.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6341,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=6341","url_meta":{"origin":909,"position":3},"title":"Review: Simple Beans Guatemala Jovenes (La Jolla, California)","date":"August 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Chocolate lovers, you're gonna want to check this out! I will sometimes get asked by friends for help with finding a new coffee. For those people that really enjoy chocolaty, nutty, sweet black coffees, I usually think that grabbing a medium-roasted Guatemalan, Brazilian, or Mexican coffee is a good place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AeroPress&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG-2245.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5706,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5706","url_meta":{"origin":909,"position":4},"title":"The Top 10 Most Prestigious Coffees in the World","date":"March 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Note from Margaret: This is a guest post from Zach Parkes, the brains behind the site Try New Coffee. All opinions expressed are his own and are not necessarily endorsed by me (though in reading this post, I noted that we do share a lot of the same opinions!). Thanks\u00a0for\u00a0writing\u00a0this\u00a0guest\u00a0post,\u00a0Zach!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Reviews&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4.-Kenya-AA.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6708,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=6708","url_meta":{"origin":909,"position":5},"title":"Review: 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters Colombia Las Mercedes (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)","date":"May 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This review is long overdue, as I did this tasting back in December 2025, but life has been hectic so writing up coffee bean reviews had to wait! 49th Parallel is one of my favorite roasters, but I don't order from them too often due to distance and international shipping.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;French Press&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_2583-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5QIia-eF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=909"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":938,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions\/938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}