Building a sensory memory bank

What is a Sensory Memory Bank?

• A collection of personal flavor and aroma references stored in memory.
• Built through repeated exposure and conscious tasting.
• Enables faster, more accurate identification of notes in coffee.

Why It Matters

• Coffee has hundreds of aroma compounds—many subtle and fleeting.
• Without memory training, tasters may default to vague descriptors.
• A strong memory bank improves cupping, QC, and customer communication.

Methods to Build Sensory Memory

1. Real-World Ingredient Training

• Smell and taste fruits, spices, herbs, nuts, chocolates, wines.
• Associate them with coffee flavor wheel categories.

2. Lexicon & Reference Kits

• Use the SCA Sensory Lexicon and flavor kits (e.g., Le Nez du Café).
• Train on calibrated intensity references (e.g., citric acid solution at 0.5%).

3. Structured Tasting Sessions

• Compare coffees side-by-side (washed vs natural, light vs dark roast).
• Note similarities and differences, linking to known references.

4. Multisensory Anchors

• Link flavors to memories and contexts (blueberry → summer pie, cedar → pencil shavings).
• Emotional anchors strengthen recall.

5. Repetition & Logging

• Keep a tasting journal with descriptors, intensities, and associations.
• Revisit references regularly to reinforce memory.

Sensory Categories to Train

• Fruits: Citrus, berries, stone fruit, tropical.
• Sweetness: Caramel, honey, chocolate.
• Acidity: Lemon (citric), apple (malic), grape (tartaric).
• Mouthfeel: Light/tea-like, creamy, syrupy.
• Defects: Baggy, ferment, moldy.

Summary

Building a sensory memory bank requires intentional training, real-world ingredient exposure, structured tastings, and repeated logging. Over time, tasters strengthen recall, leading to sharper, more confident flavor identification in coffee evaluation.

• Tags:
• Matters Coffee
• Coffee Flavor
• Real World
• Flavor Wheel
• Dark Roast
• Flavor Aroma
• Customer Communication
• Citric Acid
• Stone Fruit