The Many Different Types of Supermarket Gourmet Coffee
There are many different types of gourmet coffee. Walk down the coffee aisle at any supermarket and you'll face at least 10 different types of coffee to choose from. Obviously, not all of them are gourmet coffee and sometimes it's difficult to tell which ones are truly gourmet as opposed to just having a great packaging and marketing department. For a coffee to be considered a gourmet coffee, it takes more than just having a higher price tag and having fancy package design. Gourmet coffees deliver on the five senses, and they provide an exceptional coffee taste and overall coffee experience.
Like many things, it is difficult to really judge any coffee brand or bean as the best in the world, but we can definitely differentiate a higher class and label them as gourmet coffee. There are some basic characteristics of any coffee that enable you to tell right away whether it may be a gourmet coffee or just a cheap brand. For example, the general consensus is that any coffee that is actually, 'flavored' is not gourmet. Flavored coffee brands add artificial flavors not naturally found in coffee beans. These include flavors such as French Vanilla, Hazelnut, and Peppermint, but the list is quite long. The aim of gourmet coffee is to extract as much flavor from the coffee bean as possible, not to cover it up with other flavors. Don't worry, this doesn't mean you are drinking cheap coffees if you like the flavored kind it just means that you're not drinking what is considered gourmet coffee.
The way that judges rate different qualities of gourmet coffee is by performing blind taste tests. These are conducted by "credible coffee sippers", as the industry calls them. The method they use is to sip a small amount of coffee and inhale through their mouths in an attempt to spread the liquid all over the roof of their mouth and to the back. This is done so that as many taste buds and areas of the mouth can receive the coffee in order for the judge to actually taste everything. Each cup of coffee is carefully prepared and an attempt is made to prepare each coffee in exactly the same way. They are very detailed and precise in the preparation of gourmet coffee because they do not want any inconsistencies in the process to mislead the judges from the true quality and taste of a specific brand of coffee.
Many gourmet coffee drinkers actually approach drinking coffee in the same way some people drink wine. They refer to different nuances of the coffee's taste like when they describe each 'note', such as its citrus highlights or smokiness. Even nationwide gourmet coffee tastings will have mixed results due to each person's own personal preference. To judge coffee is to be highly subjective and there can never be a truly definitive coffee tasting guide because of the difference in preference. Some people prefer different brands. Drinking gourmet coffee and attempting to judge which one is best, is often a polarizing effort. Fortunately, in the end, everyone at least was able to drink a good cup of gourmet coffee.