Le Nez du Cafe or The Art of Aroma Training - Part 1

April 11th, 2011

I was very lucky to recieve a Le Nez Du Cafe, from the tabet family on my 30th birthday, that was two years ago, and tbh i havent really used it, but i always knew that once i was settled in my roastery that this ultra prized tool would be a key in taking my coffee to unforseeable levels.

What is it you say? well its a simple set of aromas, specifically collated for coffee and with a manual to help you describe and articulate said aromas, the idea being that the more you use it, the better you get at identifying aromas of coffee. This is vital for a coffee roaster, being able to identify aroma taints as we know much of coffees flavour is in its aroma, so training our olfactory is the new frontier for gourmet coffee professionals seeking to make our coffee better.

Well here goes, a simple tron guide to what my first full on run through the Le Nez du Cafe is telling me or smelling me, lol.

1. earth
very fresh, like soil freshly dug, wet soil, it has something which reminds me of the way mint is received on the olfactory, it runs straight up the inner sides of both nostrils and is sharp and so fresh

2.potato
just like a light version of the earth aroma, but it doesn’t smell earthy, more of that light mint stuff, i think its actually like a methylated spirit scent in a way, the earth has this also, but it smells like dirt, this doesn’t

3. garden peas
this is a tough one, its light, it takes me several minutes to get the real nature of it, its lighter than both the potato and earth but once again its in the same family of scents for me, its apparently very unlike canned peas, it does have a greeny aroma to it, which i spose is fitting

4. cucumber
holy crap, this one is 100% easy, its lively, fresh and has that methyl-like touch again, the crispness of it is un-missable, subtle wood tones come through on it as well

5. straw
wow, this smells like a Chinese grocer, quite similar to some dried Chinese noodles also, also reminds me of a light vegetal broth

6. cedar
just like the smell of pencil shavings, its fresh like fresh cut cedar or fresh cut pencil shavings

7. clove-like
this one is easy, then hard, clove is such a distinct flavour but this a bits of vanilla and general medicine cabinet stuff going on

8. pepper
While this one sounds obvious, it is rather subtle and complex, there is a weird cologne-like smell, and the underlying aroma is a peppery one, and i know this sounds insane, but initially it smells really sweet

9. coriander seed
think fino sherry, very different to fresh coriander which makes it really hard to decipher

Stay tuned for part 2 next week, my nose is now expanded.