What Makes Coffee Memorable?

In this episode, I dive deep into what makes a coffee truly memorable and how to recognize those special moments when you encounter an extraordinary cup. I explore the characteristics that set memorable coffees apart from your daily drivers, sharing personal stories about coffees that stopped me in my tracks and made me question everything I thought I knew about flavor. I discuss how a memorable coffee makes you pause, think, and wonder where all those incredible flavors are coming from, and why sometimes the most amazing coffee experiences happen when you step outside your comfort zone.

Listeners will learn how to identify the key indicators of a memorable coffee, including the importance of transparency from aroma to taste, how exceptional coffees evolve as they cool, and why complexity and clarity matter more than being able to pinpoint every single flavor note. I also share why I believe memorable coffees should sometimes be savored sparingly to preserve their magic, and provide practical advice on expanding your coffee palate by exploring different roast levels, origins, and roasters to discover your own unforgettable coffee moments.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:42 The Stop-and-Think Moment
• 3:02 Personal Coffee Story - The Meyer Lemon Experience
• 5:23 The Dilemma of Preserving Memories
• 6:16 Transparency - When Aroma Matches Taste
• 7:42 Complexity and Evolution
• 9:03 Expanding Your Coffee Horizons

Transcript

[00:00:00] - [00:00:05] We're live right now. Today is Monday, June 9th, 2025. We're doing pretty good right now. I hope you're doing pretty good right now.

[00:00:24] - [00:00:41] So let me ask you this question. This is not so much of a question for me because I'm going to get into it, but this is a question for you. How do you know a coffee's memorable?

[00:00:42] - [00:01:19] That's essentially what we're talking about right now. I thought about this for the past couple of days and what that really means. We all have different palates. We like different things in coffee. Things excite us. It gets us out of bed. Some things just stop us in our tracks and get us to think.

[00:01:19] - [00:01:37] I think that's part of it. If a coffee gets you to just stop and think and realize that you're tasting something quite amazing. You're wondering where all these flavors are coming from. You're wondering how did this happen? And then you brew another cup. And it's the exact same experience, exact same wildness in your mouth.

[00:01:38] - [00:02:28] At least for me, that's one of the things I look for with a coffee. We have our coffees, we have our daily drivers, we have the coffees that we usually get from either a coffee shop or somewhere online. You have those go-to coffees that you drink all the time. It's not saying that those coffees are terrible, but you're used to them. They still excite you. It gets you out of bed. But when you get something different, something that just pushes all those taste buds, those are some of the things that you think about like, wait, this one's a little different. And I don't know really why. Just kind of there for the ride.

[00:02:33] - [00:03:07] So that's one way that you know that you're embarking on something memorable, something special, something truly special to you. Not to the specialty coffee association, not to that roaster who gave you that coffee, but to you. It's extremely special to you and you love it and you gravitate to it and you understand that this is something that I probably won't get again.

[00:03:08] - [00:03:31] I remember there's this one time where I ordered this coffee from years ago, almost a decade ago, showing my age. It was in Seattle and I've gotten a couple of their coffees before and then I got this other one. I can't remember. I think it was a Colombian coffee and had notes of Meyer lemon and something else. Yeah, whatever. We'll see.

[00:03:31] - [00:04:01] So I get it. And I was absolutely smitten. I was going off the walls. I couldn't believe what I was tasting. I couldn't believe that I was actually tasting the Meyer lemon taste. I didn't know at the time what sweetness really was, but it defined to me what acidity was, what it truly meant to perfectly brew a coffee and you can get all those notes out of it.

[00:04:02] - [00:04:28] But I don't know if I made a mistake because I finished the bag relatively quickly, but months down the line, I went back to that same roaster for that exact same coffee and the experience was not the same. It was subpar. The Meyer lemon barely came through. I was very dejected. I was not happy.

[00:04:28] - [00:04:48] I wondered many times about that experience, those two experiences, how they can be same coffee, different contrast and what that really means. I guess what that meant to me at the time was that roasters, they're people, they probably mess up. I think that coffee had been in that person's arsenal for too long.

[00:04:53] - [00:05:21] But I think what I'm getting at is that whenever I taste a memorable coffee to me, especially like the black honey coffee that I've tasted many times. Not many times. I got about 20 pounds of it years ago. I need to not go back to it. I don't know. It's because I don't want it to be a horrible experience. I don't want. I don't know if it's that I just want to keep that memory with me at its best.

[00:05:29] - [00:05:56] So I know it is weird saying that, but if it's memorable, then you probably only had it once or twice. But I have to move on to the next thing. Those are a little bit some of the things that I think about at times when I'm thinking about how coffee can be amazing and how many times I actually want to drink it because I don't want that memory to be tainted with multiple drinks and usages.

[00:05:58] - [00:06:19] I know that's weird, but let's move on. Let's talk about more things that we can understand coffee even more so understand each other even more. So that's just kind of the way I look at things at times when I do get something that's just truly memorable. And the smell is always going to be there for coffee.

[00:06:19] - [00:06:55] But sometimes when the smell really does represent what you're actually tasting, that's quite amazing. I remember, of course, SCA, the cups of excellence coffees. That's what I tasted most of, not all of them. Like I'll say two of them. I had five that I actually tasted. All the smells were just crazy intense, crazy in your face. And that's what you really would taste a lot of times whenever we smell coffee.

[00:06:55] - [00:07:27] It's not really representative to how it's going to actually taste. But in this case, it was so intense, so intoxicating. You can actually pick out and see all the different flavors that are coming through your head. And when you actually drink and experience that coffee, it's all there. It's no lies. It's telling you more so who it is, that personality.

[00:07:28] - [00:07:41] I know some coffees, they smell good. And then when you drink them, they kind of do something totally different. But in this case, for me, a memorable coffee is something that I can truly get that transparency from the first smell to the last sip.

[00:07:44] - [00:08:23] Okay, so are there other indicators that we have when we're talking about coffees? One of my biggest things is not you get this all the time, but it is sublime. It changes. It's amazing. It does something to you in a way where, wow, I'm tasting something different every single sip. And what I mean by that is that as the coffee cools and if you just sit there and just drink it, it just changes and it just opens up even more so.

[00:08:23] - [00:08:33] And as it does that, you're on for experience that you didn't know that you were a part of. And it's pretty cool. And truthfully, that's the way I like to enjoy my coffees. It just depends on the brewing method, depends on the coffee.

[00:08:33] - [00:09:02] But sometimes we get that all the time. So that's one of the biggest indicators that I get or go through when it comes to a memorable coffee, how complex and how it changes and how clear it is for me to understand what I'm drinking. Sometimes I don't even get the clarity. I can't really pinpoint exactly what I'm drinking, but it truly doesn't matter.

[00:09:03] - [00:09:37] At the end of the day, it's one of those things where you're like, wow, this is what coffee is talking to me about. This is what coffee is saying. These are some of the things that I'm getting from this particular beverage. And I wonder and sometimes ponder and just think about like, wow, this is what you can taste in coffee. That makes any sense. And then the one to go out too long.

[00:09:39] - [00:09:50] But I guess the biggest thing here is that, like I said in the beginning, is that we're all different. We all like what we like. We all experience coffee for what it is. So know your taste buds. Push yourself. Expand your understanding of coffee.

[00:09:50] - [00:10:01] If you like light roast, go medium, go dark. If you like dark, go medium, go light. Switch it up. Go to different coffee roasters. Read the notes on the bag. Understand if this is something that's out of your comfort zone.

[00:10:01] - [00:10:20] Because I think a lot of times those true essence, those true feelings of getting to know coffee is us getting out of our comfort zone. And I think that's how we're going to get more memorable coffees when it comes to actually experiencing life.

[00:10:20] - [00:10:44] So those are some of the things that I have witnessed or experienced when it's come to memorable coffees. I'm looking forward to seeing how my taste buds and how my journey will continue to change as I continue to drink more coffees, understand more coffees, drink them with people and then just keep exploring.

[00:10:44] - [00:11:10] So I'm going to turn this right back to you. What are some of the characteristics that you go through when it comes to actually drinking, enjoying a memorable cup of coffee? What does that mean to you? Have you had those experiences? I'm sure you have. Let's talk about it. This is Okeet everyday being signing off. I'll talk to you later. Bye.