A high quality delivered coffee for a business coffee service requires a minimal roast to delivery time frame. Whether the roaster is office coffee provider or just the supplier, the product must be roasted, packaged and delivered within days, not weeks.

The problem with most services available to businesses is that the product delivered for a vending coffee is often quite lengthy. To preserve the characteristics defined in this article, the time from roaster to business consumer must be within two to seven days. This time frame enables a reasonable consumption period where the coffee's unique taste characteristics are preserved.

For the novice coffee drinker, there are four primary taste profiles described and categorized for Specialty Arabica gourmet office coffee. These include: Acidity, Aroma, Body and Flavor. Flavor can be further broken down into Balance, Range, Complexity, Richness and Finish.

Acidity

The measure of a coffee's acidity is different from the use of the word typically associated with food products. In coffee acidity is a positive trait that is a measure of the acid content after brewing. A proper level of acidity will give a level of tartness that gives the coffee a pleasant result when in the proper balance with the beans natural sweetness. Because of the consumer's negative association with the word acidity, this characteristic in coffee is often described using terms that include brightness, sharpness, briskness and dryness.

Aroma

The pleasant aroma that is enjoyed by consumers of high quality gourmet office coffee is a result of the gasses being released during the brewing process. The various aromas are described as spicy, fruity, floral, earthy and herby. It is the combination of characteristics that will enhance the coffee's ultimate aroma.

Body

This characteristic is a result of the texture as experience in the mouth. You can easily notice the thickness of the body, which can include more undesirable variations that include gritty or oily in the brewed coffee. Because of various preferences, you can find office coffees that have very full, full, medium or light body. Blends usually result in the best overall quality as highly desirable aromatic coffees can often be light in body, while full bodied coffees can often have more bitter qualities. With the right combinations of roast profiles and quantities, very unique results can be achieved by the master roaster.

Flavor

It is only after the brewed coffee is in the mouth is flavor experienced. This is the true measure of a quality gourmet office coffee. The combination of acidity, body and aroma comes together to give the coffee lover a unique experience for that specific coffee as compared to any other.

Descriptions of a coffee's flavor vary widely, but the basic terms include: Balance, Complexity, richness and range.
Balance measures the levels of characteristics compared with each other.

- Complexity measures or reveals the more unexpected nuances of the sensations and flavor during drinking.

- Richness measures the levels of body, aroma and flavor experienced by the consumer.

- Range relates to the range of flavors that expose themselves in the mouth.

Finish

The aftertaste is what is referred to as "finish" in coffee tasting circles. These are the characteristics that are experienced after the coffee is swallowed. This sensation can be very pleasant as when there is a fruity, spicy or chocolaty aftertaste, or very unpleasant when there is a bitter taste or what is called in the industry a "cow shed" taste.

The Master Roaster is much like a chef who must account for all of the possible characteristics that will please the consumer of the product. A high quality office coffee service roaster is just as critical to providing high quality business coffee to our nation's business community.