The Art of Coffee |October 2, 2024

The Art Of Pairing Coffee With Food

Pairing coffee with food is an adventure.

Those who read this blog know that I take my coffee seriously. To me, the word “coffee” doesn’t mean a general cup of dark, bitter, liquid caffeine as in the phrase, “pastries and coffee will be available before the general session.”

A coffee aficionado like me thinks, “What kind of coffee?” Will it be single origin? Brewed well? Can I verify the roast date and roast level? Will I be able to examine the beans for uniformity? Are they going to serve it in paper cups? It’s amazing how the simple things in life become so complex when you see them from a nuanced perspective. Life as a coffee geek comes with its challenges.

Me: “This is a 100% Kona Gesha washed and roasted on the farm last Tuesday. It’s a sustainably sourced, single origin, light roast with notes of apricot, honeydew, and bergamot with the slightest hint of jasmine.”
My Friends: Ok. Cool. Do you have any milk or sugar?
Me: (crying)

When I have friends or family over to celebrate annual traditions, I don’t just serve “coffee,” there is a whole procedure behind the intended pairing. At the cost of being judged harshly for coffee snobbery, let me spill the beans on the thought process that goes into selecting a perfect pairing.

Balanced, Complimentary or Contrasting?

The first step is seeing the larger picture of what I am trying to accomplish with the pairing. If guests will be dining on multiple foods (wedding, conference, potluck party) there won’t be ne-on-one pairings and I will want to serve something versatile that is smooth and balanced.

If I am serving a single dish (dessert, crepes with fruit) I typically seek something complimentary. This requires a compatible set of flavors that highlight the notes of the food without covering, coating, or compromising my ability to taste the food.

Sometimes, we want the coffee to sit in contrast to the food, to cut through heavy flavors, and to give us a back-and-forth type of experience that allows for a more intense, flavorful experience.

Let me provide an example of each pairing:

Last year, our daughter was home from university with her friends. In B&B style, they awoke to a morning buffet: quiche, waffles, meats, fruits, breads, and various edible accouterments. If I chose to put a little of each on my plate, the flavor spectrum would be so wide that trying to compliment it or contrast it would be futile. The game I play with myself is “What coffee would match this situation best?” I decided a Medium-Dark Roast in a Moka Pot would be sweet enough to soften the bright and bitter parts of the food, and rich enough to taste coffee at each stage.

On another occasion, friends were stopping by to chat (they would be our pet sitters and we were giving instructions). My wife made some almond cookies and we also had cut strawberries. Here, a light roast with soft fruit notes, done in a pour-over to highlight the acidity, was perfectly complimentary. It allowed the almond and fruit flavors to be themselves without competing with a coffee that demanded attention. It was a successful pairing!

After a heavy Italian meal, when you are so full you want to sleep, but feel you will regret not trying the tiramisu, what should you order? Considering that there is onion, garlic and oil, with heavy flavors on my palate, long lingering tastes, as well as a very rich dessert on the way, here is where I need to contrast flavors. I need a coffee that will break through, will cut the sweet, and give me something that will stand on its own. I probably am at belly capacity so something small is called for. A shot of Dark Espresso, please.

Helping Coffee Come Alive Through Pairing

If I am in the midst of spending a week or two with a new coffee origin and really want to get to know it, I often think about what foods might help me see a little deeper into the soul of the coffee.

For example, light-roasted coffee can be very light-bodied. Light-bodied can be a good attribute on its own, but if I want to dig into the mouthfeel, I may consider an avocado toast or butter croissant. Both of these allow the texture of the coffee to come through a bit more robustly.

I spent two weeks with a Kona Peaberry last year and tried all sorts of things with it. I like Peaberry as is, but tried it with sweets, yogurt, fruits, pastries, and even chocolate to see what they might reveal. I honestly didn’t care for the Peaberry sweets combination, I feel I lost the subtlety of the coffee. What was the most surprising was toast with a little butter and peanut butter. I was blown away at how good this was! The sweet and delicateness of the Peaberry seemed to be highlighted and enhanced. Sometimes trial and error are the only way forward.

In the case of salty breakfast meats (bacon, sausage), it is possible to go complimentary or contrast but you will have to decide which. The lighter fruitier coffees will soften the salt, but you still will have a lot of oil on the palette. This will make your coffee seem thin and tea-like. If you are ok with that, fine, but here a darker roast with a bolder profile will beat the salt into submission and combine with the oils for a very velvety cup.

Discovering the Origin

When I order a new coffee (from a new destination around the world) and I try it for the first time, I spend some time with that coffee by itself. I drink it black a couple of times. I add warm milk a couple of times. I try a few different brew methods. Once I think I understand the coffee on a general level, I start to introduce a few other flavor elements.

Saltine crackers, crackers with peanut butter, sugar cookies, nuts, chocolate, berries, jam. Each of these will show me a different aspect of the coffee and help reveal the sweet spot for pairing. Take a bite of the food, chew well, and swallow, then take a loud and obnoxious slurp of coffee. Take a moment to be mindful and then another sip of coffee.

All coffee will have some levels of sweetness, bitterness, and acidity. Which of those notes is pulled forward or pushed back with the various foods will be the discovery.

Don’t Forget the Science

Taste receptors on the tongue and palate work by detecting chemicals in food and drink, which are then sent to the brain as taste signals. Taste buds are located in the papillae of the tongue, palate, and other parts of the mouth. Each taste bud contains taste receptor cells (TRCs) that have microvilli, or taste hairs, that extend into the taste pore.

When food or drink touches the taste buds, the microvilli come into contact with chemicals in the food or drink. The TRCs send signals to the brain via nerves. The brain interprets these signals as different tastes, such as sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or umami.

The brain combines taste signals with smell signals to determine the flavor of a food. Taste plus aroma become flavor in the brain.

In terms of our survival as a species, we have developed a like/dislike response to certain taste/aroma stimuli. Specialists in wine, beer, whiskey, tequila, tea, and coffee use flavor wheels to learn how to identify singular flavor notes and this has been codified into industry standards and a shared vocabulary that is used to discuss the profile of a particular cup.

While there may be individuals who are more naturally inclined to be good at sensory perception, it is absolutely something that you can learn and improve.

So, while it may seem strange to many that coffee geeks sit around tables and say things like, “I’m getting a hint of orange rind, followed by really intense caramel, with a toasted marshmallow linger.” It takes years to be able to use the vocabulary properly and define the individual notes.

It is not a far leap to apply this understanding to how the coffee will pair with the various food items on the table.

Pairing Practice: Some Things to Consider

If you would like to expand your understanding of this and develop your palate, here are a few exercises you can do and things to be conscious of:

#1: Be adventurous and try things you haven’t tried before. Exposing yourself to all sorts of unique flavors will give you the ability to recognize what they are. Even if you dislike it, you must learn to detach your like/dislike response in favor of objective evaluation.

#2: Be mindful when you eat and drink as a habit.

#3: Consider the food in your mouth and chew thoroughly. Where does it first hit the tongue and how does it progress on the palate. What is the mouthfeel and texture? After you swallow, what is the lingering taste?

#4: Smell everything. Developing the olfactory sense goes a long way in getting to flavor. As a habit, smell everything. If someone drops a cheeseburger and fries in front of you, take a moment to let the fragrance of the plate come to you. Can you smell the smokiness of the meat, the acidity of the tomato slice, and a touch of bitterness from the lettuce? Can you pick out the vinegar notes of the pickle? What does the cheese add? Can you smell the oil on the fries and how does it interact with the ketchup?

To start understanding pairings, continue in the same manner as above, then be very mindful of the interplay between each item on the plate in terms of taste. Does eating the fries followed by the meat change the way it tastes to you? Does the crisp acidity of the tomato contrast against the smokiness of the meat?

It is really nothing more than spending time to be observant and really notice what is happening on the palate while it is happening.

While engaging in these daily exercises, begin to build your vocabulary. If you had to describe an apple to a friend, how would you do it? How would you distinguish it from a pear? As you read package labels look for commonly used descriptors and add them to your repertoire.

Drink different types of coffee. When you can, side-by-side compare different cups and see if you can describe how they differ.

If at first pairing seems difficult, don’t despair. There is a learning curve to get from A to B to C and just trust that anyone with healthy senses can, over time, get better and better at understanding the complexity of flavor and aroma.

Let me know if you have questions.