Floral coffee

Floral is the most fragile note in coffee and the hardest to keep from the farm to the cup. Jasmine, rose, blossom, bergamot and honeysuckle: aromatics so light that a slightly long roast, a slightly hot brew or a slightly old bag will remove them completely.

Everything about the chain has to go right

The lot has to be good enough to have florals at all, the roast has to be stopped early enough to keep them, the bag has to be fresh, and the brew has to be gentle. Miss any one and you are drinking a pleasant light roast with nothing distinctive in it. This is why floral coffees are the most expensive and the most disappointing when they are handled badly.

Ethiopia, and the varieties behind it

Most floral coffee is Ethiopian, and specifically washed lots from Yirgacheffe and the surrounding areas, where the combination of variety, altitude and processing produces jasmine and bergamot reliably enough to have become the region's signature. Geisha, grown in Panama and elsewhere, is the other famous floral coffee and is priced accordingly. Our guide to Ethiopian coffee goes into the regions.

Light roast, always

There is no such thing as a floral dark roast. These are light roasts without exception, and a roaster who takes a floral lot further is destroying the reason to buy it. Aromatics are the first thing heat removes and they do not come back.

Brew it gently and drink it as it cools

Filter, paper, and water a little off the boil. Brewing pour over coffee is the natural method, and a kettle you can set the temperature on stops being a luxury here. Florals are also more obvious as the cup cools, so the first sip at scalding temperature tells you least about what you bought.

Buy it fresh, in small bags

More than any other note, this one has a shelf life. A floral coffee three months off roast is a light roast with the interesting part gone. Buy from roasters who print a roast date rather than a best-before. Coffees that print a roast date are listed on their own page.