What exactly is this mouthfeel that coffee people keep talking about?
"Mouthfeel" is the multifaceted, haptic sensory impression of a food. With the tongue, and less with the palate, we explore the texture of foodstuffs or liquids.
The term "Mundgefühl" is a somewhat unfortunate loan translation from the English mouthfeel<1>. The term texture, used in wine sensory analysis, describes the same effect as mouthfeel and can easily replace it.
The differences in haptic sensory impressions between crispbread, oysters, and dough are enormous. The vocabulary to describe these differences is also very broad: crispy, slimy, chewy, etc.
With coffee, it's different. As a beverage, coffee is liquid, and thus the broad spectrum of intensity is limited: thin – liquid – viscous. Instead of going broad, we need to go deep here and describe the quality of intensity to communicate coffee. From tea-like, silky, velvety, juicy, to round, creamy, syrupy, etc., a wide range of descriptions is available to us.
Some factors that influence mouthfeel
Numerous factors contribute to the beverage. The ripeness of the coffee cherry, its processing, the way we roast the coffee, and its resulting solubility – lightly roasted coffees are generally less soluble than longer roasted coffees.
The substances now dissolved through extraction are co-responsible for the quality of the mouthfeel. The water used also plays a significant role here, as the composition of minerals contained in the water reacts with the coffee and thus extracts soluble substances.
Mouthfeel and perception
The texture of coffee significantly influences our perception. If a coffee has a syrupy consistency and lingers longer on the tongue, I also have more time to analyze the coffee. The flavors appear more intense to us. If, however, a watery coffee quickly disappears from the tongue, there are fewer dissolved substances in it. The low intensity and its short lingering time lead to the flavors being insufficiently perceptible.
The quality of the mouthfeel plays an important role in the sensory evaluation of a coffee. Even if the coffee has great aromas and complex acids – if the mouthfeel doesn't cooperate, the coffee is less enjoyable and the flavors are less discernible.
<1> However, since many terms in coffee sensory analysis originate from Anglo-Saxon (not least due to the foundational work of the SCAA – Specialty Coffee Association of America), the term has become established.
