If in the past, only the COB classification was used in the Brazilian domestic market, and, NY classification for the foreign market, currently a new nomenclature has been introduced from new contexts, new versions, new cultures, new flavors, new aromas. This new evolution and new concepts are due to a partnership that took place in 1995, from the director of SCAA (American Specialty Coffee Association with scientist Ann Noble Davis, who had already developed the Wheel of Wine Flavors. The first version of the Coffee Wheel, launched and published by the Association of Special Cafés (SCA) is widely used today by coffee professionals from around the world and allows everyone to speak the same language when it comes to the aroma and flavor of coffee .

 

In contrast to the COB classification system (Official Brazilian Classification), which assesses defective beans, the SCA methodology focuses on sensory attributes and guides the tasters through the Coffee Flavors and Aromas Wheel.

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Basically, it is organized into two large groups:

• Flavors, which were divided into sweet, salty, bitter and sour;

• Aromas - which was divided into smells of enzymatic origin, caramelization and dry distillation.

 

When tasting coffee, the first step is to identify these large groups and then further describe the aromas and flavors of each subgroup. This method guided market professionals for two decades until the evaluation system was updated in 2016. The number of 110 new attributes or descriptions was added to form another layout of the Coffee Aromas and Flavors Wheel as shown in the photo below. ​

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​Brazil remains representing 35% of the world production, being the largest player in the world of coffee as a commodity.
However, we must keep up with this evolution of specialty coffees with only 20 years of existence, but inside the coffee exports statistics, represents a small part, around 10%.
It is worth remembering that, regardless of the innovations present in the coffee market, traditional markets in the old world continue to prevail, creating markets for these new special tastes but prevailing the conservative clients tastes.