WAKE UP YOUR PALATE!

A coffee that seemed subtle a moment ago can suddenly seem intensely floral, fruity, and sweet, without changing its recipe or brewing a replacement cup. It feels a little like magic.

Palate Opener is a rotating selection of Latin American coffees, roasted darker in small batches on our sample air roaster. We created it as a tasting companion to our lightly roasted offerings, especially the floral ones. Try it with Flower Power, another Pit Stop favorite, or a light roast from another roaster.

Why it works

What you smell first can change what you notice next. One likely contributor is selective adaptation: your nose temporarily becomes less responsive to aromas it has recently encountered. Sensory experiments have shown that this can make other aromas within a mixture easier to identify.

With Palate Opener, the idea is that smelling the darker coffee makes some of the familiar roast aromas shared by both cups less noticeable. When you return to the lighter coffee, its floral and fruity character may stand out much more clearly. The aromas were already there; the balance of what you notice has shifted.

We could replicate this by simply roasting darker, more unevenly, use more conductive heat transfer instead of convective heat transfer like air roasting, or drop 5-10% of darker roasted beans in every batch and hope a couple of those beans make it in your dose. But doing this would all take away from the incredible cleanliness and flavor complexity of our wonderful coffees we work so hard to find, roast, and package well so you can make a great cup at home, given some extra work and effort, to make these flavors come to life!

How to try it

Start by brewing your chosen light roast using your usual recipe. Smell and taste it before smelling Palate Opener. Give yourself a moment to notice its aroma, sweetness, body, and finish so you have a starting point for comparison.

Then brew Palate Opener alongside it. Our simple approach is an immersion brew using 13 grams of coffee and 200 grams of hot water in a cupping bowl or heat-safe soup bowl. You can also use your usual brewer. Keep the preparation simple so you can focus on the comparison.

Smell Palate Opener, inhale its aroma and spend some time here, then immediately return to the aroma of your original coffee. Take a sip and notice what stands out. You can also sip Palate Opener before returning to the other cup to explore how tasting order changes the experience.

Move between the cups as they cool. Does the lighter coffee seem more floral? Does its fruit character become easier to recognize? Any new notes you hadn’t previously experienced? Has its perceived sweetness changed? Explore what happens for you!

Coffee details

• Origin: Rotating Latin American selections

• Roast: Darker than our usual offerings

• Format: Whole bean

• Size: 75 g (2.65 oz)

• Limit: One bag per customer

The coffee selection rotates. Check your bag for the current coffee, roast date, and recommended tasting window.