Course Description

Coffee Flavour Wheel

Flavour is made up of a complex association of many different attributes and characteristics that combine to give the overall impression that we perceive when we taste foods. During this course participants will focus on developing their tasting skills to deconstruct or analyse complex flavours such as coffee, tea, wine, chocolate and whiskey.Participants will learn about the production processes that give rise to the flavours and will use flavour training standards to train their palates to detect the important attributes or flavour notes in each food group. Sessions will be interactive and experiential and will include ‘taste tests’ and exercises to challenge and develop participants’ tasting skills.

Booking contact 01 – 7167123 or UCD Adult Education

More Details

The schedule for the classes will be as follows:

Week 1 (30 Jan): Wine

Week 2 (06 Feb): Coffee

Week 3 (13 Feb): Chocolate

Week 4 (20 Feb): Whiskey

Week 5 (27 Feb): Tea

Week 6 (06 Mar): Cheese plus wrap-up of course

Each session consists of a number of structured tastings involving a taste training element, some descriptive tastings (describing the perceptions you experience when you are tasting), some preference tastings (which sample you prefer and why) as well as some specific taste tests: ie spot the different sample in a triplet of samples. These tastings will be designed to improve  a participant’s tasting skills, get more out of the tasting experience as well as more fully appreciating and experiencing the foods that we eat.

The samples used for the tastings will be chosen to demonstrate the diversity of flavours that can be experienced within the specific food category. While many of these samples will be from specialty/artisan type producers, some samples will be taken from the ordinary supermarket shelf to aid comparisons and stimulate debate.

Group discussions follow each tasting exercise so that there will be plenty of opportunities to share your experiences/thoughts/questions with the group and to engage in lively discussions.

Why Saturday mornings? Mornings are the best times to taste as our brains are more alert and our palates are clean. Also, a Saturday morning allows the sessions to be 3 hrs long which would not be possible on a week day evenings. And I work Mon – Fri so it has to be Saturdays!

So forget Saturday Kitchen on the BBC and come along for your Saturday Morning Tastings…what better way to start the weekend!!

David

Watch the Science Club Video shown at the Final Night of the Fringe in the Spiegeltent!

And here is a clip of us blowing gastro bubbles around the Spiegeltent!!

And here is another…

Want to get involved in the Dublin Fringe Festival Science Club?

I will be leading a number of interactive sessions around the following themes of: taste & smell – the chemical senses, deconstructing wine flavour, Food Foams and Molecular Gastronomy. There will also be a field trip to Apocalypse When? on Friday 18th September included as one of the events. For more details check out Dublin Fringe Festival

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Tickets from Science Gallery

What does it mean when you have bubbles in an espresso? How does the taste change when milk is frothed at different temperatures? Which milks are best for foaming and why?Join myself and Ireland’s National Barista Champion, Colin Harmon , as we describe the mechanics and science of foaming milks, including the impact of texture on taste. The event will feature a ‘smackdown’ where three audience members will compete by trying their own hand at making the perfect foam before their cappuccinos are judged by a panel of celebrity experts.

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For more information or bookings contact 01-7167123 or UCD Adult Education

Course Description

Ever wonder why an apple tastes like an apple? Or whether that glass of wine really has notes of vanilla or a hint of violets? This course explores the Science behind Taste & Aroma and takes a scientific approach to the appreciation of flavour. Using sensory analysis techniques and aroma essences participants will deconstruct the flavour of foods such as Coffee, Tea, Wine and Cheese.

Kitchen Chemistry and the science of cooking are also investigated.

Course Outline

Week 1    Introduction: Taste & Smell – the Chemical Senses

Week 2    The Composition of Foods – a closer look at what foods are made of

Week 3    The Physiology of Taste – how humans percieve flavour

Week 4    Deconstructing Flavour 1 – Coffee Flavour Chemistry

Week 5    Deconstructing Flavour 2 – Wine Flavour Chemistry

Week 6    Deconstructing Flavour 3 – Cheese Flavour Chemistry

Week 7    The Flavour & Chemistry of Tea

Week 8    The Science of Cooking 1 – Chemistry in the Kitchen

Week 9    The Science of Cooking 2 – Physics in the Kitchen

Week 10    The Kitchen as a Laboratory – Experiment & Create

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http://www.slideshare.net/secret/4KS5bfbcBX778j

and

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/1OzhvjVbxeVwbG

The ingredients and some equipment were sourced from cuisine innovation

and the following company stock the el bulli versions of these ingredients:

Artisan Foods
39 Canal Walk
Parkwest
Dublin 12
Ireland
Tel +00 353 1 620 49 84
Fax +00 353 1 620 49 81

simon@artisanfoods.ie
www.artisanfoods.ie

Here are some pictures of the caviar/ravioli:

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Weekend Workshop (4 – 5th July) @ Science Gallery

Science Gallery

Trinity College Dublin

Dublin 2

Workshop Outline

Saturday 4th

Morning

* Exploring Taste & Smell (The Chemical Senses)

* The Physiology and Psychology of Taste

* Flavour Chemicals – what are they?

* The Science of Tasting – scientific sensory analysis techniques

Afternoon

* An introduction to wine and wine making – how the grape, process and geography affects the flavour?

* Wine Taste Training – using flavour standards to train the nose to detect common wine flavours

* Wine tasting exercises and tasting tests – blind tasting, describe the flavour of a wine sample, pick out the odd sample out of a triplet of samples, identify grape variety from the taste

Sunday 5th

Morning

* An introduction to Coffee and Coffee Flavour – coffee varieties, production and roasting process

* Coffee Taste Training – using flavour standards to train the nose to detect common flavours in coffee

* Coffee cupping exercise – cup coffee like the experts, assess and describe different coffee samples, blind tasting and taste tests

Afternoon

* Key scientific concepts used in Molecular Gastronomy

* Demonstrations on how to make novel foods like apple caviar, pea ravioli or hibiscus paper with the scientific insight into what is happening

* An opportunity to experiment and develop your own El Bulli-esq creations!!

Fee for the two day workshop is E140 with Science Gallery Membership (Free membership). Places are limited. Participants must be over 18 years old.

If interested please email me on: sciencetastearoma@gmail.com or call 085 81 000 42. Places limited to 20. Start time 10 am, finish 5 pm each day.

Comments from previous students of Science of Taste & Aroma Course in UCD:

“Fantastic course, would thoroughly recommend it”

“I’ve never enjoyed a course as much as I’ve enjoyed this one”

“David has obviously put an enormous amount of work & commitment into developing this course and continuously trying to improve it. It is suitable for both people who have a scientific background and those who don’t”

“The tasting sessions worked really well. I’m now paying attention to aroma and taste everywhere”

Update

Delighted to say that Colin Harman (reigning National Barista Champion) will be attending the Deconstructing Coffee session on Sunday morning and will be lending us his expertise on speciality coffee, coffee tasting and the Art of the Barista. Following the National Barista Championship Colin went on to come 4th in the World Barista Championship in April – a really brilliant achievement. For more information on Colin and his work checkout his blog Dublin Barista or his video link Tamper Tantrum. Colin is an ex-student of The Science of Taste & Aroma course in UCD.

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