Sweetness
甜感
TastingDefinition
Sweetness is the soft, sugary impression of coffee, yet it comes almost entirely from caramelized sugars, sugar alcohols and fruity esters — sucrose itself is largely destroyed during roasting. It is strongest in ripe, carefully processed beans and is easily buried by dark roasting or over-extraction.
Etymology
Old English swetnes, from swete, 'sweet'. Cupping forms have scored it as a standalone attribute only since the specialty era, once processing was understood to control it.
In use
Judges often describe it by reference — 'brown sugar sweetness', 'honey-like' — because the actual sugar content of the cup is negligible.