Our tongues are covered with extremely well designed flavor sensing machines. Each one of our nearly 10,000 taste buds sends complex messages from our tongue to our brain with every bite and sip we take. They help us avoid eating unpleasant things. They fuel our cravings. If we pay close enough attention to their signals, we can pick out even the most obscure flavors.
But here’s the thing, you don’t need a trained palate or arsenal of adjectives to know what tastes good.
Remember the last thing you tasted that was mind-blowingly delicious? Did it bring up a specific memory? Did it challenge your perceptions? Did it surpass your wildest expectations? After experimenting to develop the perfect coffee rum recipe, we’ll never forget our reactions to tasting Hue-Hue for the first time.
As we brought the glass up for a sip, dark chocolate and baking spices dominated our senses. The aromatics transported us to rich volcanic Guatemalan hillsides where the coffee for Hue-Hue is grown. It was robust, acidic, and unmistakably coffee. With the first sip came something more tropical: a hint of banana and ripe stone fruit, and we found ourselves on white sand Caribbean beaches; rum country. The finish was all chocolate covered raisins and that familiar moment of your entire body waking up with a warm cup of coffee. We were back home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
The taste of Hue-Hue is a direct result of the real-life journey each of our ingredients takes before they reach us.