Canephora
Flavour Wheel.
Speak Canephora · 103 research-based descriptors
Explore the research-based flavour wheel for Coffea canephora, widely known as Robusta, then practise its sensory vocabulary one descriptor at a time.
Canephora flavour wheel
A sensory map.
A way in.
Get to know the research-based Canephora Flavour Wheel, then move through its 103 descriptors — one sensory family, and one card, at a time.
Based on sensory evaluations of 67 coffees from 13 origins by 49 professional graders in Brazil and Switzerland.
Carvalho et al. · Scientific Reports · 2025 ↗All 15 families · 28 subfamilies · 103 descriptors
Choose a segment · All descriptors
Canephora descriptor deck
Put the map
into practice.
About the deck
Complete deck
Card 1 of 103
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How to read the wheel and cards.
52 contextual WCR cross-references.51 sensory-memory prompts.
Each card shows where its descriptor sits in the Canephora wheel: the Tier 1 family and Tier 2 subfamily appear above the Tier 3 descriptor on the front. The family colour visually links the card to the wheel, while the descriptor's Average Mean Score comes directly from the study. Because the study does not provide individual sensory definitions, the reverse adds a practical learning layer: a contextual WCR cross-reference where an exact or sufficiently close counterpart exists, and a sensory-memory prompt where none was identified.
About AMS
The descriptor AMS shown on each card comes from Table 3 of Carvalho et al. (2025). The Tier 1 family AMS and normalized share shown under the wheel come from Table 4. A family's Tier 1 AMS is reported independently; it is not calculated by adding its descriptor scores. The study does not report an aggregate AMS for Tier 2, so its detail view shows the count, highest score and range of the Tier 3 descriptors shown in that branch instead. AMS combines how frequently and how intensely a term was selected across the study dataset. The raw value is not a percentage, cup score or quality rating; the separate Tier 1 percentage expresses that family's normalized share across all fifteen families. Starting with Roasted at 12 o'clock and reading clockwise, the Tier 1 families run from the highest AMS to Salty, with the lowest. This ordering applies only to Tier 1. Only descriptors with an AMS of 0.5 or higher are shown.
About WCR cross-references
An exact match uses the same term as the WCR Sensory Lexicon. A closest reference points to a related, but not identical, WCR attribute; that attribute is named on the card. In both cases, the accompanying text is independently written as a practical sensory guide and does not reproduce the WCR definition.
How the wheel is structured
The wheel moves from broad Tier 1 families through Tier 2 subfamilies to specific Tier 3 descriptors. In nine families, the Tier 2 label repeats the Tier 1 family name because those descriptors are not placed in a separately named subfamily. The repeated label acts as a structural bridge, not a second sensory distinction. Tier 2 and Tier 3 follow sensory hierarchy rather than one continuous AMS ranking; segment width reflects the number of descriptors in a branch, not its AMS.
How it relates to the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel
The Canephora Flavour Wheel applies the familiar three-tier structure to a dataset developed specifically from Coffea canephora coffees. It is a species-specific sensory tool: broad families lead to subfamilies and individual descriptors, including terms that are particularly relevant when describing Canephora.
From language to market
Now take the language to the coffees.
Explore how Canephora is described in products documented across the Swiss market — and follow each coffee through origin, producer, process, roaster and seller.