A speciality coffee flavour note across London.
Straw in the cup presents as a dry, slightly dusty cereal quality, reminiscent of dried grass or the interior of a hay bale rather than anything green or fresh. It sits at the lighter, more neutral end of the flavour spectrum and is often perceived as a faint background note rather than a dominant characteristic. This quality typically arises from lower-density beans, underdevelopment during roasting, or the natural drying of coffee cherry in certain processing methods where the fruit imparts a subtle dried-fibre character to the seed.
Coffees from higher-altitude regions with pronounced dry seasons, such as parts of Ethiopia, Yemen, and some areas of Central America, can sometimes carry a straw-like quality, particularly in naturally processed lots where the beans dry slowly on raised beds. It is also often associated with lighter roasts of lower-grown Robusta-influenced blends, or with washed coffees that have been processed under cooler drying conditions. This note typically becomes more noticeable in coffees where fruit-forward or floral characteristics are less prominent, leaving the base grain and fibre qualities of the bean itself more exposed.
On a bag or cafe menu, straw is occasionally listed alongside descriptors such as hay, dried herbs, cereal, or grain, and tends to appear in tasting notes for lightly roasted single origins rather than medium or darker blends. Pour-over and filter methods, which preserve subtle structural qualities in the cup, tend to make this note more perceptible than milk-based espresso drinks, where it would likely be masked. If you find straw a less appealing characteristic, look for processing notes indicating fully washed or wet-hulled methods, which generally produce a cleaner cup with fewer dried-fibre qualities.
Take our 60-second flavour quiz and discover roasts across London that are aligned with your palate — including ones carrying straw notes.