title_body: Coffee tasting notes: myth or reality?
upvoted_answer: There is a defined set of tasting note terms, the World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon which is the basis for the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel.
  
  Those terms are intended to name specific tastes and you can take a class to learn how to recognize them.
  
  Since I've not yet taken such a class, I can't testify to the reliability or utility of "flavor notes" on packages, but surely some writers are way off in fantasy land.
  
  Furthermore, some staffers at big coffee chains are not even clear on the distinction between flavor notes and added flavoring!