The terms 'peak', 'peaky' and 'peakiness' are tasting terms. They are often used in coffee / tea cupping and coffee / tea tasting. They refer to the presence of especially dominant notes in a coffee or tea. What does this mean, exactly?

When you taste something complex in flavor and aroma (such as coffee or tea), it tends to have many different scents and tastes in it. Some of them are more dominant than others.


Ones that are especially strong flavors can be referred to as 'peaks', and a drink that is characterized by especially strong 'peaks' (or just one very strong peak) is called 'peak'. 'Peakiness' is simply the noun form of the adjective 'peaky', and it's used like this: "This tea has a lot of peakiness. The green notes are way too dominant!"

Generally, peaky coffees and teas are considered undesirable by professional coffee and tea blenders. These pros usually want a blend that is standardized from season to season and year to year, so their job is to even out peaks, not emphasize them.

However, some people who prefer unblended, single-origin teas prefer some peakiness in their tea. This can mean clear notes of, say, flowers, certain kinds of fruit, veggies or other flavor characteristics (such as these common flavor profiles for teas). The same is true for some coffee connoisseurs, except that the notes are different. (Think: berries, chocolate, wood / paper, leather.)