The Flavor System

The tree tags what a roaster said — it never rewrites it. A coffee described as Rainier cherry keeps that phrase exactly as written, and gains a label beside it: Cherry, under Stone Fruit. Fidelity lives in the note; comparability lives in the label. Stored separately, neither is ever traded for the other.

A note resolves to the deepest node it justifies and no deeper —dark fruit stops at dark fruit, and guessing plum would be fabrication. A note that cannot honestly be placed is never forced: it is set aside as Undetermined, and the set-aside count is reported beside every figure that draws on the rest. Interior nodes are correct answers, not fallbacks.

The vocabulary itself is curated. A flavor is admitted because it is real and distinct, not because enough roasters have said it — and automation may propose a node, but may never write one.

The full tree, set as a plate. It is drawn from the vocabulary at render time — when a node is admitted or retired, the figure redraws. Nothing here is placed by hand.