Cupping
Acidic. Heavy. Nutty. Balanced. Flowery. Chocolatey. Piquant. Sweet. Moldy. Stale. Salty. Citrusy. Inarticulate. Articulate. Pronounced. Complex. Sharp. Mellow. Earthy. Tangy. Appley.
These words appear on various colored backgrounds in a taster’s wheel, placed according to specificity. The tasters wheel, developed over many years, is supposed to aid in the identification of fragrances, aromas, flavors, characteristics. It is intricate, complicated, layered. It is a guide; a guide for the description of the limitless attributes of coffee.
Of course the descriptions are not limited to the hundreds of words on this wheel. Indeed, one is encouraged to describe what they smell, sense, inhale, perceive as creatively as possible. “It is heavy bodied with notes of bakers chocolate on the tongue, and a pleasant, rounded acidity that coats the palate for en extended period after swallowing”. “The hint of lemon is complimented by whispers of blueberry, creating an articulate flavor with medium body and low acidity”. Wine anyone? No, this is coffee we are describing.
Coffee is also described at various stages. A visual evaluation precedes everything. After grinding, one evaluates the coffees “aroma”, the smell before water is added. Then, water at precisely 200 degrees should be added
In addition to the description of the attributes of coffee one must be able to identify its origin. Nations, and within nations, regions, and within regions, farms, have particular features they may be renowned for. A good cupper can easily identify a Kenyan or a Sumatran, a Malawi or a Zambia, a Brazilian or a Peruvian. They will be able to explain the attributes of each and even the seeds of these variances, what causes the particular distinguishable traits. In addition, they could tell you if the beans brewed in the cup were too ripe or not ripe enough, stored next to spices or in bags made with petroleum, whether the coffee was grown at altitude or close to sea level. Talk about well-trained palates.
In order to cultivate this skill and vocabulary, those interested in cupping are advised to do a few things. Smell, A LOT. Go to the supermarket and smell everything, committing the various scents to memory so that one will be better able to identify them in a cup. Don’t eat spicy foods, and don’t eat before you plan to taste. Practice. Sip a lot of coffee. Connect your taste buds to your memory receptors. Practice some more.
The most amusing part of the cupping experience is the actual method of tasting. There is no gulping coffee at a cupping, in fact, one does not even drink it! Rather, one must use a rounded deep soup spoon to scoop up a small amount of coffee, raise it to their lips, and slurp it into their mouth as fast as possible, ensuring the liquid coats their mouth all over, reaching the back of the throat and thereby giving one the full experience. One’s cupping ability and training can usually be ascertained by the power and sound of their slurping. Contrary to what your mother told you about table manners, forcefully aspirating the coffee out of your soup spoon so that it coats the entire inside of your mouth is the modus operendi of cupping sessions all over the world.
As I train little by little, attempting to hone in myself some semblance of expertise at this skill, I become aware of its importance for farmers. Understanding how to distinguish their coffee from others, pointing out both its good parts and its defects makes it possible for them to make improvements in quality as well as to demand prices they know are fair for the quality they produce. Access to this knowledge is their key, and here on realizes more than ever, that knowledge is power. Power to see, to distinguish, to make demands accordingly.
The only thing about cupping, besides all of the ritual, stipulations, etc, is that it may actually decrease one’s ability to enjoy coffee. As anything, learning more about something can put one into the snob category by increasing the ability to understand what is really high quality and what isn’t. As I delve deeper into this, I get to know more and more purists, more and more about appreciating coffee for its natural flavors. This means drinking it black. Luckily, as I have come to see, good black coffee is really good. Sweet, flavorful, intense, delicious. However, I am going to have to work out just how to compromise the part of me that is training to be a purist and that part of me that loves iced coffee and lattes. I suppose like movie versions of books, one has to take each for what it is, taste its qualities, and not judge one by the standards of the other.
These words appear on various colored backgrounds in a taster’s wheel, placed according to specificity. The tasters wheel, developed over many years, is supposed to aid in the identification of fragrances, aromas, flavors, characteristics. It is intricate, complicated, layered. It is a guide; a guide for the description of the limitless attributes of coffee.
Of course the descriptions are not limited to the hundreds of words on this wheel. Indeed, one is encouraged to describe what they smell, sense, inhale, perceive as creatively as possible. “It is heavy bodied with notes of bakers chocolate on the tongue, and a pleasant, rounded acidity that coats the palate for en extended period after swallowing”. “The hint of lemon is complimented by whispers of blueberry, creating an articulate flavor with medium body and low acidity”. Wine anyone? No, this is coffee we are describing.
Coffee is also described at various stages. A visual evaluation precedes everything. After grinding, one evaluates the coffees “aroma”, the smell before water is added. Then, water at precisely 200 degrees should be added
In addition to the description of the attributes of coffee one must be able to identify its origin. Nations, and within nations, regions, and within regions, farms, have particular features they may be renowned for. A good cupper can easily identify a Kenyan or a Sumatran, a Malawi or a Zambia, a Brazilian or a Peruvian. They will be able to explain the attributes of each and even the seeds of these variances, what causes the particular distinguishable traits. In addition, they could tell you if the beans brewed in the cup were too ripe or not ripe enough, stored next to spices or in bags made with petroleum, whether the coffee was grown at altitude or close to sea level. Talk about well-trained palates.
In order to cultivate this skill and vocabulary, those interested in cupping are advised to do a few things. Smell, A LOT. Go to the supermarket and smell everything, committing the various scents to memory so that one will be better able to identify them in a cup. Don’t eat spicy foods, and don’t eat before you plan to taste. Practice. Sip a lot of coffee. Connect your taste buds to your memory receptors. Practice some more.
The most amusing part of the cupping experience is the actual method of tasting. There is no gulping coffee at a cupping, in fact, one does not even drink it! Rather, one must use a rounded deep soup spoon to scoop up a small amount of coffee, raise it to their lips, and slurp it into their mouth as fast as possible, ensuring the liquid coats their mouth all over, reaching the back of the throat and thereby giving one the full experience. One’s cupping ability and training can usually be ascertained by the power and sound of their slurping. Contrary to what your mother told you about table manners, forcefully aspirating the coffee out of your soup spoon so that it coats the entire inside of your mouth is the modus operendi of cupping sessions all over the world.
As I train little by little, attempting to hone in myself some semblance of expertise at this skill, I become aware of its importance for farmers. Understanding how to distinguish their coffee from others, pointing out both its good parts and its defects makes it possible for them to make improvements in quality as well as to demand prices they know are fair for the quality they produce. Access to this knowledge is their key, and here on realizes more than ever, that knowledge is power. Power to see, to distinguish, to make demands accordingly.
The only thing about cupping, besides all of the ritual, stipulations, etc, is that it may actually decrease one’s ability to enjoy coffee. As anything, learning more about something can put one into the snob category by increasing the ability to understand what is really high quality and what isn’t. As I delve deeper into this, I get to know more and more purists, more and more about appreciating coffee for its natural flavors. This means drinking it black. Luckily, as I have come to see, good black coffee is really good. Sweet, flavorful, intense, delicious. However, I am going to have to work out just how to compromise the part of me that is training to be a purist and that part of me that loves iced coffee and lattes. I suppose like movie versions of books, one has to take each for what it is, taste its qualities, and not judge one by the standards of the other.
posted by Hilary King at
10:54 PM
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