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Some folks have asked me to give you something on cupping...well, here goes. Please read the following knowing that you should not try this at home...that is, if you plan on doing it without laughter, joking, and generally having a good time! Coffee is a pleasure drink, meant to build relationships and friendships!
Cupping for Fun and Pleasure
Cupping is one of the coffee tasting techniques used by roasters and others to evaluate coffee aroma and the flavor profile of a coffee. This can be a routine and somewhat boring exercise or an adventure in discovering unique tastes associated with a beverage. Just as tasters sample fine wines to determine the pros and cons of a wine batch, the roaster - or the coffee consumer - samples (cups) coffee to discover the unique qualities each type of blend or roast might offer.
Preparing for a cupping session:
For a coffee cupping session, I would recommend setting the table for the number of people that will be participating...you will need a number of 6 oz cups (I recommend you simply use your common custard cups) - at least one per participant, whole bean coffee of choice, a good coffee grinder (burr preferred), a method of boiling water, and a willingness to educate your taste buds to uncover tastes you may never expect in a cup of coffee!
You will also need some type of grading sheets so that you can make notes on the coffee being sampled. You will be looking specifically at the acidity, the body, a coffee's sweetness, and its finish. You will need to do some research on your own - get out that ol' computer, dust off the cobwebs, and start searching! :o) You will want to understand what you are looking for, but do not get too serious...that is, unless you are looking to become a roasting fool yourself!
Stuff that might be interesting:
Just a few notes on the terms I threw at you... Acidity - this can be described as the pleasing sharpness in a coffee. Acidity is the quality that many of the fruit and floral flavors found in coffee come from, and usually is the characteristic of coffee most critiqued. Acidity can be bold or intense or mild, it can have a round or an edgy taste, it can come to you as an elegant angel or blast upon the scene as a wild devil of a taste. It is not always a bad thing...can be rather pleasing in fact. Body - This is often referred to as to how the coffee "feels" in the mouth...it can have anywhere from a light to heavy or a thin to thick feel. Sweetness - Oftentimes seen as one of the more important characteristics of coffee...I have read that sweetness often separates the great from the good in coffee roasts. Now for folks that usually add sugar or other substances to sweeten their coffee to a high degree, you will need to send your taste buds to "coffee college" before you will be able to completely click into this notion, I fear... The importance of sweetness lies in the fact that it provides balance to the coffee taste. Even the most acidic coffees are made refreshing when there is enough sweetness to linger on the tongue, providing a good finish to a mug of brew. Sweetness, in coffee, is critical to allowing the other tastes to flourish and be appreciated. Finish - You know we all have first impressions of people, pets, alpacas...and coffee. Oftentimes those first impressions are powerful and they guide our impressions and expectations...however, the last impression is what has the most impact. With coffee the aftertaste is of primary importance to the overall quality of the tasting experience. That aftertaste tends to linger long after the coffee has passed beyond our lips and been swallowed. The ideal finish for a coffee should provide the taster with a sweet, and refreshing endurance that carries the flavor for 10 seconds or longer after swallowing.
Cupping "in action"
To prepare the coffee samples, start with 2 tablespoons of freshly roasted and freshly ground coffee in a 6 oz cup. While the water is boiling, smell the coffee grounds and write down your observations. The smell of the grounds (before water is added) is referred to as the fragrance. Then add hot water--just off the boil--to each cup. At this time we often also add hot water to the cup containing the spoons so that the spoons stay at the same temperature as the cups containing the coffee. Smell each cup without disturbing it and write down your initial observations of the coffee aroma. After 1-2 minutes, break the crust of the coffee (the grounds that have formed on the surface) using one of the spoons. Put your nose directly over the cup and push the coffee down. This can be said to be the most potent burst of aroma you will have during cupping and is the best time to evaluate the coffee aroma. You also may slowly lean down to just above the cup, and slowly stir the air above the coffee toward you with your hand in a lifting motion, bringing the aroma into your nose. Next,make sure all of the coffee is covered in water and, if need be, help the coffee sink to the bottom of the cup. Add any further description of the aroma to the description you wrote before breaking the crust.
After the coffee has cooled sufficiently take some coffee into the spoon and slurp the coffee strongly to aspirate it over the entire tongue. It is important to aspirate strongly since you are trying to cover the entire tongue evenly. Aspirating strongly will also cause tiny droplets of coffee to be distributed into the throat and into the nasal passage (word of caution - if done too strongly you may find yourself breathing in liquid to your lungs...not a good thing). Finally,the nose can act as another powerful tasting tool. Most of the flavor observed in a coffee is a result of aromatic compounds present in the coffee.
Do not be intimidated by people that try to impress you with some abstract description of a coffee. This is more of a romantic tribute to a coffee rather than a reality and probably being given by a coffee snob. Cupping coffee should be fun and interesting, but not a contest of who is more articulate. Your remarks are your own, no one can take them away from you! However, if you find that individuals standing, sitting, or (for some reason) rolling on the floor near you, are doubled over with laughter...well, do a bit more slurping and try to ignore them, they probably are coffee snobs as well!
Next month we will be on to some other interesting topic surrounding one of my favorite subjects. Now if you have a request, just simply email me and we will attempt to cover your topic! May even tell you about Bravo Bo-Ruvian, the suri alpaca!
Until then,
The Coffeeman
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On A Personal Note......
Last month I wrote of Ms. Lucille W. (Pinkie) Speth - the owner of Pinkie's 'Pacas at Walnut Knoll. She also is Judy's Mother and she is, as I have noted in a previous newsletter, the reason we offer a decaf coffee. That information is, I think, good info...but it does not have a lot to do with this "Personal Note." You see, the other Sunday morning Judy and I were preparing the coffee and other goodies for our church's contemporary service, The First Place. We always have some breakfast snacks, and a few airpots full of - yep, you guessed it - The Alpaca Bean Coffee. We, or some of our fellow church members, usually prepare mostly one of our caffeine packed "regular" roasts, and a little bit of Peruvian Especial Decaf. I am telling you this because I am usually not a decaf coffee drinker...no reason really, just have not done that very often. Well, that particular Sunday folks were arriving at a slow pace and since I was standing in front of the decaf airpot, I drew me up a cup...and it was as if I had never tasted this coffee before! I turned to Judy and could not contain myself! Before I realized it, "Judy, this is REALLY good!" came out of my mouth. It was not so much a surprise, but more a realization that I had not given our decaf its due!
You know there are folks that cannot drink the high octane stuff anymore...they have lost one of their pleasures in life - now THAT is personal...and I have let them down! No more! Hey guys (generic phrase meaning girls and guys), if you cannot drink the "real" coffee any longer you are not without an alternative! Get yourself a really good decaf, invite your buds over for coffee and pie, serve them the good decaf (of course you do not need to tell them this little secret), and watch the satisfaction spread across their faces...THEN sock it to them - tell them they have - of all things - just polished off DECAF! Now, you can decide what decaf is better but remember my discovery! Peruvian Especial Decaf is hard to beat!
A word of caution...decaf coffee, or decaf anything that usually has caffeine, is not caffeine free. So if you fall in love with Peruvian Especial Decaf, and you will, you will have to show a bit of restraint...say if you drink four pots one morn, you will be well beyond where you should be health wise.
So you will have an opportunity to try this decaf at a bargain basement price, we are extending the July sale through August on the decaf only...AND we are lowering it another 50 cents! Yep, for just $6.50 you will be able to get 14 oz of this great coffee! I just hope this makes it up to my coffee deprived friends...enjoy knowing you are again able to bend your elbow, raising a great mug of coffee to your lips! Ain't life grand!?!
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