October Newsletter - 2010 |
|
I like halloween stuff...
There, now you know...I do like the stuff surrounding this most unholy of holidays! I like the fun kids have, I like the fellowship the good gatherings bring about, and I like the opportunity to enjoy the first real nip of cool, if not cold, weather. Now don't get me wrong, I am a summer type person, but I may have been cured of this during this past more than long hot summer...
You know one of the best halloween traditions you can develop? Do you remember my piece on cupping? Well, dig that out and perform THAT ritual! It will provide you with a bunch of smiles and a laugh or two as well! Not only that, it will help you appreciate the coffee you are drinking...or convince you that you really should be drinking The Alpaca Bean Coffee anyway. "What piece was that?" you ask...well you can find it by looking through all of the Bean Droppin's (my name for these wonderful newsyletters) and find the issue. If you do not want to look, here is a copy of that sucker...re-read then enjoy the experience! You will open up a whole new world of taste right there in your dining room or kitchen. :o)
Here it is:
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.
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!
PS: Sorry for the rerun...but, I really wanted you to enjoy the halloween holiday in style! Now don't you think your family, friends, or co-workers will be impressed that you spent your time and the time of some of your closest friends in an activity that yielded such sensual enjoyment?...taste sensual that is!!!!!!!!!! :o)
|
On A Personal Note......
Rainy Days and Mondays...Sometimes Make Me Blue
That was part of the lyrics of a popular song during one of my early decades,...think Karen Carpenter sang it, matter of fact. It kept running through my mind while on the most recent trip to pick up a couple of tons of alpaca supplement. You see it was raining and, yep, it was a Monday.
The only thing is that I was really not blue, nope not even close! In fact, we had just had a wonderful weekend hosting our version of National Alpaca Farm Days, right here on Walnut Knoll Farm! We had bunches of folks on the first day, it had been sunny and bright...and a bit hot to boot. We carried folks all over our farm on hayrides and told them about alpacas, the history of our farm, and even talked about the black walnut trees found on a knoll which gave our farm its name. On Sunday, it rained and rained and rained! Only three folks braved the storms to come visit. What a difference a day made, but you know we really enjoyed that day as much as the previous one. We got to meet special folks that had an interest in one of the most beautiful and peaceful species of livestock here in the U.S.A, and we got to talk about another special topic...our roasting operation right here on the farm. The best part, however, was watching our grandkids throw horse shoes in the rain, make hearts and hand felt with alpaca fiber, and be together at our farm. Yes, we were especially blessed to have BOTH of our daughters and their families here, working...and playing, side by side.
Yep, that gets me to the other thing that kept going through my mind on thet rainy day, while I was alone but not lonely...more than anything, I kept thinking about our two families, Jude's and Mine. What a blending of backgrounds, cultures, and family histories. It makes for a whole lot of differing approaches to stuff and a whole lot of learning opportunities! We feel blessed to have this family, our family, surrounding us.
There was another family, or in truth many families, I thought of during that trip as well...our church families, our alpaca families, and our community family. What a richness they have brought and continue to bring to our lives...our cup overflows with these life enrichments!!
So what am I babbling about??? Heck, bring on the rain and bring on the Mondays (plenty of both) 'cause we are ready!!!!
Peace,
The Coffeeman
|
|
