Coffee cupping on St Joseph’s Day
For the last few years together with friends from across the world we have celebrated St Joseph’s Day at a party hosted by Paulo Coelho and his wife Christina.
This year celebrated St Joseph’s Day with an evening of coffee cupping at Coffee Aroma.
Last week, an afternoon of conversation and book signing with Stephen Leighton, author of Coffeeography. He left behind samples of coffee beans from the producers featured in Coffeeography. As I write, wonderful aroma from the coffee samples.
Coffee cupping is to coffee what wine tasting is to wine.
What better way the celebrate the hard work of the producers than a coffee cupping on St Joseph’s Day, St Joseph the patron saint of workers.
The beans were ground, placed in a cupping bowl, hot water poured on, left for four minutes.
A group of half a dozen people, roughly half staff, half customers took it in turn to sample the coffees.
Four coffees, two sessions.
Blind tasting. The origin to be revealed later.
I would have changed how this was carried out.
Grind the coffee, each sample the aroma of the ground beans, pour in the hot water, wait four minutes, one person for each cup, remove the crust, sample the aroma that erupts when the crust removed, then with a sampling spoon, sample each coffee.
Whilst noticing a difference, I did not notice a big difference. I noticed a far bigger difference cupping beans from Los Nogales Project in El Salvador, twelve different samples from the same estate. One estate owned by the Salaverria family, three farms, different varieties, different plots, different processing of the beans.
Curious. I offer an explanation.
When Stephen Leighton chooses the beans he has in mind what he is looking for, which will select beans of similar profile.
Real Fresh Coffee has a section on coffee cupping, Standart issue 6 a useful guide.
Standart is on sale in Madame Waffle or from Has Bean.
Coffee cupping is a sensory experience, sight, smell, taste.
Where the Wild Coffee Grows has a wonderful description of coffee drinking in Ethiopia as a sensory experience that engages all the senses.
