Welcome to my first cupping notes. First, an overview.
“Cupping”, in general, is the process of tasting, smelling, feeling, and otherwise experiencing a coffee selection and then judging it. This can be as simple or as complicated an endeavor as the cupper chooses it to be. Anywhere from considering a cup of day-old gas station drip as you drink it, to international industry panels with highly trained palates and rigorous scoring methods.
For our purposes here, which is largely for my own personal experience, I’ll only be making some laid-back observations about some of the different varieties of coffee I come across.
I encourage you, always, to try and taste your coffee for the first time without fixating on any descriptions or recommendations that you’ve been fed from an outside source. (This totally includes your truly.) In professional cupping etiquette, it is considered all but criminal to go blurting out your opinions on the brew in question before everyone participating has evaluated it for themselves. All of this is because each palate is different, and the tongue and mind can, in fact, be trained to enhance and relate one’s raw sensory data beyond the average chug. If you rely on what you’ve been told, it’s quite possible that you will let that change your tasting technique in some way, even if subconsciously.
“Oh, I always like Sidamo… Well, Danae said it tastes like chocolate, so it must be in there… No one else seems to enjoy this coffee, so I bet I won’t either…” You get the idea.
I will be updating this blog, all things willing, with at least one entry of cupping notes a month from here on out. If life is kind to me, more.
That said, on to the good stuff.
Roaster: Zoka Coffee
Selection: Sumatra Lake Tawar
Date: Roasted 6/8, cupped 6/18
Flavor Profile: (From their website description, a page which has unfortunately been taken down. I assume this is no longer available.) Characteristic Indonesian heavy body along with a surprising fruit forward complexity. Notes of sweet pipe tobacco, new leather, red bell peppers, and cardamom spice.
Other Cupping Notes: (Again from website) Lots of body, less acidity, medium fragrance and sweetness.
When I cup at home, I typically use this preparation: I grind about one ounce of beans between drip and percolator coarseness. In an 8 oz French press, I put in two tablespoons of the ground coffee. I use hot water from a tea kettle, pouring just as it whistles, before it can reach full boil. Place the lid on, plunger retracted. Wait four minutes, then – push!
After pouring the water for the Tawar, I noted that the aroma of the crust was medium-dark, earthy. As it cooled, it became not unpleasantly musty.
Once it had cooled enough to drink, I slurped on in. I mean this – slurping will suck the fluid into your mouth in such a way as to coat not just your tongue, but the rest of the mouth with coffee, in a way that allows you to experience more of the characteristics of the flavor. But not too greedily quickly, either, so that it has a chance to sink in. If you’re not making a funny noise, ur doin’ it wrong.
The Tawar had a rolling smoothness to its body, ripe and supple. More medium body than heavy.
The first, most distinct flavor was a slight twist of citrus rind. The cup was initially somewhat murky in the mouth, tastes merged together, but the complexities began to come through after swallowing, most present on the tongue. Hints of mild spice, a certain roundness, a vegetable quality.
The texture was somewhat silky, and malty, leaving behind a dry, powdery cocoa-like texture, and a full mouthfeel after drinking.
Overall, dark, but sweet. Smoky, but playful.
