On Coffee Cupping

So this morning I went to a coffee cupping with one of my buddies who's randomly in town for the day. Coffee cupping is sort of like wine tasting, only I've never done that before either.

The process is as follows: three different coffees are on a table, with four cups of each grounds. The first step involves sniffing the freshly ground coffee and recording the scents. Then water's poured into the glass, and another round of sniffing. Once the water's poured, the grounds form a sort of "head" (like beer) at the top of the liquid -- the third step is breaking that head using a spoon and recording the subsequent aroma. The final step involves filling said spoon with coffee and "slurping" -- noting the texture, taste, finish, and body as well as any other dominant flavors.

The place itself was in a refurbished warehouse near the railyards (I love repurposed warehouse space, by the way). It was quite frustrating for us English majors as we tried (sometimes unsuccessfully) to develop a vocabulary for identifying and deconstructing flavors, aromas, and tastes. Once we all finished (there were about 15 of us) we gathered around a giant chalkboard and everyone shared their responses and got to see the range of (sometimes humorous!) responses and impressions. Afterwards, we went back for some more slurping to see if we could identify any more of the flavors others had noted and chatted with others.

The three roasts we tried have been combined into an espresso blend, which they then served to us if we desired...all in all a very quality experience.

One of the guys who worked there has property in the Dominican Republic for growing coffee, and he's in the process of upgrading the land. Signore Rampolla and I were invited to stick around for the "after-party" where we had a cupping of beans from his farm to compare/contrast the different growing/harvesting/roasting methods. I guess it takes about 5 years to get the beans up to quality, so he's about halfway there. In all, I highly recommend the experience. Every Friday morning at 10am in Atlanta, or check your local listings!