When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was Bad Advice, basically reverse psychology for kids :), where the author gave you ideas on how to do the craziest things that would annoy your parents the most: like throwing breakfast out the window, or drawing on the walls, etc.
Beautiful book, by the way.
I've had a post in mind for a while, about the tasting routine.
After all, cupping is a huge part of quality control in specialty coffee, whether you're a roaster, barista, or coffee shop owner, and it's also an incredible tool for self-education.
Cupping is a weekly procedure (sometimes even daily, in the best places), it is something simply necessary for the coffee shop to be considered a “specialty coffee shop”. There is no other tool that teaches you so much about the coffee you are serving and selling, that makes the baristas are more motivated and better understand customer needs.
Talking about bad advice and reverse psychology….
Here's a list of my personal tips, tested by my experience, on how to taste, but end up learning nothing from tasting:
- Don't weigh the water you put in the cups
That's a good one. You're very careful with the proportion while preparing a V60, so as not to pour in extra grams of water, and to make sure you are in the acceptable range (and I'm not even mentioning espresso – 43 grams and 35 grams are two different drinks!) – but of course, with cupping everything is different, and it's good to visually check that you are putting in enough water, and that way you are sure that all the coffees are in the same coffee/water ratio.
- Don't taste blindly
Open cupping is the best! Always try to take full advantage of the coffee information visible while cupping, so you can easily discover origins and flavor notes, and evaluate roasters and origins more highly when you have a preference. Be sure to include the beans for observation as well. If they have any visual defects, you'll be able to detect them in the flavor as well, without much trouble.
- Taste in a group of people, and share opinions immediately.
Cupping is best done in a group of people, preferably among coffee geeks. Discussing what you're experiencing and what you're thinking during the cupping will make you feel like you're on the same page and feel the same way about coffees as everyone else—and because of that, you're right. Eventually, you'll start to find the almond, tropical fruit, and sugarcane sweetness when you hear your friend's feelings.
- Don't take notes
Trust your memory completely, especially when it comes to materials like flavor descriptions. Of course, you'll remember exactly how the coffees you tasted throughout the month tasted, and you can always go back and double-check each coffee. Instead of taking notes, simply relax your mind, savor, and appreciate the moment.
- Avoid using numbers while evaluating parameters
It's a lot of work—trying to quantitatively formulate why this acidity is 7.5, and that body is 6.25. And after all, who really cares? No one's checking your grades, and we're not in school anymore. It's enough to note that this coffee has "good body" and "satisfactory acidity," and move on.
- If you are a roaster (coffee shop owner, barista, etc.): only taste your own coffees, never those of your competitors.
Why should you care? You're the best.
- Do not grind 2-3 grams of each coffee sample before grinding the cupping sample in order to clean the grinder.
There's no reason to do so, because, of course, there's no risk of contamination or mill retention. You can guarantee that in those 10 grams of washed Ethiopian coffee you're going to taste, all 10 grams are Ethiopian.
- Enter the tasting without any goal
Start the tasting without a clear goal in mind, and do it calmly, appreciating the coffees you taste one after another, their beauty and complexity, knowing that in an hour you'll forget everything and be ready to taste more tomorrow, with a clear head!
