A few Saturdays ago, I had the opportunity to attend a cupping at Square Mile Coffee Roasters. Along with another twelve or so people, I had a great morning tasting eight of the finest coffees that Panama had to offer.
We were placed in the experienced hands of Anette Moldvaer (World Coffee Cup Tasting Champion 2007). Unfortunately, when she asked who had been to a cupping before I had to admit, with great shame and anguish, that I was a cupping virgin. But no matter! We were all provided with a cupping scoring form (below) and, along with some great tuition on what and how we should score, we were ready to go.
At this point I need to stress how fortunate we were to try these coffees. The Specialty Coffee Association of Panama hold a yearly ‘Best of’ competition for their coffee producers, and the usual way this process is carried out is that all of the selected jurors have to fly out to Panama and run through the process in-situ - but not this year. I have at last identified one positive outcome of the recent economic difficulties: it contributed to the beans being shipped out to all of the jurors in their own countries to be roasted and cupped in house!
We sampled eight of Anette's favourite Panama Coffees which had been whittled down, along with the rest of the Square Mile team, from twenty four (I think!). After a bit of an introduction we began a couple of hours of cupping: from sniffing to slurping. You may ask why such a long time is required for tasting? Well, it's because as the coffee cools, the flavour profile changes and this really allows you to get a full view of the selected beans.
As my first cupping experience, I couldn't have asked for more, not only from the quality of beans and the skill of the roasters, but to have such a passionate and experienced coffee expert give us the direction we needed.
This is the first time that Square Mile have done cupping with the general public and I can only hope that, with the impending opening of Penny University, that others will have the opportunity to 'pop their cupping cherry, and be able to continue further their coffee journey. I can't wait...
Recent Comments