Max put together an awesome cupping at Catalina last night. He had the top 5 Cup of Excellence (go check out their site: http://www.cupofexcellence.org/) Guatemala coffees on hand, we cupped #'s 2-5 and tasted/drank the #1.
A "cupping" is basically a coffee tasting where you're looking to rate specialty (i.e. quality) coffees and identify the complex flavors they contain. I learned a ton, not only about cuppings in general, but also about the vocabulary for describing flavors and aromas... Max had a couple kits for smelling 36 different aromas that might occur in coffee, and we spent some time sampling and guessing those before we cupped. Here are a few of the cupping stations:
One of the reasons I love Catalina is that I'm always learning how much I don't know about coffee.
The #1 CoE Guatemala coffee sold for over $80 per pound, green (unroasted). You can just guess what a roasted, retail pound might go for. Max brewed it in a French press and I could see why it was #1. It was very, very good, and very complex... clearly superior to the others, all of which were outstanding: complex, interesting, delicious.
Very cool experience! I want to do my own cuppings now. :)
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