Cupping As The Aspects Of Quality Coffee

There are many factors involved with regards to determining what exactly is a good coffee to purchase and roast. A cut-and-dry approach that works well for many beans will not exist. Different beans have different qualities and different palates will discriminate! The objective of this piece is to open the eyes of home coffee drinkers in a few categories:

1. A knowledge of what happens when you look at the cup when a bean is processed differently.
2. The importance behind the chronilogical age of a coffee.
3. Cupping in the house and also the roastery.

Claims

Anyone reading whom adamantly follows the coffee-based newsgroups, such as for instance alt.coffee and rec.food.drink.coffee could be acquainted with the running threads involving the Mexican coffee "Capulin." As touted by its sales staff of 1, the Capulin coffee is a naturally processed (dry-processed as I will discuss below) and manually harvested bean.

Due to its method of processing while the care provided to it really is harvesting, Capulin claims that it's probably the best coffee one is ever going to taste. It's a claim this is certainly tough to live as much as in this very day and age of gourmet-this and specialty-that. As you'll discover in this specific article, my preference happens to be for dry-processed coffee.

Dry-processed coffees are harvested when ripe after which left to dry aided by the fruit still intact. Many claims that this contributes to the sweetness and fruitiness regarding the bean and escalates the body. When dry, the fruit is taken away through a shelling process; then your beans are inspected and graded.

Washed, or water-processed coffees, are soaked when harvested, additionally the fruit is left to ferment. The beans are then dumped and rinsed. What the results are after both of these processes are not relevant to this informative article.

Testing

It really is within my nature to look at both sides for the coin. The Capulin representative was a lot more than generous and willing to provide a sample from this past year's crop of this Capulin coffee. The sample, unroasted, would be to be pitted against a youthful crop of the same along with a new crop of a washed Mexican coffee bean.

The purpose of the comparison was to not only find character traits of each but additionally to exhibit the differences between similar species coffee. Additionally, I was comparing two dry-processed coffee to a washed coffee.

I set up a cupping per SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) standards. Following one guide, I put up the cupper's table mid-morning, away from distractions. I measured 7.25 grams of each and every bean. The beans were roasted just in to the second crack (finishing at an Agtron of 45/50) and ground to a medium grind. I then added the beans to 6 fluid ounces of water at approximately 195F.

Results

Simply put, the outcome of my cupping just weren't startling, but they are informative. The oldest of this crops had a wet-cardboard fragrance and aroma, something I caused by a defect of this bean. The oldest beans lacked any pleasurable taste/flavor and aftertaste, had a moderate body and low acidity.

On the whole, it absolutely was not a completely great-tasting cup of coffee. I had higher expectations for the newer crop. However, the new crop also fell short in the taste category but had a far more "fresh" acidity and medium body. It was, in my opinion, about as average a Mexican coffee or any other Central-American coffee as one might find.

The surprise came with the final cup - the washed Mexican Coatepec. In the nose, the Coatepec had a distinctively strong and sweet wine fragrance caused by fruits. Into the cup, it had a much more pronounced flavor and a delicate and pleasurable aftertaste. It, such as the newer crop of Capulin, had a medium-medium high acidity and a well-balanced body.

Why Cup?

The outcomes for this experiment should not constitute a general rule for several Mexican coffees, irrespective of process. So why bother? Because as a coffee consumer, i must know for myself the things I am drinking.

Any information I'm able to add to a bean's portfolio will assist in my education towards coffee as a whole but could also be helpful me discern my tastes for future coffee purchases. Put differently, this cupping helped me discern what taste characteristics i favor.  It helped me refine my senses for future coffee cupping sessions.

More Cuppings Experiments

Exactly what does this tell us in regards to the coffees in particular? Again, this does not inform us much on a broad scale. Performs this totally destroy the claims of Capulin? Certainly not. A larger sampling would need to be cupped against itself therefore the standards set up because of the coffee's producers. The experiment opened my eyes into the differences in processing.

Furthermore, I realized that the final truth rests in the original quality associated with the bean itself. I am certain that dry-processed coffees may have a better level of body. To show this, i would expand a cupping experiment to include dry-processed Mexican beans from another region in addition to newer crop samplings of Capulin; then pit those espresso beans against washed coffees from other regions.

Age Matters

And what of the age issue? Again, out of this experiment alone I can not declare "old" coffee as bad coffee. Take as an example Monsooned Indian Malabar, which is deliberately left to stay and age before export. With many food products, the outcome of aging are diminished flavor and taste. In coffee, although this is the case to some degree. However, in many cases, the acidity, body plus some taste characteristics are diminished as soon as the bean gets old. Whether or perhaps not diminished acidity and body constitute bad coffee is up to the buyer.

The Roast

My pal, a brand new small-shop roaster learned, by taste, the amount of complication related to coffee. He prefers to roast his coffee West-Coast style: dark, carbony and smoky. I challenged him to roast lighter and also to note the advantages/disadvantages of a light roast. Because it would happen, an individual came in to locate... what else?

A lightly roasted Mexican coffee. And what did this roaster have readily available? He had a dry-processed Mexican coffee (of unknown origin). We brewed his traditionally roasted Mexican and compared it towards the lighter roast. Within the cup, the darker Mexican exhibited a top acidity, a reduced body, and no particular flavor that stood out.

It was the average Mexican coffee. Lightly roasted, the bean (surprisingly) exhibited increased body, similar acidity, and a delicate nuttiness which the whole table appreciated. The roaster was very happy to note that the outcomes were positive. I do believe his eyes have been opened. Thus, the experiment led to a rise in experience and knowledge. The experiment advanced the cause for quality.

Summary

I have shown you the way large and complicated the equation of taste can definitely be. Bean age, quality, processing, and roast all determine the ultimate taste for the coffee. I feel it's important to begin experimentation by yourself when you have not already. While it might take many tries before your palate and nose become more refined, you are going to soon see and taste the advantages. Thus you may appreciate coffee increasingly more with each cup!

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