Coffee cupping table at 18 Reasons
In my earliest childhood memories, there was always cafe con leche in the mornings and today that first sip of coffee always makes me smile. But despite enjoying 3-4 cups a day, one of my goals this year is to drink more coffee. What I really mean is that I want to learn more about coffee and attending the coffee cupping at 18 Reasons was a great way to do just that.
What is a coffee cupping? Think of wine tasting, but with coffee instead. First, the coffee beans were ground and 10 grams of each coffee were placed into cups at numbered stations so that we could walk around and smell the fragrance. This one was fruity, that one was woody mmm…
Then, each cup was filled with boiling water and after 4 minutes we used spoons to break the crust on the surface and smell the aroma. The coffees that had a strong fragrance usually had a strong aroma, while others were more subtle.
Finally, we used the spoons to slurp and taste the coffee. This was the most enjoyable and challenging part for me, and I struggled to find words for each taste so I slurped quite a bit.
At the end of the night, the coffees were revealed and we compared notes on our favorite and least favorite coffees. I was surprised at how challenging it was to describe the fragrance, aroma, and taste of something you like. I clearly need to drink more coffee.