So you might wonder how do people decide which beans are are good, fair or exceptional...
Well, just like wine tasting, in coffee world people do "cupping" to decide bean's fragrance and taste objectively. Each coffee bean has distinctive flavor, acidity and body. And you can use many words to describe the qualities it possess. Simply put, more words there are, more complex the bean is, and it tend to be an exceptional bean.
So we decided to put 5 distinctive beans under our cupping test!
Well, just like wine tasting, in coffee world people do "cupping" to decide bean's fragrance and taste objectively. Each coffee bean has distinctive flavor, acidity and body. And you can use many words to describe the qualities it possess. Simply put, more words there are, more complex the bean is, and it tend to be an exceptional bean.
So we decided to put 5 distinctive beans under our cupping test!1. Toraja (Kopi Bali)
2. Cilemo 1st (our very own first roast!)
3. Mawar (Bali Mawar Kopi)
4. Bali Supremo (Kopi Bali)
5. Highlander espresso (Highlander Coffee)
Cupping is quite a simple affair...
The first step is to grind each of the bean in our cute and trusty bean grinder.
The second step is to put the grinds in to a cup.
(8.25g grind to 150ml water)
(8.25g grind to 150ml water)
Then check the flavor of the bean.
Pour hot water (92-96 Celsius) and brew the coffee for 4 minutes...
Next Step is to break the coffee crust on the surface. And check the aroma of the coffee.
Remove the power from the cup using 2 spoons.
Scoop coffee using the spoon and quickly suck in to your mouth and savour the teste and fragrance.
This is what we found in our cupping...
Toraja
Flavor/Fragrance: slightly spicy, herbal
Aroma: charred, smokey, sweet
Body: light to medium body
Acidity: medium
Cupper Point/After Taste: slight acidity at first, but gets bitter after 1 min
Cilemo 1st
Flavor/Fragrance: woody, earthy, a little citrus
Aroma: woody, smokey
Body: full bodied
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, mild acidity, bitter at first, it gets more bitter after 1 min
Mawar
Flavor/Fragrance: earthy
Flavor/Fragrance: earthy
Aroma: woody
Body: full bodied, very strong
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, bitter at first, after 1 min, it gets very bitter and completely looses acidity
Bali Supremo
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, bitter at first, after 1 min, it gets very bitter and completely looses acidity
Bali Supremo
Flavor/Fragrance: sweet, earthy
Flavor/Fragrance: balanced, ordinaryAroma: honey
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, bitter at first, after 1 min, it gets very bitter and completely looses acidity
Body: light
Highlander espresso
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, bitter at first, after 1 min, it gets very bitter and completely looses acidity
Body: light
Highlander espresso
Aroma: citrus, rich
Body: light
Acidity: well balanced
Cupper Point/After Taste: balanced but ordinary at first, more bitterness but still well balanced after 1 min
Body: light
Acidity: well balanced
Cupper Point/After Taste: balanced but ordinary at first, more bitterness but still well balanced after 1 min
Nice blog! :-)
ReplyDeleteAside from being a coffee addict, I also wanted to learn more about it from scratch. My family once had a coffee business but when my grandparents died, the business also died. Thanks for sharing your research... :-)
Thanks April.
ReplyDeleteWe are also in the period of learning how to make a good coffee, how to serve good coffee.
It's really an art that we never thought before in making a good coffee. Really intersting.
Please share with us your experience as well =)