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Permalink Reply by mike cubbage on February 5, 2009 at 1:42pm

look online and be sure to get a copy of the taste descriptors. it makes evaluation so much easier.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Dooley on February 5, 2009 at 5:02pm

I watched a really great cupping at the end of the Belissimo movies conducted by Stumptown. It had measurements and a full rundown on the protocol. I have since then been to around 15 cuppings at Stumptown and you should really try to go. They are at 3PM every day.

Have fun.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Negranza on February 10, 2009 at 7:50pm

You're best bet is to attend more cuppings and get a feel for how they work. There are many shops around town that do public cuppings all the time. Aster Coffee Lounge in Ballard has public cuppings every Sunday at 1pm. Victrola has their's every Wednesday at 11am at their Pike Location. And then of course Stumptown has one everyday at 3 pm. Who else has public cuppings regularly? I might start a thread on it...

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Permalink Reply by Ben Cram on February 10, 2009 at 11:17pm

If you are cupping with people who are fairly new to it try not to get caught up in "official" descriptors. Tell everyone to write down whatever pops into their head on first impression. It doesn't do any good to say it tastes phenolic if you don't know what phenolic tastes like. Then when you do start to cup with more experienced people you will start to relate your own language to the one used on the cupping flavor wheels. Another bit of advice that I read here in another cupping discussion was to try to describe the tangible things first. Acidity, and body are 2 very tangible things, subtle flavors are much more subjective and personal. As for the actual setup I agree with the others. Go do a few public ones to see the set up.

P.S. Have a couple of extra kettles going, there is nothing worse than starting the timer and running out of water 3/4 of the way around the room.

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Permalink Reply by Tyler Phillipi on February 10, 2009 at 11:36pm

You all have made some good suggestions and I am taking them to heart. If you have more information to share I am still checking this thread. Thank you for your info.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Cram on February 10, 2009 at 11:45pm

Check out the discussion palette development from Jan 29. Lots of good tips in there.

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Permalink Reply by Kris Wood @StAli on February 19, 2009 at 4:28am

A good idea is to start with the city you live in and obtain different blends from the different roasters and start comparing the roasting of various bean developers

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