On 21 March 2009 , I participated in the coffee tasting session during which we chose the best cup from the finca to represent this year’s harvest. The finca Filadelfia won the Coffee Producers Association Genuine Antigua (APCA) competition as the Best Antigua Region Cup of 2009. It took us almost 6 hours to find the best blend and taste from among all the coffees of the plantation, tasting over 30 cups! I remember that day I didn’t have LUNCH until 5pm ; we were tired but happy.

The Coffee Tasting Session ) I know MOST OF YOU GUYS ARE COFFEE TASTERS, BUT I JUST WANTED TO SHARE WITH SOME OF THE PEOPLE THAT PERHAPS DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT IT.- THANKS GUYS.

Every coffee tasting process follows precise guidelines. Coffee tasters should not drink alcoholic beverages or smoke 8 hours prior to the tasting. Also, they should not eat spicy foods, drink sodas, drink excessively cold or hot beverages, or have a big meal prior to the tasting to ensure a fresh palate.

Notice we use a round rotating table to make the process easier. We usually have 2-3 glass cups of each sample of coffee that we are tasting, and sometimes we have up to 10 samples at once. This day we had only 4 samples, so it was easier.

Step 1: First of all, you grind 11 grams of coffee per cup of each sample you are going to taste. Once it is ground, you put it in a glass cup, and then you smell it. You do this with every sample, going back and forth between each sample to start making your brain active to the different smells and aromas. A good taster can determine the particular grade of aroma notes that every coffee has.

Step 2: Once you have checked the aroma, you go ahead and put water in the glass. The water is at the boiling point and will make the coffee create a foam. After waiting 4-6 minutes, you BREAK the FOAM, literally using a silver spoon to break through the foam while smelling the coffee very close to the cup. Here you determine all the characteristics of a wet coffee: acidity, grade of sweetness, and so on.

Step 3: One of the coffee tasters will be in charge of removing the foam with a stainless steel spoon (not the silver one). Once that is done, you start the actual tasting process. You go back and forth between samples, taking turns as the table rotates.

Along every step of the process the coffee tasters try not to talk a lot, focusing on the actual tasting, gathering information and taking notes. You are trying to determine characteristics, differences, body, and sweetness or acidity of each coffee sample. Every minute that goes by the coffee can taste differently, so you have to keep that in mind.

I personally try to get a picture in my mind of real things to represent every coffee sample I am tasting, in order to give a distinct personality to each sample, setting them apart from each other. For example, sometimes I can relate the aroma of the coffee sample to the smell of a wet box (bad coffee), the smell of a fresh, wet forest (good coffee), or a chocolate or cherry aroma (sweet coffee).

The way you taste the coffee is by sucking the coffee from a spoon. You suck the coffee at a high speed in order to make your palate, tongue, sides and top of your mouth completely involved. Every part of your mouth and tongue performs a specific job in determining body, taste, acidity, sweetness, palate experience, and so on. You never drink the coffee that you are tasting, you taste it and then you spit it out in the buckets (you can see them in the pictures), otherwise you will get too hyper.

You do this tasting process over and over. Between tasting each different coffee sample, you have a glass cup with water to rinse off your spoon prior to tasting the next sample, otherwise the tastes will become confused and not clean at all. Once you are done tasting all the coffees and getting all the information you need, then you share the information with the other coffee tasters. BUT, you never tell which one is your favorite cup until you are completely done. Each sample has a number assigned to identify it. Once everyone is ready, you write the numbers of the two cups you think are first and second place, and then everyone shares the information. By doing this you get a good idea if all of the coffee tasters agree or not.

For this tasting occasion, we all five agreed that sample number 50 was the best cup, with sample number 4 being the second best. We were happy as we knew that we did a good job. It was this process that got us to the competition that awarded us the Best Cup Antigua Region 2009.