Coffee Cupping, Evaluation and Sensory Description [2-Day] Next Class January 28-29

Beginning through Advanced

Kenneth Davids, author of three influential books on coffee, has been reviewing coffees for his publication CoffeeReview for the past twelve years. He has presented dozens of talks and tastings in which he has explored the pleasures, problems, issues and complexities involved in sensory description and evaluation of coffee. He offers a perspective on coffee thinking that is rigorous yet sensitive to differences in attitude and perspective.

Kenneth adds: “True, good cupping means reflecting industry consensus while filling in the blanks of competition cupping forms, and yes, it is making sensitive yes-no buying decisions. But it is also a very complex and evolving dialogue between the senses and culture, in which individuals need to find their own nuanced and flexible positions within that dialogue. This workshop is focused on finding those positions in the context of an increasingly more sophisticated and rapidly evolving specialty industry.”

In this workshop Kenneth presents an opportunity to cup and closely interrogate a wide variety of coffee types while systematically exploring the tools, assumptions and expectations we rely on when we lean over a cup, enter our subjective world of perception and association and then emerge again, bringing with us the words and numbers we use to make buying or blending decisions, persuade customers, or share positions in coffee competitions or group cuppings. Those new to coffee description and evaluation will learn the basics; those becoming familiar with these practices will sharpen their skills and hopefully enlarge their visions; those old hands will have a chance to test and refine their language and assumptions and help teach others.

Coffee Cupping, Evaluation and Sensory Description [2-Day]

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Cost:
$975 per student

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Call for more information: 800.655.3955

All ABC's students receive special discounts on Bellissimo educational books and DVDs as well as discounts on lodging at Portland's finest hotels.

Class Overview

Introduction 1: Conceptual and Perceptual Tools for Coffee Description and Evaluation

  • Words and numbers: The languages of description and evaluation
  • The descriptive narrative: fragrance, aroma, cup, finish; hot cup, warm cup, cool cup
  • The descriptive structure: aroma, mouthfeel, basic tastes and their shifting relationships
  • Cupping and tasting forms and their purposes and influence on perception

Practice 1
  • Participants cup, describe and rate four coffee samples using the Coffee Review Cupping Form
  • Participants cup, describe and rate the same four coffee samples using the Cup of Excellence Cupping Form and associated descriptor list. (The purpose of this exercise is to help participants understand the issues behind cupping form design, how form design relates to the purposes of a given cupping, and how forms influence our perception of cup profile. The point is not about determining what form is “better.”)

Introduction 2: Green Coffee Origins, Types and Categories
  • Green coffee categories and their uses (and abuses) in understanding cup profile
  • The old commercial categories: robustas, Brazils, milds
  • The old specialty language: Origins and grades
  • The emerging system: species/variety, processing method, terroir

Practice 2
  • Participants cup two sets of four samples each demonstrating relationships between cup characteristics associated with origin and what we know about the impact of species/variety, processing method and terroir in the creation of those characteristics

Introduction 3: Faults, Defects, Characteristics
  • Moldy cheese or bleu cheese: Sensory defects and cultural definitions
  • Description vs. judgment in defining defect
  • Sources of absolute defects/weaknesses: Harvesting and sorting
  • Sources of absolute defects/weaknesses: Transportation and storage
  • Sources of taints that can range from foul to fine: Processing and drying

Practice 3
  • Participants cup four samples demonstrating absolute weaknesses or defects
  • Participants cup four samples demonstrating processing faults that can be taken either as positive traits of a coffee type or as defects depending on intensity, supporting characteristics of the sample and cupper attitude

Introduction 4: Reading Quality by Coffee Type and Purpose
  • Defining quality in a way that accommodates differences in coffee type and our expectations in regard to type
  • Defining quality in a way that accommodates differences in roasting style and intended brewing format

Practice 4
  • Participants cup four samples from the same origin/type displaying various levels of “quality” as defined by expectations for the type
  • Participants cup four samples that give a very general idea of how one type responds to varying degree of roast and brewing format