It's true love...
Yesterday I took some people from my building to a cupping session over at Joe's Coffee. It was amazing. A cupping session is what buyers and brewers do to decide which beans to order for their locations. Think of it as a wine tasting, only for coffee. First you get to sample the scents of the grounds, which are then steeped in hot water. You get to sample the aromas, and then actually drink some of the coffee. Apparently, it's considered good tasting practice to slurp. It moves the coffee evenly across your tongue, so that no taste group (sweet, bitter, sour, etc.) over-influences the flavor. Think about that next time you're drinking coffee. SLURP. IT. UP.
We also learned all about sustainable coffee growing, fair trade, and all that jazz. I never knew how much went into making coffee. One of the more interesting tid-bits was that big places like Starbucks who offer "roast" varieties, French Roast and the like, essentially just take crappy coffee beans and burn the buh-jeezes out of them. Then all you taste is the "roasty" flavor. So really you're not tasting coffee. You're tasting roast. So if you like drinking smokey fire that has no real coffee value, keep guzzling all the Starbucks you want. When you're ready for a real honest to java cup of coffee, slurp your way over to me and a dude named Joe.
Ciao Bella!
Matteo "Joe-tteo" Yazge
Hi, we need a Matt-and-Helen date soon. ASAP.
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