This last week, I visited Beansmith Coffee Roaster's downtown location in Omaha to spend some time with their Director of Operations and Quality, Ian Wiese.
Ian and I spent some time talking about cupping. During this time, we cupped three different coffees and utilized the SCAA cupping sheet.
I have a large amount of coffee on hand currently so I brought two bags myself to include in the cupping along with one of Beansmith's coffees.
The three coffees we cupped are as follows:
Beansmith Coffee Roasters Ethiopian Chelchele
Country: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe
Varietal: Heirloom
Altitude: 2000-2300 ft
Process: Fully Washed
Portola Coffee Lab's Elida Natural #26
Country: Panama
Region: Alto Quiel, Boquete
Varietal: Catuai, Typica, Bourbon
Altitude: 5479-5987 ft
Process: Dry Processed
Sweet Bloom Coffee's Pango Pango
Country: Indonesia
Region: Toraja, Sulawesi
Varietal: S795
Altitude: 4593-5249 ft
Process: Fully Washed
Typically, you would not cup a natural or dry-processed coffee against washed coffees, however, since we were not actually comparing the coffees to one another as much as we were evaluating each of them independently, we cupped what was on hand and available.
Beansmith Coffee Roasters' Harney Street location in downtown Omaha
For the uninitiated, cupping is usually used to test coffee qualities (aroma, flavor, acidity, sweetness, and body, etc.) as well as identify any possible defects in the coffee so that a coffee's potential can be known and also (from a roaster's perspective) a roast profile can be built to bring out the best of the coffee's potential in your cup.
For our cupping we utilized Counter Culture's flavor wheel which can be found here.
If you have never seen or taken part in a cupping and have a desire to learn more about the attributes of coffee, I suggest you observe or take part in a cupping if the opportunity is presented to you.
For those in the Omaha area, Beansmith has plans to coordinate and hold educational events in the future for those interested. These events may include cuppings, brewing techniques, etc. To learn about these events, you can follow Beansmith Coffee Roasters on Instagram or like their page on Facebook so you can find out about the events when they post them.
