Thursday, October 23, 2008

two days of sickly cupping

i must preface this by saying i was, and unfortunately still am, sick. my head is full of enough mucus to sink the proverbial "ship" and my muscles ache to the extent that i question what i've been doing in my sleep.
so, you get the idea. the pallet isn't what it could be. that being said, i was the one pushing for regular cuppings at the store so i felt compelled to take part, flu-shaped handicap and all.

tuesday oct 21st.
why do i feel the need to preface everything i say with some feeble excuse or explanation for my shortcomings...?
i showed up at the cupping after he crusts were broken and after the samples had cooled somewhat, so my notes weren't as comprehensive as i'd have liked. but what is a boy to do? my bar shift finished at 11, and steve and matt (somewhat excitable roaster and super-chill owner, respectively) started the proceedings at 1045.
on the table was a new mexican chiapas onix, a guatemalan, a bolivian (again my half-assed notes let me down... and all this sickness prevents me from remembering the specifics for the guat and bolivian, sorry) and a new sample of an ethiopia harrar from the wonderful boys at atlas.

guatemala: a good medium-heavy body with super dark bakers chocolate throughout with a surprising subtle acidity. not much to speak of, but a little snap on the sides of the tongue. the finish was kinda dry, which combined with the snappy acidy in a strange, and not necessarily pleasant way.

bolivia: a mouthful of chocolate and hazelnuts, some dry tobacco with a pleasant clean finish.

mexican chiapas onix: hmmmm.... my notes really let me down here;
"good chiapas" and "boring" were the extent of them.

ethiopia harrar: now this was the stand out on the table. a superb cup and everything i was hoping for from the birthplace of all of this nonsense. great body, not too thin, not too thick and heavy. super sweet with buckets of blueberry and sweet cherry notes, with a clean lime acidity in the finish.

...........

on my way home i stopped into alterra to see superstar barista sL, and after shooting some shit and a killer single shot (pulled kinda short with some "oh so sweet" cherries in the finish) i was presented with the remainder of an, obviously much enjoyed, ethiopia sedoma from batdorf&bronson.

...........

wednesday oct 22nd.
cupping the sedoma from b&b was equal parts wonderful and frustrating. wonderful because its awesome, and frustrating because of my mucus-filled head and the coffee was obviously not super fresh.

i couldn't tell you what the dry fragrance was. seriously. i got nothin'. damn snot-filled head. but the wet aroma was full of bergamot and lemongrass. the body was evident from before the beans were even ground, roasted of the lighter side with a really drinkable body. a pleasant snappy citric acidity with loads of bergamot, cocoa and bakers chocolate in the finish. as it cooled a nice berry sweetness came through the cup.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're going to get staff cuppings up and running soon, just be patient my British friend :) Matt and I cup a lot during the week at various times, so it's just a matter of time before we get it worked out with the Barista staff. We've been talking about it for a while now, so at our next staff meeting we should have it ready :) On a side note, we bought a new toy while you've been gone!!!!!

albion said...

a new toy?
is it a nice new shiny one?

Anonymous said...

It is shiny actually. We got a 17' Macbook Pro. It'll be my new designing computer, and Tracy is using it for her cafe stuff.