This will be uploaded on November 11th, which is Veterans Day in the USA. Thank you to all of the veterans who served for our country.

While researching coffee shops and learning about my theme for the month, I came across a few articles about coffee cupping- the official way to taste coffee. Like wine tasting, different coffee has different taste notes, aromas, and as I’ve learned is an important category, acidity.

I am a coffee lover, and as I’ve gotten older, I have enjoyed a darker and darker roast. That is pretty much as far as my coffee knowledge goes, though.

I know of Folgers, store brand grounds, light, medium, dark, Columbian, and yeah… That’s it. I’ve never been fancy about it, and unless the coffee is super strong or from Starbucks (their coffee tastes like burnt dirt, their other drinks are better), it all tastes the same to me. The main difference is added flavoring like vanilla, hazelnut, or caramel.

That’s where the issue comes in. I want to go to a few coffee shops and talk about them and hang out for a bit, but how can I do that when I don’t know how to talk about coffee other than saying it’s “good” or “bad”? I already feel like a phony for my Onyx review, even though I didn’t even really taste any coffee😂. But I know that I will go to a shop with great coffee, so I want to be able to give an accurate and descriptive review!

So, what is coffee cupping?

According to Crema Coffee Roasters, coffee cupping is a way to determine the quality of coffee through a standardized method used by professionals, and the method is quite simple.

I only have pre-ground coffee, so that may affect my experience. To make up for it, I do have four different brands and types of coffee to try out. I will go through the same steps in the Crema Coffee link above for each, and I will also walk through my experience in this post. Let’s get started!

Tasting #1: Folgers Toasty Hazelnut

I told you I’m not fancy! Folgers is very nostalgic for me, I remember my grandparents having the huge containers of it that eventually turned into storage boxes for things I don’t even remember anymore. This is the Hazelnut flavor, and I will be honest it isn’t my favorite. I prefer the vanilla or original.

The info on the container says that Folgers Coffee is roasted in New Orleans and is “Deliciously distinctly and subtly sweet”. Well, I’ll be the judge of that.

According to the guide, I need 9 grams of grinded coffee to 150 grams of boiled water.

Then, pour in the coffee and wait 4 minutes. Crema suggests to smell the aromas while it is brewing. While I ostentatiously waft the coffee steam to my nostrils, it smells like…

Sweet coffee.

After four minutes, you stir the foamy grounds, which Crema calls “The Crust”. What makes foam crusty? I’m not sure, but it makes me laugh because they then suggest to put your nose close “down real close” and inhale as you break the crust, then after you get a good sniff you completely skim off any light colored foam and left over grounds from the top.

Okay, breaking the crust changed the scent. My skepticism is dissipating slowly, even though it is always fun to fund humor in the “professional way” of doing things. Once I took another big whiff while stirring, it smelled a lot less sweet, and more chocolatey? Okay, I’m going to need some help here.

To help me better articulate what I’m smelling and tasting, I found this handy Interactive Coffee Flavor Wheel!

While we wait 15 minutes for the coffee to cool before tasting, let’s check out this wheel. From what I smelled, I got nutty/cocoa and sweet notes. No groundbreaking discoveries here, we just went over the packaging and it is as described lol.

Now, time to taste. Crema advises that you have to slurp obnoxiously from a spoon to get the coffee on every taste receptor. You don’t have to tell me twice!

One slurp later…

BLEAH!

That is so bitter! I had to stop mid-slurp to stick out my tongue and cringe. Let me give it one more honest try…

It’s so bitter, it’s almost sour. Listen, I only put Sweet N Low in my coffee lately, so it’s not like I’m just used to drinking milk with a side of a coffee bean. Whatever coffee professionals approved this roast are secretly enemies of Folgers.

I don’t know if coffee cup enthusiasts rate coffees on a scale, but for our first coffee tasting, smell gets a 5/5 stars, taste gets a 0/5 stars. Eugh.

Smell

Taste

Tasting #2: Peet’s Big Bang

Now that we have the procedure down, let’s try the next coffee I have, which is Peet’s Big Bang. This is a medium roast and they even have the notes on the bag! Let’s see, I should expect fruit tart, milk chocolate, and graham crust. I have had many cups of this without ever reading the bag and I don’t think I tasted any of that… But will that change with the cupping method?

This is my first bag of Peet’s, and it was from the recommendation of Dylan’s friend that he try it. On the back of the bag is a blurb that says this medium roast is a blend of sweet Latin coffees and a citrusy twist of Ethiopian Super Natural, and they are distributed out of California.

Okay, using the same 9g of coffee to 150g water ratio, I am getting a different scent to the Folgers. This is less sweet, but it has more depth that I am not educated enough to describe, let’s look at the wheel and try. The only description from the wheel that feels right is “Roasted”, which doesn’t help much, but we will see what changes when I “Break The Crust”.

Okay, the post-stirring aroma was very good and super chocolatey! I wonder if I will get “cocoa” notes with every coffee, haha! I liked this one’s scent a lot, even if it isn’t as sweet.

After I’ve given the coffee time to cool, now I will give it a slurp, this time with a little more apprehension after my first experience 😅.

One slurp later…

Four slurps later…

Wow, this coffee has barely any bitterness at all! I was actually aftaid to try it because it had no sweet smell, but the taste does have sweetness. I may be easily impressed because this is my first time coffee cupping, but Peet’s did that! Barely bitter, easy sip, I feel like I can get notes of citrus as well. Not sure where I’d be tasting milk chocolate or graham though, but it is really good to me.

I feel like we had a redemption, smell gets a 4/5 stars, taste gets a 4/5 stars as well, just because I want to leave room for a potentially better coffee.

Smell

Taste

We Will Return…

I didn’t realize I could say so much about slurping coffee, but I think I will have to try the other coffees in a second part! I think I will try to record my tasting reaction next time as well, I think it will be funny.

How do you drink your coffee, have you ever tried cupping? Let me know what your favorite coffee brand is, and I will see you all soon!