There’s More to Coffee than Meets the Eye … and the Taste Buds

The Jimmy Kimmel Show recently ran a taste test to compare Starbucks’ new product that costs $7 per cup to a standard brew. There was no general consensus as to which was the higher quality cup, although most testers chose one or the other as the finer selection. One blue collar type admitted that he couldn’t tell the difference. The guy was actually right. Both samples were the same bean, and it wasn’t the fancy Starbucks variety.

Sampling the new coffee flavors. 

So why are we paying so much for coffee if there seems to be no difference? Is it the branding, or is there really a difference in coffee beans? To find out, I headed over to the Sidewalk Espresso Bar, the new coffee shop in my neighborhood, for a coffee cupping. That’s the term the pros use when referring to a formal way of evaluating coffee without a filter.  

Ronnie, an expert at Ceremony Coffee Roasters in Annapolis, Md., which supplies Sidewalk, educated us on the finer points of coffee. He explained that there are differences in coffee beans depending on where they are grown. Farm altitude, harvest time and weather conditions are some of the factors that influence the taste. Ronnie noted that all specialty coffees are picked by hand.

As a specialty roaster, Ceremony wants customers to have the finest possible experience with every cup, just as a connoisseur feels about his wine. The buyers acquire an eight-month supply of the best beans available because they lose their superior flavor if used after that point. The experts at Ceremony roast a small supply of each bean three ways, choosing the best profile to process the rest for sale.

The cupping process

Just like wine tasting, there is a method for tasting coffee. The entire process should take no longer than 15 minutes. Following are the highlights:

Step 1: Place the ground coffee in the cup, sniff it and evaluate the aroma. Is it roasty, fruity, floral, etc.?

Step 2: Pour the hot water into the cup. It should be about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. When the coffee has settled, put your head close to the cup, use a spoon to break the crust that has formed on top and push the spoon away, inhaling the aroma of the coffee.

Step 3: Scoop the remaining grounds from the top of the cup.

Step 4: Taste the coffee by taking a spoonful at a time from the top of the cup and slurp away so that the coffee covers your tongue.     

Tips for killer coffee

If you’re not a coffee connoisseur, and you just want your morning java jolt, Ronnie offers these tips to help make it tastier:

• Use a clean cup.
• Drink coffee when it’s freshly brewed, before the aromatics escape into the room.
• While water should be 200 degrees for pouring, wait a few minutes for it to cool off. If it’s too hot, you won’t be able to taste the full flavor. Scalding your tongue isn’t fun either.
• Use filtered water, not tap or distilled. Since 99.6 percent of the drink is water, using the proper type makes a huge difference.
• The type of filter you use affects the taste of the coffee. Paper filters provide more flavor and less body. A French press offers more body and less flavor.

I don’t know too many people who would be willing to pay $7 for a cup of coffee, but after the cupping, one taster said he’ll never buy generic again. I’ll drink to that.