PeterG Senior Member Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 73 Location: Durham, North Carolina Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Faema E61 Grinder: Various Drip: Fetco Extractor Roaster: San Franciscan 1lb.
Posted Sat Nov 29, 2008, 5:03am Subject: Wanna cup in Pittsburgh?
Hey!
Anyone who is in Pittsburgh this weekend, I will be leading a cupping at the wonderful Blue Horse Cafe this weekend... Sunday at 1pm. We will have some special coffees of course, and a very special taste of....well, you'll have to show up to find out.
I'm sure you can google Blue Horse for directions. Hope to see you there!!
jakeliefer Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2007 Posts: 27 Location: Beaver Falls, PA Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat Nov 29, 2008, 9:12am Subject: Re: Wanna cup in Pittsburgh?
Sounds like a great event! I might be able to make it, unfortunately Blue Horse is in the opposite direction of where I need to be driving to tomorrow. This past summer when I was in D.C. I went to a cupping at the training center. We had the same lot of coffee, one of the current crop and one from last year. The difference was amazing! I knew coffee changed as it aged, but it tasted like two completely different cups.
I posted info about tomorrow's cupping on our Pittsburgh Coffee website, I hope that's cool. http://www.pittsburghcoffee.org
Posted Sat Nov 29, 2008, 9:53am Subject: Re: Wanna cup in Pittsburgh?
That's timely, I'll be in Pittsburgh on business this week for my first time. I was going to post here asking for advice on where to get coffee. Looks like a good start.
Thanks.
Oh, and...
jakeliefer Said:
...We had the same lot of coffee, one of the current crop and one from last year. The difference was amazing! I knew coffee changed as it aged, but it tasted like two completely different cups.
While coffee DOES change as it ages, your conclusion is fundamentally flawed. You can't have "the same lot of coffee, one of the current crop and one from last year." Those are two different lots, two different crops, two different growing seasons, and that could account for more of the difference than age.
jakeliefer Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2007 Posts: 27 Location: Beaver Falls, PA Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat Nov 29, 2008, 2:00pm Subject: Re: Wanna cup in Pittsburgh?
JR Said:
While coffee DOES change as it ages, your conclusion is fundamentally flawed. You can't have "the same lot of coffee, one of the current crop and one from last year." Those are two different lots, two different crops, two different growing seasons, and that could account for more of the difference than age.
I'm well aware that coffee is going to change on a year by year basis, however the crop changes cannot account for the basic taste difference that I experienced. It was a central american that had lost its characteristic brightness and the staff who were leading the cupping (who cupped this same coffee a year earlier) recognized the loss of the fundamental characteristics of this coffee. When referring to the characteristics that changed, I wasn't referring to the goofy, out there cupping terms like "this tastes like blueberry cheesecake with a hint of nutmeg, terrycloth, and a 1985 honda civic exhaust," but rather the fundamentals of the coffee.
Since then, I've seen more examples of storage degradation on beans. When we bought our used roaster, the guy selling it to us went out of business and so we got 1,000lbs of beans along with the roaster. The Mexican Chiapas that he gave us ended up tasting like a big jutebag. One day I wanted to make sure that it really was jute that I was tasting, so I clipped off some jute from a bag and cupped it... it was quite a nasty taste, I wouldn't recommend it.
These reasons are why people in the industry, such as the barismo guys, insist on vacuum packed bags for green shipment and storage and why Sweet Maria's sells beans seasonally (and recognize the loss of flavor after too long of storage). I understand that crops change on a year by year basis, but I do not believe that the conclusion I came to was 'fundamentally flawed' due to the characteristics that were lost (the brightness), the impact that I've seen firsthand of bean storage, and those who can cup way better than I can agreeing about the loss of flavor due to storage of coffee.
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