When I
was attending the course of City and Guilds held by Coffee Academics, I asked
them whether they would have cupping course in the future. To my delight, I was
invited to join the cupping class.
The only
experience of cupping class I had was in Rabbithole @ Central. Thus, this is a
good chance to compare the two classes and maybe to reflect on my experience.
Having visited this Wanchai store twice, I had no difficulty in finding the
store (please see my review at Openrice), which is next to the legendary Fuk
Lam Moon. It was nice to have lessons in such a relaxing environment. To
provide additional privacy for class attendants, the staff enclosed the lovely
wooden desk with a glass partition.
When I
arrived, the instructor, Raymond, was busy grinding the coffee for a trial and
preparing for the class. The grinder he used was Kalita, a common but decent
choice for hand brew.
The
cupping class involved coffee beans from five origins. The steps are generally
the same as those I had learned. We first smelled the ground coffee and jogged
down its dry aroma.
We then
added hot water of 92-96 degree Celsius (the optimal temperature for brewing)
to the coffee and waited for 2 minutes. It was followed by the most important
step, breaking the crust, and we put our noses as close to the coffee as we
could to enjoy the aroma.
Slowly
clearing the foam on the surface, we tasted the coffee and judged its
character. Like tasting wine, we had to inhale some air into the mouth at the
same time to ensure every taste bud is in contact with the wine. The tasting
part was repeated after the coffee was cooled down a bit.
The
coffee I liked most that night was Columbia CoE, followed by geisha, with their
character quite consistent with my favourite coffee. What surprised me most was
the taste of Yirgacheffe which is usually my favourite. It was full of floral
aroma as usual, but the fruitiness was not apparent. It tasted like
over-extracted. As I did not have much information of the beans we used that
night, I was not sure if the roast level is different from what we usually have.
There are too many variables. I hope I can ask the instructor next time.
Cupping
is a standard method of judging coffee quality, especially for coffee traders. Cupping
roast enables us to spot the defects as well as the different flavour of coffee
beans, be it floral, fruity, or complexity. Though crucial, the issue of
cupping roast went unexplained in both cupping classes that I attended. The
standard procedures for cupping are rather simple, but one needs a lot of experience
to master it. All you need is a grinder, the essential equipment for home
brewing, for cupping. In theory, any coffee lover who had some sort of training
can practise at home. And it is time for me to practice again~
