One cup, many lands. In a simple ceramic cup, the culmination of all our knowledge, skills, and opinions meet. We select the best green coffee beans from many origins – Africa to Indonesia – through relentless sampling, a process we call Cupping.
In many companies, Cupping is a formal process conducted at a precise time every morning. Recently I cupped coffees at my favorite coffee broker, Royal Coffee, in Emeryville, Ca. Little blue trays of green beans, arranged in an orderly fashion, await judgment around an enormous circular table which can be sent spinning with a flick of the wrist. Small amounts of these beans were roasted not an hour before, their grounds placed in glass cups next to the trays. Next, not quite boiling water is poured over them, and the grounds steep into dark liquor. In the middle of the table, a glass of water holds rounded, silver spoons, the most important tool of the cupper.
The room is warm, almost hot from the winter morning sun pouring in through large windows and from the kettles of steaming water and glasses filled with steeping grounds – about 25 in all. Various coffee professionals—brokers, roasters, Bob and Helen, the owners—come in, pick up their spoons, and begin slurping at lighting speed. Then we all spit vigorously into one of several spittoons conveniently placed near the table. “Don’t you think this Costa Rican is better than the one we sampled yesterday…?” we say. Or “nice, bright flavor” and “this Kenyan is kinda weak in flavor, don’t you agree?”
It is a lively scene, lots of chatter, loud slurping and spitting. In under ten minutes, all the samples are depleted and the day’s selections are made – a couple of ounces of green beans determine the fate of an entire farm’s harvest being bought – or not.
Back home, at Satellite’s Roastery, the scene is the same. Our Cuppings are less formal, and are more like a friendly, daily ritual than a formal event. We drift in and out – “what are you drinking?” is our daily greeting to each other.
Despite our casual approach, it is serious business. We roast samples of green beans in our trusty little sample roaster, then grind, steep, slurp just the same as at Royal. Every bean coming in, every roast going out is cupped without fail.
This is how we determine whether to buy our little piece of the harvest –or not. We are endlessly hunting and tasting for the best of the world – and we find it, right here at home.