Trials and tribulations of a mouthwatering cupper.
I think we love the taste. The sensations, the flavors, the colors that it inspires in the imagination. Drink fine red wines, uber whiskeys/bourbons, rice wine, grappa, you name it... oh yeah and teas too. The flavor is what gets us so excited. Finding those unique flavors and then sharing it. That's what I love about a good barista. Finding that one extraction of the espresso where the temp, the timing, dose, all come together to reveal for that coffee the roasted peanuts with a buttery viscosity leading one to declare 'peanut butter!' A eureka moment really. What if every new coffee is a eureka moment and playing with each extraction leads to new and distinct tastes that really excite you because you know even the average untrained palate can see the difference between the light sweet floral Yirg and the peanut butter chocolate cup espresso presented before them.

Sadly this just isn't the case. When I play around with George's coffee's, I get that. When I get a special batch from Andrew to muck up, I get that. It just doesn't happen very often besides one time experiences outside of those two roasters.

So when you read our enthusiasm, we aren't really crazy... well not too much. You have to be in the same room or have an experience like we have had... a shared experience and then it all clicks. Sometime you really have to be in the same room to get it and relate.

In George's roasts it's like lifting a veil off the coffees and exposing them clearly. George is the exception with his light roast style though. It took me a while to get it but I do and I'm better for it.

The end result is I have now priced myself out of most of the things I could enjoy if I didn't focus so much on flavor. When you cup, you think more about flavor. In the end, you train yourself to become more discriminating about what you eat or imbibe and then your bank account will suffer!


-Jaime  ¶ Jaime van Schyndel 8:54 PM