Recently I (Nick) had the opportunity to attend a basic coffee cupping training in the Gayo Highlands, close to Takengon. Many thanks to the Gayo's Cuppers Team for putting together a great training! Cupping might be strange terminology for some. Coffeeresearch.org defines cupping like this:
"Cupping is one of the coffee tasting techniques used by cuppers to evaluate coffee aroma and the flavor profile of a coffee. To understand the minor differences between coffee growing regions, it is important to taste coffee from around the world side-by-side. Cupping is also used to evaluate a defective coffee or to create coffee blends"
From an outsider's perspective, coffee cupping probably seems either rather silly, or possibly like some type of cult-like activity. All I can say is that, it was very challenging (you try and taste and grade 5 cups of 6 types of coffee all in 35 minutes!), very fun, and provided a chance to build community based on shared experience. The bonus was being able to try really good coffee from all over Gayoland and the country of Indonesia. If you want to experience a bit of the madness, check out this youtube video.
"Cupping is one of the coffee tasting techniques used by cuppers to evaluate coffee aroma and the flavor profile of a coffee. To understand the minor differences between coffee growing regions, it is important to taste coffee from around the world side-by-side. Cupping is also used to evaluate a defective coffee or to create coffee blends"
From an outsider's perspective, coffee cupping probably seems either rather silly, or possibly like some type of cult-like activity. All I can say is that, it was very challenging (you try and taste and grade 5 cups of 6 types of coffee all in 35 minutes!), very fun, and provided a chance to build community based on shared experience. The bonus was being able to try really good coffee from all over Gayoland and the country of Indonesia. If you want to experience a bit of the madness, check out this youtube video.