The Roasterie's Travels: Destination Brazil - Part 2

This morning I woke up ready to finally taste some of this coffee that I had so anxiously been expecting. I felt like a little kid at Christmas, with all of this buildup to how amazing the Brazilian coffees are this year. So after a quick breakfast we were off the the center where the cupping's were taking place. Once there we took a short class on Acids, it was very interesting to see how the different types of acids found in coffees interact and how they can be exaggerated as well as diminished with just the addition of a little sweetness or saltiness. After the class we began calibration, meaning that we all tasted 7 different coffees of different calibers, not knowing what was what and the scored them as we saw fit. Once we were done with the cupping we all came together and discussed our findings. I was a little nervous at 1st thinking that I was going to give something a really high score only to find out that I was the outlier and everyone else thought that it was garbage. But luckily I fell right in line with everyone else and even found and used most of the same quality and defect descriptors, and I can only thank Norm for the great cupping knowledge that he has passed down to me for this. This calibration lasted all day as we did 3 different rounds unsung the same coffee as well as mixing them up in order and seeing if we could identify where its previous spot was on the table. After the cupping we all got together for dinner again and enjoyed some more great coffee conversations. I will say that it is amazing to hear someone talk about their counties coffee market, as they seem to be so different then ours. But again it comes down to sourcing the best beans possible to be successful and keep your market happy.