Re-introduction to Coffee Tasting
“This workshop was a humbling reminder of how intimidating and off-putting getting into specialty coffee can be, especially for those who want to learn more but don’t know where to start.”
I attended a Coffee Tasting Experience hosted by Rena Kayali, a coffee professional with SCA background, account manager at Ikawa, a barista and overall huge coffee enthusiast. A little fun fact is I purchased my Ikawa Pro50 roaster through Rena and her partner is a regular customer at the coffee house I work at (I’m telling you, the coffee industry is a small world!) So naturally, when I saw Rena was hosting her first coffee tasting workshop, I had to take part!
To give a brief overview, the Coffee Tasting Experience aimed to cover the most common questions asked:
How to start drinking and brewing coffee
Which origins are coffees from
How and why different coffees taste different
What is natural and washed process?
What are the different brew methods? How do you use them?
These are the few of many questions we as coffee professionals receive from many people who are first getting into specialty coffee and those exploring the wonders within its culture.
The workshop was hosted at The Travel Cafe - a lovely coffee shop abundant with variety of plants, travel gifts and postcards (worth popping in if you are in Waterloo area!) There were seven of us, all of who from different cultures, occupations and coffee experience. What was very interesting and insightful was learning about each member’s journey and their relationship with coffee - what it means to them, how they got into drinking coffee, what they wanted to take from this experience. On the table spread were coffee beans from a local supermarket and in cups were speciality coffee beans. Having both types of coffees side-to-side showed the physical differences in quality and why they looked different - broken pieces, dark roasted to hide defects, unknown roast date on packaging, etc, whereas specialty coffee beans are all hand-picked, processed and managed to highest standard throughout the chain. The beans in comparison were more even, with no broken pieces or defects. To prepare us for the tasting. we calibrated our palates by drinking some instant coffee and choice of sparkling/still water to wash it out with. On our Palate Score sheet, we had six boxes, each listed Acidity, Sweetness, Bitterness (all out of five), and Body (Light to Heavy). Each member had their say on what they thought of the instant coffee and the general consensus was maximum bitterness, rubbery aftertaste and charcoal. A great calibrated start!
The next exercise was demonstrating brew methods - French Press, Aeropress and Hario V60. We had the pleasure of tasting three contrasting coffees, each against two brew methods - natural Colombian, washed Indian and washed Ethiopian. The intriguing part of the exercise was how members noticed the difference between each brew method and coffee, first by the coffee’s clarity (cloudiness of French Press to the clear V60), then the heaviness of the body and the acidity/bitterness level between coffees. While some expressed preference of bright acidic coffees, some preferred savoury low-acidic coffees. In the end, we shared which coffee we preferred. To my surprise, I preferred the natural Colombian brewed in French Press. The heavy body of the French Press contributed to the coffee’s booziness and enhanced the dry fruit funkiness which I would have never expected from a French Press.
“I think that when you’re a more experienced barista, one of your responsibilities is to make sure that people have a better experience being a new barista - in any space - a better experience than you ever had.” - Jaymie Lao (thanks Boss Barista Podcast for sharing this quote)
There is a reason for why I wanted to write this as a blog, as opposed to an Instagram post alone. This workshop was a humbling reminder of how intimidating and off-putting getting into specialty coffee can be, especially for those who want to learn more but don’t know where to start. My own experience when I took part in coffee tasting was in Vietnam and I was surrounded by coffee passionate people. It wasn’t the coffee professionals and baristas that were intimidating, not in the slightest, but my cultural background limited my appreciation and experience for coffee tasting. Vietnamese isn’t my first language, and there were many technical terms used to explain coffee characteristics I had not yet understood and vice versa. It was difficult for me to explain a coffee’s characteristics in English, let alone in Vietnamese but if anything, it was the motivation for me to explore coffee tasting further. The workshop helped reconnect with people who don’t work in the industry and made me rethink about how we as coffee professionals can be more inclusive and accessible. The coffee culture goes beyond those who work in it - it applies to anyone who drinks coffee. And vice versa, it was encouraging for other members to ask what it is like as a barista and the process that goes on behind the bar in making the coffee. . We talked about dialling-in espressos before opening, preparing coffee and the ‘why’ customers go to coffee shops in the first place. The collective answers were - because they enjoy drinking coffee (even though they may not be sure what it is), they want to know more so that next time, they can ask about the coffees they normally order, and the care that goes into making a cup of coffee (latte art being the cherry on top). There is a real genuine curiosity from the everyday person that we, as coffee professionals, can explore. We can do more to welcome them into this thing we all are so passionate about.
The experience overall was an amazing re-introduction to coffee tasting that I did not know I needed. Huge credit to Rena for hosting an amazing workshop and hope to see more experiences soon!
Until then, happy brewing and keep going on your coffee journey.
