Some of you may be wondering why I generally don’t do traditional tasting notes for my roasts; some of you may not give a hoot for pretentious and preposterous descriptions of flavors we mere mortal coffee drinkers can’t come close to discerning. Well, the main reason is because I’ve never bothered to train my palette properly and I’m too lazy to use a thesaurus. But, I figure it might be fun to learn how to be able to give pretentious and preposterous tasting notes like the pros. So, I bought a proper cupping bowl and proper (and properly expensive) Hario Tetsu Kasuya Model cupping spoon. Now all I need to do is to practice cupping—basically brewing a sample cup and smelling/tasting it according to SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) guidelines. I think that all the practice and creative use of a thesaurus in the world will not tune my tongue to be able to honestly say that a Blah-Blah Blend tastes like fig, pine, tobacco, blueberry, burnt sage, and mascarpone, but at least I’ll have the credentials to fake it.
Who is Tetsu Kasuya, btw, and why is a cupping spoon named after him? He was the 2016 World Brewers Cup Champion. Upon his victory, he proceeded to monetize his accomplishment (good for him). And, he shared the 4:6 pour-over brewing technique that won him the championship. If you too want to brew like a champ, you can learn his secret here.