Barista Magazine

APR-MAY 2013

Barista Magazine is your home for the worldwide community of coffee and the people who make it.

Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/118056

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 88 of 99

the development of a cupping program aimed at providing it...to a point. The beautiful thing about objectivity is that it requires a(n arbitrary) framework in order to function. Without some understanding of that framework and its limits, objectivity risks overestimating itself and losing, by definition, objectivity. t 5IFSF JT HPPE OFXT IFSF GPS UIF DVUBOEESZCFUUFS JO GBDU GPS UIF staunch than for the trendy. Objectivity can be trained, and systems are valuable. In addition to our extensive cupping schedule, we make use of various exercises aimed at developing our cuppers' abilities to consistently identify some of the basic components of roasted coffee. To the second point, while organizational overlays are completely "arbitrary," they are for that very reason neither equal nor unimportant. Quite the opposite. Because "arbitrariness" touches all systems, the consistent building, implementation, and communication of results by a particular scoring scale distinguishes it from the randomness and whim of less developed systems. Because there is not an ultimate reference, trialed and consistent scales are all the more important for avoiding randomness in results. t5IPVHIXFVTFUIFTFTZTUFNJDPWFSMBZTUPNBLFTFOTFPGPVSFYQFSJFODF it is the accumulation of our experience that informs the structures of our overlays. Arbitrariness does not mean that there are no experts or professionals, but that experts and professionals are making choices (however expert and professional) that are not free from (but are informed by) the limits of their experience and training. t*XPVMESBUIFSNZEFOUJTUQVMMNZUPPUIXJUIIFSUPPMTUIBONZGSJFOE with his string on a doorknob. Situated Objectivity When I interview, I ask applicants to identify something popular that they themselves do not like. Having done so, I ask them two further things: 1) to explain both the popular and their own dissenting opinion, and 2) how they might score that thing objectively. This is what we do as professional cuppers. The scales to my liking do not always match the scoring scales of my profession, and it is essential that I maintain an awareness of that difference. I'm currently working through a press QPUPGJTI#SB[JMJBOFTUBUFDPGGFFUIBUPVSTBMFTBTTPDJBUFBOEJOIPVTF roaster (thanks, Joe) took toward an espresso roast. It's suiting me better than a lot of better coffees, and I am not all that inclined to trade it out for a few extra points. 8IFOXFJOWJUFE1BVMUPXPSLXJUIVT XFXFSFVTJOHBCBTJDXBTIFEDPGGFF TDPSJOHTUBOEBSEGPSFWFSZUIJOH0CWJPVTMZ VOXBTIFEDPGGFFTTUSVHHMFEPO those terms. It was becoming clear that many people were struggling on those terms as well. The question that needed asking, and answering was this: What are the specific attributes that Sumatran (et al) coffee lovers seek out in Sumatran coffee? Rather than condescendingly tossing a score down GSPNBXBTIFEDFOUSJDQPJOUPGWJFX XFOFFEFEUPEFGJOFBTFQBSBUFTFUPG SVMFT DBQBCMF PG TQFBLJOH QPTJUJWFMZ UP XIBU XFUIVMMFE DPGGFF XBT PGGFSJOH (and washed wasn't). And that's what we did. And did again. And again. Drawing on the collective experience here and on my conversations with Paul and with Jamin, I drew up separate standards. We began using them. As we filtered the coffee through, we saw where things were clogging and where things were slipping by. We've worked a lot of coffee through these standards, bringing them to the state in which you see them printed today. They'll continue to evolve as we continue to evolve, and as coffee does. At the same time, they stand posted as pillars of our cupping program. We refer to them every day, correlating our scores and calibrating ourselves to the definitions that they lay out. M E E T T H E FA C E O F PRECISION Curtis Gold CupĀ® SCAA BOOTH #871 "We recognized the need for a drip-style, single cup brewer, precise enough to craft Golden Cup quality with any brew method. Our solution, the Curtis Gold Cup." Brant Curtis, 4th Generation W I L B U R C U R T I S C O M PA N Y, L O S A N G E L E S C A | 8 0 0 - 4 2 1 - 6 1 5 0 | W I L B U R C U R T I S . C O M www.baristamagazine.com 89

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

view archives of Barista Magazine - APR-MAY 2013
subscribe to email alerts