For those who are unaware of a coffee sommelier, this is for you! Coffee sommelier play one of the most crucial roles in the world of coffee by testing and approving coffee before it is sent to us- the consumers.
While you are thinking, ‘it’s a quite an easy job, sipping coffee all the day,’ it is partly true that they do have that privilege to drink coffee all the day, but the job is not that much easy. Coffee sommeliers need to be the know-it-alls for everything from the green bean, to the cup. You need to know everything of bean origins, roasting process, brewing process, how to distinguish aromas and flavors, how to describe the flavors accurately, how to experiment with blends effectively and food paring opportunities.
Most sommeliers use the cupping process to taste, evaluate and score their coffees – in some cases a few hundred a day! The tasting and evaluations here are superior to the coffee trader to ensure that they are selling the best possible coffee to their customers. These are the key steps to the cupping process:
- Evaluate the green beans and the perfect roast – only really for in house sommeliers working for large coffee brands
- The grounds – have they been ground correctly or overdeveloped?
- The aroma – after the brew, examine the gasses released when breaking the top
- The taste – a just small amount of coffee on a spoon. Sommeliers describe the taste process as aerating the coffee across the palate as quickly as they can to use as many taste bud receptors as possible. Many others would describe this in a less technical way – a slurp!
- The after taste – how does the flavour linger and finish? This is where you may pick up on fruit notes etc.
- Acidity – measured based on experience
- The body – the feel of the liquid. Heavy, creamy etc.
- The balance – is the coffees flavour and body well balanced?
- Overall impression – here is where the coffee is given a score
As I am sure you will agree, there are many great parts to this role which any coffee fanatic would love. Tasting new and exciting flavours, exploring your palate, experimenting with blends to best bring out the distinct notes and even pairing coffees with food. Plus, you will always have energy to get to the gym after work!
It’s not all happy and rosy for the coffee heroes, oh no. This really can affect their lifestyle. For example, spending half an hour trying to decide what coffee to have with breakfast, or being unable to pop out for a coffee with friends without submitting a report to the barista!