Coffee is more than a cup of java to Gevalia master taster

By COLLEEN LONG
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last Updated: November 15, 2005, 05:49:30 AM PST

NEW YORK — Lisslotte Eckhoff's friends don't offer her coffee with dessert. They won't even make it in front of her for fear of doing something wrong.

It's not that Eckhoff is particular or snobbish. But she does have one of the most refined palates in the world, so she'll probably know if her friends kept the java in the freezer too long.

The 41-year-old from Denmark is a master coffee taster.

"I make it easier on them and just take tea instead," she said with a laugh.

Eckhoff works in Gevalia Kaffe's Gavle, Sweden, factory where she heads a group of four other professional coffee tasters. Together, they govern more than 40 coffee varieties and choose new coffees for the company to purchase.

She tastes nearly 300 cups per day, slurping it up with a spoon — the way your mother tells you not to do — and spitting it out into a drain, similar to a wine tasting.

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