Snnnt?...?sooot: the sounds of coffee connoisseurship

By DEBRA McKINNEY
Anchorage Daily News

Published: May 13, 2007

HOMER, Alaska -- It's Friday afternoon at K Bay Caffe Roasting Co., and the table is set for extreme coffee tasting.

Freshly roasted beans from around the globe will be scored on aroma, flavor, aftertaste, brightness, body and balance. Words like "nose" and "mouth feel" will be tossed around. And "citrus," "floral play" and "grassy."

"Cupping," this thing is called. It's kind of like wine tasting, only everyone's a whole lot more alert.

In front of each of this session's four cuppers -- Michael McGuire, Keren Orr, Mary Cameron and Mike Hiller -- is a chorus line of small glass cups, water for cleansing the palate, paper cups for disposing of that palate cleanser, spoons, pens and score sheets. Center stage on the table is the day's lineup of contenders -- organically grown coffee beans from Hawaii, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Brazil.

You think wine connoisseurs have an interesting vocabulary. Once these cuppers get into it, this is the kind of thing you hear:

"I think this is a little grassy, like sweet-tart hay."

"Yeah, it was definitely hanging out in that grassy range."

"Citrus floral play with chocolate undertones -- I was just like, goodness gracious."

"Man, the aftertaste just went wooooo. Positive, positive experience."

"Better than a Bordeaux. It's up there in terms of palate experience."

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