8 October 2007 by Shifrah Combiths
Tasting Terms Turned Cupping Calls
As with wine-tasting, coffee cupping offers the unique opportunity not only to learn about the aromatic and gustatory variations of the beverage, but also to discover your own personal preferences. Of course, cupping poses none of the inebriation dangers of wine-tasting and there’s no age requirement to participate. Not to mention the fact that, once you’ve brought your favorite selections home, the morning consumption of coffee is certainly not frowned upon. Furthermore, it’s often more beneficial, or productive, as the case may be, to capitalize on the perkiness you’ll likely glean from cupping as opposed to the relaxation frequently attendant upon tasting.
Both coffee and wine can be positively or negatively affected by every step of their production, from weather conditions when the vines are bearing grapes and the coffee trees are bearing cherries to pressing techniques for wine and roasting variations in coffee. For both, it’s as if every step of the journey of the grape or coffee bean from its inception to the glass or mug is etched in its essence and eventually finds its way to your lips. Even the country of origin leaves its mark and becomes yet another delineation of preference: Colombian coffee is unique just as Napa Valley enjoys its status. The more educated you are concerning the possible variations – what altitude does to coffee, the effects of aging wine in various types of wood – the more you will begin making the connections between how it was created, and its eventual taste.
Wine-tasting and coffee cupping are close cousins so it’s entirely appropriate to yield to the temptation to borrow terms from one for the other. In fact, for those familiar with wine but still on shaky ground with cupping, comparisons to the characteristics of wine are particularly helpful. Let’s explore some examples.
Acidity in wine, too often confused with its pH level, which “acidity” does not refer to at all, is often hard to describe. It’s often explained as a dry feeling around the edges of your mouth, a description that may be somewhat vague. The phenomenon is harder to miss in wine-tasting, though, so here is where a comparison comes in handy: acidity in coffee may be compared to the sensation you get from a dry white wine. In fact, some coffee’s acidity is strikingly akin to wine and the brew may be labeled “winey.” Body or “mouthfeel” also relates to wine tasting. For instance, a light-bodied coffee can be compared to Pinot Grigio and a heavy body is similar to that of Bordeaux or Cabernet.
Some balk at the ease with which we’ve adapted wine terminology to the newly popular practice of cupping, saying that viticulture terms have been born and sustained by centuries of culture, practice and technique. But the similarities even in these arenas between wine and coffee endorse the transposition of terms. The more you explore coffee and wine in juxtaposition, the more you can’t help but realize and exploit their organic parallels.