Tasting Techniques For The Coffee Professional

Tasting
Techniques
for the
Coffee Professional
© Boot Coffee Consulting & Training, Inc.

28 Reed Street
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Tel. 415 - 380 1999
Fax 415 - 380 1992
www.bootcofffee.com
Coffee Tasting Techniques for Professionals
Page 1
FLAVOR PROFILE EVALUATION FORM - TRIANGULATION
Date: Cupping Round: Number Taster: Name Taster:
Fragrance/ Aroma Acidity Flavor Body / Mouthfeel Aftertaste Overall

SAMPLE
+50
6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10
Berry Citrus Earthy Winey Sour Full Flat Light Medium Dry Long
Floral Herby Nutty Piquant Nippy Round Fruity Heavy Oily Clean Bitter
Caramel Chocolatey Malty Sweet Mild Woody Balanced Buttery Creamy Sour Harsh
Resinous Spicy Carbony Tart Tangy Pungent Sweet Chalky Rough Round Resonant
Astringent Soft

SAMPLE
+50
6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10
Astringent Soft

SAMPLE
+50
6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10
Astringent Soft
FLAVOR PROFILE EVALUATION FORM
Date: Cupping Objective: Name Taster:
SAMPLE Fragrance / Aroma Flavor Aftertaste Acidity Mouthfeel

Balance
6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10
6 7 8 9 10 Overall
Delicate Vibrant Buttery Dry
Sweet Flat Short Clean
Berry Molasses Dried Fruit Mild Grassy Creamy Chalky
Sour Greenish Dry Sweet
Floral Chocolate Vanilla Nippy Hard Smooth Gritty 6 7 8 9 10
Salt Citrus Bitter Floral
Fruity Dark Chocolate Hidy Piquant Acrid Rich Rough
Delicate Berry Sour Berry Sweetness
Caramel Earthy Musty Sweet Soft Velvety Astringent Total Score
Rich Fruity Earthy Citrus
Resinous Nutty Leather Tangy Sour Watery Metallic
Intense Balanced Woody Lemongrass Clean Cup
Lemon Malty Butter Tart Berry Oily
Pungent Exotic Harsh Fruity
Grapefruit Carbony Toast Lemon Winey Uniformity
Musty Chocolate Dirty Lingering
Honey Pepper Smoke Lemongrass Grapefruit
Past-Crop Spicy Resonant
Spicy Woody Nutty
Dirty
Balance
6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10
6 7 8 9 10 Overall
Spicy Woody Nutty
Dirty
Balance
6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10
6 7 8 9 10 Overall
Spicy Woody Nutty
Dirty
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A Coffee Taster's Glossary
Acidity
High acid (or acidy) coffees have a sharp, pleasing, piquante quality that points up
their flavor and gives them snap, verve, liveliness in the cup. Acidity may be high,
medium, light, low, or lacking altogether in coffees, in which case the coffee tastes
flat and dull. Acidity is characteristic of high-grown coffees. See sour.
Aroma
Refers to the odor of the prepared coffee beverage. It may be lacking, faint,
delicate, moderate, strong, or fragrant (also called aromatic), and distinctive as to
character.
Baked
A taste description given to underroasted coffee, or coffee roasted too slowly at too
low a temperature, so that the flavor is underdeveloped. See green.
Bitter
A harsh, unpleasant taste detected on the back of the tongue. Found in
overextracted brews as well as in overroasted coffees and those with various taste
defects.
Body
The tactile impression of weight and texture in the mouth. Coffees may be watery,
thin, slight, light, medium, full, heavy, thick or even sirupy in body, as well as
buttery, oily, rich, smooth, chewy, etc., in texture. Easiest to detect in full-strength
coffee.
Burnt
A bitter, burnt flavor characteristic of dark-roasted coffees.
Buttery
Said of an oily body or texture in the mouth. Denotes full flavor and rich
Cinnamon
Underlying spice accent sometimes detected in the aroma of fine coffee, a flavor
nuance. Not a common description. (Also, a term describing a very light roast).
Clean
Opposite of dirty. Characteristic of all fine coffees. Does not necessarily imply
clarity of flavor impression (see natural coffee and wild). Associated with washed
coffees.
Cocoa
Characteristic sweetish smell of completely stale roasted coffee. See stale.
Dirty
An undesirable unclean small and taste, slight to pronounced. Dirty implies a
defect, such as sourness, earthiness, or mustiness. See natural coffee and wild.
Earthy
A highly undesirable dirt odor and flavor taint picked up by coffee when dried on
the ground; also called groundy. See musty.
Flat
A dull lifeless quality due to lack of acidity.
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Flavor
(a) The total impression of aroma, acitidy, and body; if the impression is strong,
fine, and pleasant, the coffee is described as flavory or flavorful or ranked on a
scale from poor, fair, good, to fine-flavored.
(b) Specific taste flavors may suggest, spices, chocolate, nuts, or something less
complimentary - straw, grass, earth, rubber etc.
Fresh
Opposite of stale. Applies to roasted coffees.
Fruity
A flavor taint said to come from overripe fruit pulp.
Grassy
A flavor taint from use of swamp water for washing, or from improper drying. Also
used as synonym for green and past-croppish.
Green
(a) A flavor taint found in coffee harvested before fully ripe.
(b) Characteristic taste of underroasted coffee; pasty.
Hard
Opposite of sweet or mild; harsh. Description of Brazils between soft and Rio-y.
Harsh
Crude raw taste; used to describe certain Brazils and robustas.
Hidy
Smell of hides or leather from improper storage.
Light
Used to qualify aroma, acidity, or body; a light coffee would be delicate in flavor.
Mellow
Full, well-balance, satisfying coffee; implies low or medium acidity. See winy.
Musty
A smell and taste taint caused by mildew; similar to earthy.
Natural coffee
Aroma and flavor characteristics of coffees processed by the dry method. They are
often blander than washed coffees and may lack clarity of flavor and pointed
acidity; some may have intense complex flavors and full, thick body. See wild.
Neutral
A characterless, flavorless coffee, inoffensive to insipid; without virtue (safe for
economical blending) but without defect. A desirable character in robusta and
otherwise undistinguished Brazils.
Nutty
(a) Said of coffees that lack coffee flavor; also peanutty.
(b) A specific flavor nuance, suggesting almonds, and so on.
Past-croppish
Not to be confused with stale. Said of coffees that have deteriorated in the green
state before roasting and thus taste as if from a past crop. See strawy and woody.
Rancid
Extremely sour and very unpleasant.
Rich
Indicates depth and complexity of flavor and full, buttery body; overused.
Page 4
Rio-y
A harsh, heavy medicinal or iodine flavor typical of the poorest grades of Brazils
but encountered in other coffees as well. Said to be caused by allowing berries to
dry on the tree.
Rubbery
Burnt-rubber odor characteristic of robusta.
Soft
Low-acid coffees are described as soft, mellow, sweet.
Sour
Not to be confused with acidity. A distinctly sour, rank, or rancid taste is a defect,
often due to improper processing. See wild.
Spicy
Said of fine aroma or flavor suggestive of spices.
Stale
Roasted coffee that has faded in quality after excessive exposure to air. Aroma of
stale coffee changes from flat to rancid and finally to cocoalike; the flavor of stale
coffee changes from bitter to rancid and tastes cardboardy. Not to be confused with
past-croppish.
Strawy
Characteristic scent of past-croppish coffees; hay-like. See woody.
Strong
Term used to indicate intensity of either defects or virtues (as in "a strong, sour
taste" or "a strong, fine aroma"). A strong-flavored coffee is therefore not
necessarily a fine-flavored coffee.
Sweet
Said of a smooth, palatable coffee, free from taints or harshness. Also soft.
Thin
Said of coffees with watery body and lack of flavor; typical if low-grown coffee.
Wild
Coffees with extreme flavor characteristics, or odd racy, tangy nuances in aroma
and taste. Usually applied to natural coffees. These characteristics may be
intriguing or undesirable. See dirty.
Winy
Sometimes used to indicate thick body and mellow quality, but also used to denote a
sappy, vinous acidity. Characteristic of certain fine coffees.
Woody
A flavor taint caused by overlengthy storage in warm wood sheds; also
characteristic scent and taste of old, past-croppish coffees.
Source: The Signet Book of Coffee and Tea by Peter Quimme

Signet, Signet Classics, Mentor, Plume, Meridian and NAL
New York, NY, published September 1976
Page 5
Part III.
Cupping & Tasting Coffee
Cupping is a professional technique for evaluating the coffee’s fragrance, aroma, taste,
body and aftertaste. 150 millimeters of hot water is poured directly onto 7.25 to 9 grams
of roasted, ground coffee and allowed to steep. Using a large spoon, the coffee is stirred,
sniffed, allowed to settle, then vigorously sipped at various temperatures to reveal its
flavour characteristics.
Roast Preparation
Roast the samples as close to the time of actual cupping as is possible, preferably within
three days. Store coffee in an airtight container or non-permeable bag after roasting until
cupping to minimize exposure to air and prevent contamination.
Roast profile, measured via the M-Basic (Gourmet) Agtron scale of approximately 58 on
wholebean and 63 on ground, +/- 1 point.
Roasting time: no less than 8 minutes and no more than 12:30 minutes.
Cooling: quick and air cooled only (no water quenching).
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Ground Preparation
Grind samples immediately prior to cupping, no more than 15 minutes before infusion
with water. There are two techniques acceptable for grinding, depending upon the
purpose of the evaluation.
For the purpose to establish uniformity of grading and green processing, "pinch grinding"
is required. Pinch grinding is done by measuring out the appropriate per cup quantity,
running a cleansing quantity of the coffee through the grinder, and than grinding each
cup's batch individually into the cupping glasses.
When evaluating nuance, it is acceptable to do bulk grinding where you grind all of the
sample and then measure the appropriate quantity into the cupping glasses.
Grind fineness
Particle size should be slightly coarser than typically used for paper filter drip brewing.
Cupping Glasses
The recommended type of glass is a 5 or 6 ounce Manhattan or "rocks" glass. The cups
should be clean with no apparent fragrance and at room temperature.
Measuring Coffee
The standard measure for cupping has traditionally been 7.25 grams (the weight of a
nickel and a dime) per 150 ml (about 5 ounces) of water but more recently some specialty
professionals prefer significantly larger doses up to 10 grams of coffee per 150 ml of
water.
Water
Water used for cupping should be clean and odor free. At the time that it is poured onto
the ground coffee the water should be freshly brought to approximately 93ºC (200
degrees F). Pour the prepared water directly onto the measured grounds in the cup to the
top of the cup, making sure to wet all of the grounds. Allow the grinds to steep
undisturbed for at least two minutes.
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Equipment necessary
Roasting Preparation Environment Cupping Preparation

Sample Roaster Well lighted Balance (Scale)
Agtron or other color Clean, no interfering Cupping glasses with lids
reading device aromas
Grinder Cupping tables Cupping spoons
Quiet Hot water equipment
Comfortable temperature Forms and other paperwork
Limited distractions (no Pencils and clipboards
phones, etc.)
Cupping Glasses: The type of glass recommended by the SCAA is a 5 or 6 ounce

Manhattan or "rocks" glass. The cups should be clean with no apparent fragrance and at
room temperature. Lids can be of any material.
Sample Preparation
Roasting:
• The sample should be roasted within 24 hours of cupping and allowed to rest
for at least 8 hours.
• Roast profile should be a light to light-medium roast, measured via the M-
Basic (Gourmet) Agtron scale of approximately 58 on whole bean and 63 on
ground, +/- 1 point (55-60 on the standard scale or Agtron/SCAA Roast tile
#55).
• The roast should be completed in no less than 8 minutes and no more than 12
minutes. Scorching or tipping should not be apparent.
• Sample should be immediately air-cooled (no water quenching).
• When they reach room temperature (app. 75º F or 20º C), completed samples
should then be stored in airtight containers or non-permeable bags until
cupping to minimize exposure to air and prevent contamination.
• Samples should be stored in a cool dark place, but not refrigerated or frozen.
To determine measurement:
• The optimum ratio is 8.25 grams per 150 ml of water, as this conforms to the
mid-point of the optimum balance recipes for the Golden Cup.
• Determine the volume of water in the selected cupping glass and adjust weight
of coffee to this ratio within +/- .25 grams.
Cupping Preparation:
• Sample should be ground immediately prior to cupping, no more than 15
minutes before infusion with water. If this is not possible, samples should be
covered and infused not more than 30 minutes after grinding.
• Samples should be weighed out AS WHOLE BEANS to the predetermined
ratio (see above for ratio) for the appropriate cup fluid volume.
• Grind particle size should be slightly coarser than typically used for paper
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filter drip brewing, with 70% to 75% of the particles passing through a U.S.
Standard size 20 mesh sieve. At least 5 cups from each sample should be
prepared to evaluate sample uniformity.
• Each cup of sample should be ground by running a cleansing quantity of the
sample through the grinder, and then grinding each cup's batch individually
into the cupping glasses, ensuring that the whole and consistent quantity of
sample gets deposited into each cup. A lid should be placed on each cup
immediately after grinding.
Pouring:
• Water used for cupping should be clean and odor free, but not distilled or
softened. Ideal Total Dissolve Solids are 125-175 ppm, but should not be less
than 100 ppm or more than 250 ppm.
• The water should be freshly drawn and brought to approximately 200º F
(93ºC) at the time it is poured onto the ground coffee.
• The hot water should be poured directly onto the measured grounds in the cup
to the rim of the cup, making sure to wet all of the grounds.
• Allow the grinds to steep undisturbed for 3-5 minutes before evaluation.
Sample Evaluation
Sensory testing is done for three reasons:

• To determine the actual sensory differences between samples
• To describe the flavor of samples
• To determine preference of products
No one test can effectively address all of these, but they have common aspects. It is
important for the evaluator to know the purpose of the test and how results will be used.
The purpose of this cupping protocol is the determination of the cupper’s preference.
The quality of specific flavor attributes is analyzed, and then drawing on the cupper’s
previous experience, samples are rated on a numeric scale. The scores between samples
can then be compared. Coffees that receive higher scores should be noticeably better than
coffees that receive lower scores.
The Cupping Form provides a means of recording 11 important flavor attributes for
coffee: Fragrance/Aroma, Flavor, Aftertaste, Acidity, Body, Balance, Uniformity, Clean
Cup, Sweetness, Defects, and Overall. The specific flavor attributes are positive scores of
quality reflecting a judgment rating of the cupper; the defects are negative scores
denoting unpleasant flavor sensations; the Overall score is based on the flavor experience
of the individual cupper as a personal appraisal. These are rated on a 16-point scale
representing levels of quality in quarter point increments between numeric values from 6
to 9. These levels are:
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Quality scale:
6.00 - Good 7.00 - Very Good 8.00 - Excellent 9.00 - Outstanding
6.25 7.25 8.25 9.25
6.50 7.50 8.50 9.50
6.75 7.75 8.75 9.75
Theoretically the above scale ranges from a minimum value of 0 to a

maximum value of 10 points. The lower end of the scale (2 to 6) is
applicable to commercial coffees, which are cupped primarily for the
assessment of defect types and intensities.
Evaluation Procedure
Samples should first be visually inspected for roast color. This is marked on the sheet and
may be used as a reference during the rating of specific flavor attributes. The sequence
of rating each attribute is based on the flavor perception changes caused by decreasing
temperature of the coffee as it cools:
Step #1 – Fragrance/Aroma
1. Within 15 minutes after samples have been ground, the dry fragrance of the
samples should be evaluated by lifting the lid and sniffing the dry grounds.
2. After infusing with water, the crust is left unbroken for at least 3 minutes but not
more than 5 minutes. Breaking of the crust is done by stirring 3 times, then
allowing the foam to run down the back of the spoon while gently sniffing. The
Fragrance/Aroma score is then marked on the basis of dry and wet evaluation.
Step #2 – Flavor, Aftertaste, Acidity, Body, and Balance

3. When the sample has cooled to 160º F (about 70º C, 8-10 minutes from infusion),
evaluation of the liquor should begin. The liquor is aspirated into the mouth in
such a way as to cover as much area as possible, especially the tongue and upper
palate. Because the retro nasal vapors are at their maximum intensity at these
elevated temperatures, Flavor and Aftertaste are rated at this point.
4. As the coffee continues to cool (160º F - 140º F), the Acidity, Body and Balance
are rated next. Balance is the cupper’s assessment of how well the Flavor,
Aftertaste, Acidity, and Body fit together in a synergistic combination.
5. The cupper’s preference for the different attributes is evaluated at several
different temperatures (2 or 3 times) as the sample cools. To rate the sample on
the 16-point scale, circle the appropriate tick-mark on the cupping form. If a
change is made (if a sample gains or loses some of its perceived quality due to
temperature changes), re-mark the horizontal scale and draw an arrow to indicate
the direction of the final score.
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Step #3 – Sweetness, Uniformity, and Cleanliness

6. As the brew approaches room temperature (below 100º F) Sweetness, Uniformity,
and Clean Cup are evaluated. For these attributes, the cupper makes a judgment
on each individual cup, awarding 2 points per cup per attribute (10 points
maximum score).
7. Evaluation of the liquor should cease when the sample reaches 70º F (16º C) and
the Overall score is determined by the cupper and given to the sample as
“Cupper’s Points” based on ALL of the combined attributes.
Step #4 - Scoring
8. After evaluating the samples, all the scores are added as describe in the “Scoring”
section below and the Final Score is written in the upper right hand box.
Individual Component Scores

On some of the positive attributes, there are two tick-mark scales. The vertical (up and
down) scales are used to rank the intensity of the listed sensory component and are
marked for the evaluator’s record. The horizontal (left to right) scales are used to rate the
panelist’s preference of the particular component based upon their perception of the
sample and experiential understanding of quality. The attribute score is recorded in the
appropriate box on the cupping form.
Each of these attributes is described more fully as follows:
Fragrance/Aroma: The aromatic aspects include Fragrance (defined as the smell of the
ground coffee when still dry) and Aroma (the smell of the coffee when infused with hot
water). One can evaluate this at three distinct steps in the cupping process: (1) sniffing
the grounds placed into the cup before pouring water onto the coffee; (2) sniffing the
aromas released while breaking the crust; and (3) sniffing the aromas released as the
coffee steeps. Specific aromas can be noted under “qualities” and the intensity of the dry,
break, and wet aroma aspects noted on the 5-point vertical scales. The score finally given
should reflect the preference of all three aspects of a sample’s Fragrance/Aroma.
Flavor: Flavor represents the coffee's principal character, the "mid-range" notes, in
between the first impressions given by the coffee's first aroma and acidity to its final
aftertaste. It is a combined impression of all the gustatory (taste bud) sensations and retro
nasal aromas that go from the mouth to nose. The score given for Flavor should account
for the intensity, quality and complexity of its combined taste and aroma, experienced
when the coffee is slurped into the mouth vigorously so as to involve the entire palate in
the evaluation.
Aftertaste: Aftertaste is defined as the length of positive flavor (taste and aroma)
qualities emanating from the back of the palate and remaining after the coffee is
expectorated or swallowed. If the aftertaste were short or unpleasant, a lower score
would be given.
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Acidity: Acidity is often described as "brightness" when favorable or “sour” when

unfavorable. At its best, acidity contributes to a coffee's liveliness, sweetness, and fresh-
fruit character and is almost immediately experienced and evaluated when the coffee is
first slurped into the mouth. Acidity that is overly intense or dominating may be
unpleasant, however, and excessive acidity may not be appropriate to the flavor profile of
the sample. The final score marked on the horizontal tick-mark scale should reflect the
panelist’s preference for the Acidity relative to the expected flavor profile based on origin
characteristics and/or other factors (degree of roast, intended use, etc.). Coffees expected
to be high in Acidity, such as a Kenya coffee, or coffees expected to be low in Acidity,
such as a Sumatra coffee, can receive equally high preference scores although their
intensity rankings will be quite different.
Body: The quality of Body is based upon the tactile feeling of the liquid in the mouth,
especially as perceived between the tongue and roof of the mouth. Most samples with
heavy Body may also receive a high score in terms of quality due to the presence of brew
colloids. Some samples with lighter Body may also have a pleasant feeling in the mouth,
however. Coffees expected to be high in Body, such as a Sumatra coffee, or coffees
expected to be low in Body, such as a Mexican coffee, can receive equally high
preference scores although their intensity rankings will be quite different.
Balance: How all the various aspects of Flavor, Aftertaste, Acidity and Body of the
sample work together and complement or contrast to each other is Balance. If the sample
is lacking in certain aroma or taste attributes or if some attributes are overpowering, the
Balance score would be reduced.
Sweetness: Sweetness refers to a pleasing fullness of flavor as well as any obvious

sweetness and its perception is the result of the presence of certain carbohydrates. The
opposite of sweetness in this context is sour, astringency or “green” flavors. This quality
may not be directly perceived as in sucrose-laden products such as soft drinks, but will
affect other flavor attributes. 2 points are awarded for each cup displaying this attribute
for a maximum score of 10 points.
Clean Cup: Clean Cup refers to a lack of interfering negative impressions from first
ingestion to final aftertaste, a “transparency” of cup. In evaluating this attribute, notice
the total flavor experience from the time of the initial ingestion to final swallowing or
expectoration. Any non-coffee like tastes or aromas will disqualify an individual cup. 2
points are awarded for each cup displaying the attribute of Clean Cup.
Uniformity: Uniformity refers to consistency of flavor of the different cups of the sample
tasted. If the cups taste different, the rating of this aspect would not be as high. 2 points
are awarded for each cup displaying this attribute, with a maximum of 10 points if all 5
cups are the same.
Overall: The “overall” scoring aspect is meant to reflect the holistically integrated rating
of the sample as perceived by the individual panelist. A sample with many highly
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pleasant aspects, but not quite “measuring up” would receive a lower rating. A coffee that
met expectations as to its character and reflected particular origin flavor qualities would
receive a high score. An exemplary example of preferred characteristics not fully
reflected in the individual score of the individual attributes might receive an even higher
score. This is the step where the panelists make their personal appraisal.
Defects: Defects are negative or poor flavors that detract from the quality of the coffee.
These are classified in 2 ways. A taint is an off-flavor that is noticeable, but not
overwhelming, usually found in the aromatic aspects. A “taint” is given a “2” in intensity.
A fault is an off-flavor, usually found in the taste aspects, that is either overwhelming or
renders the sample unpalatable and is given an intensity rating of “4”. The defect must
first be classified (as a taint or a fault), then described (“sour,” “rubbery,” “ferment,”
“phenolic” for example) and the description written down. The number of cups in which
the defect was found is then noted, and the intensity of the defect is recorded as either a 2
or 4. The defect score is multiplied and subtracted from the total score according to
directions on the cupping form.
Final Scoring
The Final Score is calculated by first summing the individual scores given for each of the
primary attributes in the box marked “Total Score.” Defects are then subtracted from the
“Total Score” to arrive at a “Final Score.” The following Scoring Key has proven to be a
meaningful way to describe the range of coffee quality for the Final Score.
Total Score Specialty Description Classification

95-100 Exemplary Super Premium Specialty
90-94 Outstanding Premium Specialty
85-89 Excellent Specialty
80-84 Very Good Premium
75-79 Good Usual Good Quality
70-74 Fair Average Quality
60-70 Exchange Grade
50-60 Commercial
40-50 Below Grade
<40 Off Grade
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Page 20
ARTICLE REPRINT (CONTINUED)
process. Despite many frantic

attempts, I have not been able to Beans for Blending
successfully craft my “phantom”
blend again.
BRAZIL Choose a pulped natural type with ETHIOPIA For this exercise, I recommend
To Blend or Not to full body, no musty notes and slight aftertaste a sun-dried Yirgacheffe or Sidamo grade 3
Blend of fermented fruit. with well-ripened, dense fruit flavors.
Within the specialty roasting SUMATRA Select a Gayo or Mandheling NICARAGUA Prepare a Nueva Segovia
community, there is currently a region coffee with clean earthy notes, or Jinotega with pleasant fruit notes and
rise in the popularity of single- preferably double-picked. smooth mouthfeel.
origin coffees. That’s easy to
understand—single-origin PANAMA I recommend choosing a Volcan- COLOMBIA For this exercise, I prefer a
coffees allow roasters and or Santa Clara-grown Panama with medium Colombian that is of the caturra or typica
retailers to finesse a coffee into to bright acidity and lingering sweetness. variety with a bright acidity, full body and
its best flavor while selling the clean aftertaste. The coffee can have some
GUATEMALA Find any SHB Guatemala fruit attributes, but if you use a Huila watch
story of the particular growing with vibrant acidity and clean fruit notes
region and/or producer of the out for dominant fruity notes.
(with lighter roast levels these attributes
coffee. “I’m more of a fan of generally contribute to a piquant acidity; DECAF I prefer the Mountain Water
single-origin coffees because with darker roast degrees they develop Process Decaf or the Swiss Water Decaf, and
of the story they can tell about attractive chocolate notes). I recommend trying Ethiopian decaf for the
the roots of the coffee and the described blend.
unique growing conditions of KENYA Source a stellar bean with multi-
the beans,” admits Michael layered acidity and bright berry notes (these
Johnson, owner of Johnson are most predominant in bourbon varieties).
Brothers Coffee in Madison,
Wisc. “However, our blends have
given us the opportunity to open
the doors to some large accounts,
like the local university.”
Thus, blends are still a force where the ingredients and proportions change so much so that a good cupper could clearly
to be reckoned with—in their during the year to keep the blend vibrant and identify the individual constituents. Other times
own way, they offer the roaster fresh without veering away from its essential one coffee will dominate the other, incorporating
a chance to test his skill, while character can be a good way to achieve year- traits from the second coffee in a way that makes
creating a product that is in long consistency. them hard to discern.
demand from consumers. “In “The second, and more compelling, reason Another advantage of a blend is that it has
my opinion there are really very to blend is to create a combination of taste long-term retail appeal. The coffee will not just
few reasons to blend coffees,” characteristics that cannot be found in a single taste consistent from month to month, but also
says Geoff Watts, vice president coffee,” says Watts. “This is blending as an ideally from year to year. More than 10 years
of Chicago-based Intelligentsia art form rather than as a pragmatic tool. It is ago, Batdorf and Bronson Coffee Roasters in
Coffee & Tea. “The first is if fascinating to me how different sets of flavors Olympia, Wash., developed its Dancing Goats
year-round consistency is a goal. and cup traits can interact in unexpected ways. Blend, and it is still one of the company’s
Some people don’t like much More often than not, 1+1 does not equal 2, or most popular sellers today. “The best blends
variability and would rather 11 for that matter.” can be used for both espresso and drip filter
have a coffee in their store that This is the benefit of proper blending, and preparation,” says Larry Challain, founder of
tastes the same way in January the potential downfall of incorrect blending. Batdorf and Bronson, of his blend philosophy.
as it does in June.” All coffees This is because some coffees complement each
are seasonal and certainly other and, in the cup, particular traits from continued on next page
perishable, thus, creating a blend each coffee find a way to articulate themselves,
roast • article reprint 2
1631 NE Broadway No. 125, Portland, OR 97232-1425 | P 503.282.2399 F 503.282.2388 | www.roastmagazine.com | roast@roastmagazine.com
Page 21
Chart A. Roast Styles
Roast Agtron
Description
Style Color
The first crack is completed. Some coffees can now be consumed, provided that the first crack occurred slowly. To
Light 64–68
accomplish this, the roaster operator must reduce the heat supply at least one minute before the first crack.
About one to two minutes after the finish of the first crack. Color of the beans is quite even. There is a minimum
Medium 60–64 of darker roast spots on the beans. To accomplish this roast style, the roaster operator must reduce the heat supply
Light
just before the start of the first crack.
This is just before the start of the second crack. Beans are evenly roasted and start to expand more. At this point, the
Medium 55–59
heat inside the beans almost becomes exothermic and you can notice that subtle aromas are released by the coffee.
Well- 50–54 At the beginning of the second pop and the heat inside the beans becomes exothermic.
Done
Dark 44–49 The second crack is about 25 percent completed. There is now a rapid staccato of cracks occurring.
Very Dark 36–43 The second crack is at least 50 percent completed and oils start showing on the beans.
French 28–35 The second crack is complete; the beans develop more oils and swell to their maximum size.
NOTE: I strongly recommend exploring the roast styles between Agtron 40 and 60. With these roast styles you will obtain more coffee flavor with
complex and potentially sweet, refreshing attributes. Try to build your market niche with this lighter roasting style!
a program of product development that trying to mask mediocre coffee components

“The blend consists of five individually
usually results in the creation of at least in the blend. I believe this is a foolish
roasted components which create together
three successful blends for your business. strategy and the short-term benefits—higher
the popular flavor profile which is complex,
First, start planning the process of profit margins—do not weigh up against
rich, sweet and smooth with chocolate and
crafting your blends. In this stage it is wise the long-term consequences of losing
blueberry-like flavor attributes. Every roast
to ask some fundamental questions like: dissatisfied clients.
of the blend is cupped daily by the roaster
What type of client is the blend for? Home Third, determine the roast level for
operators who are rotated between our two
consumers, restaurants, or should the blend each of the coffee components that will be
roasting facilities.”
have a versatile application? The essential utilized for the design of the blend. This
task in this phase is to describe the required step is very crucial and must be explored
Hands-on Blending flavor profile of the blend with the preferred extensively for each of the components of
degree of roast. The roastmaster or the your blend. I have noticed too many roasting
Over the years, I have assisted many responsible coffee person should know companies skip this step and, as a result,
coffee companies around the world with which flavor attributes to look for. Will the companies settle too quickly for the specific
the development of coffee blends, and I blend be refreshing with a medium acidity roasting style for each coffee component.
generally follow a similar blending protocol or chocolate-like and nutty with a dry Remember, optimum roast levels are
to what I describe in this article. Without a aftertaste? Obviously these are fundamental different for each coffee and most coffee
proper strategy, it will be very challenging questions that need to be asked beforehand. types have more than one optimum roast
to develop coffee blends, and you might Second comes the important task of degree. As a result, the roasting process and
end up applying a “hit and miss” approach, selecting the coffee components. In my the seemingly infinite number of roasting
which only on rare cases results in the opinion, the coffees should be chosen for degrees can make your job as blender an
creation of successful blends. their individual quality attributes; each endless nightmare. For that reason I have
I recommend following a comprehensive component must be able to stand on its own defined seven levels of roasting, described in
five-step product development protocol as a single-origin product. Some companies
that will enable you to plan and execute create blends for the wrong reasons by continued on next page
Page 22
Chart B. Blend Styles
Blend Style Brazil Sumatra Panama Guatemala Kenya Ethiopia Nicaragua Colombia Decaf
25% 50% 25%

Breakfast Blend
Dark Very Dark Medium
50% 25% 12.5% 12.5%
House Blend
Medium Dark Very Dark Dark
25% 35% 20% 20%
Espresso Blend
Well-Done Well-Done Dark Well-Done
33% 33% 33%
Pacific Blend
Medium Well-Done Medium
25% 37.5% 37.5%
Summer Blend
Medium Med. Light Medium
French Roast 50% 50%
Blend French Very Dark
25% 25% 50%
Fifty-Fifty Blend
Well-Done Medium Medium
Vienna Roast 33% 33% 37.5%
Blend Dark Very Dark Well-Done
25% 25% 50%
Exotic Blend
Well-Done Well-Done Medium
Light 25% 25% 50%
Roast Blend Light Light Med. Light
Chart A. Since there is so much confusion about the denominations a result the roaster operator must manually ensure that the proper
of roast levels, I have indicated for each roast style its corresponding roasting protocol is followed.
Agtron color range, as well as a description of the roast process. Fourth, we get to the actual nuts and bolts of blending. Now,
In general, I recommend exploring the medium light, medium you must select the green coffee types for your blend and roast each
and well-done roast styles. Too many roasting companies are type individually to the degree that is indicated in Chart B., which
relentlessly copying some of the well-known specialty coffee lists 10 different blends with the recommended blend recipes and
brands and, as a result, we are experiencing a glut of dark, very roasting styles.
dark and French roast styles that thrive too much on the concept Remember, along the way, it’s important to take detailed notes
of caramelizing and baking the coffee rather than developing real about which greens you chose, how you roasted them and what
flavor. percentage of each you used. Once you’ve created a blend, or
With lighter roast styles you will obtain true coffee flavor with blends, that are to your liking, you want to be able to recreate each
complex and potentially sweet, refreshing attributes. Try to build element to perfection. Given the fact that coffee quality will change
your market niche with a lighter roasting style! It must be noted from season to season, I also recommend that you re-evaluate your
that roasting coffee to a lighter degree, like light or medium light, blends at least once per quarter.
puts much more emphasis on the level of skills of your roaster Whether blends are the mainstay of your roasting company,
operator. Fully automatic roast profiling systems are generally not or something that you offer just to round out your selection, it’s a
capable of developing excellent tasting lighter roast profiles and as good idea to remember that adage we talked about earlier: coffee
continued on next page
Page 23
blends are always more than the sum of their parts.

Types of So the key to crafting a great blend is to make sure
Coffee Blends each of those parts is perfect before you dump them
all together. Creating exemplary blends requires the
utmost of your tasting skills, and even when you
BREAKFAST BLEND Usually has a slight punch (to wake up) but it
think you’ve created the perfect mix, your customers
should be very accessible so that the client will consume more than one cup.
still have the final word. Good luck on your coffee
The described blend should be pleasantly refreshing without over-exposed
blending discovery tour!
acidity. Use a slightly darker roast for the Sumatra and Guatemala.
HOUSE BLEND In general, house blends should be designed for all-day

enjoyment. The flavor must be accessible for most of your clients. Recently,
I tasted Peet’s house blend and I found that the flavor profile represented
quite well the philosophy of Peet’s, which advocates a deep, dark roasting WILLEM BOOT is president of Boot Coffee
style. Despite my personal preference for lighter roasting styles, I found this Consulting & Training in Mill Valley, Calif., specializing
coffee to be well balanced with a pleasant chocolate-sweet flavor followed by in cupping and roasting courses and strategic consulting
a slight, refreshing aftertaste. for the coffee industry. Willem can be reached at
willemboot@bootcoffee.com
ESPRESSO BLEND The four components of this lighter-roasted espresso or at 415.380.1999.
blend create a balanced flavor profile with sweet and chocolaty notes,
followed by a slightly fruity finish (which is the influence of the sun-dried
Ethiopia).
PACIFIC BLEND Contains three coffee types that can be found near the
Pacific region. The blend is overall pleasant and can be a crowd-pleaser.
SUMMER BLEND Think of those long, warm summer days. This coffee
blend will refresh your customer’s palate, and hopefully make them crave a
second cup. The lighter roast style accentuates the acidity.
FRENCH ROAST BLEND So you want the really dark roast? Here you
go. Make sure that the Sumatra has a sweet flavor and that the bitter roast
notes are not too dominant. Brace yourself for the bittersweet aftertaste.
FIFTY-FIFTY BLEND Creating a blend with 50 percent decaf and not

telling your clients about the lower caffeine contents might be a smart trick.
Some clients reported an increase in consumption after the introduction of
this 50 percent decaf blend.
VIENNESE BLEND This blend combines a spicy and sweet flavor with
a lingering aftertaste. The darker roasted Guatemala component creates the
spice. Subscriptions within the U.S. are only $25/year.
(Canada/Mexico–$35 U.S./year Other countries–$50 U.S./year)
EXOTIC BLEND What can be more exotic than marrying two African
To subscribe or for more information contact us
T
coffees, one fully washed and one sun-dried natural? Look for the
at 503.282.2399 or visit www.roastmagazine.com
invigorating floral aroma with sweet, fruity flavor notes. If the fruit is over
the top, then I recommend reducing the Ethiopia sun-dried component.
Roast magazine
1631 NE Broadway, No. 125,
LIGHT ROAST BLEND Now we put your roasting skills to the test! Portland OR 97232 | e-mail roast@roastmagazine.com
Make sure that all coffees are roasted in a timeframe of 12 to 15 minutes.
Page 25
Article for Fresh Cup Magazine by Willem J. Boot
Cupping = Pride = Profits
Whenever I am teaching coffee workshops, I always ask my students how often
they actually get to the heart of the matter by cupping their precious coffee
products. In some cases, my students tend to be excellent liars by stating that they
cup their coffees at least three times a week. Some coffee importers even admit
that only one out of six clients actually cups the green coffee samples. One out of
six! Coffee roasters, retailers and wholesalers, grab your tasting spoon and let's
change the world!
So what, exactly, is cupping coffee? It involves a complete systematic
methodology of investigating the true nature of green coffee beans, including:
smelling and inspecting the green beans, roasting and grinding the sample,
smelling during roasting and grinding, testing the aroma and then finally the
tasting. To me, cupping coffee is so fascinating because it is like an ultimate chess
game between your senses, your investigative mind and Mother Nature. And if
you have done all the steps well, if you're really sharp, then the bean will always
reveal its naked truth. Do you have to be a coffee expert to cup coffee? No! Do
you need an excellent pallet to be a coffee cupper? Not necessarily! What you
really need is an open mind, a clean pallet and a healthy sense for curiosity, and
you should never be afraid to be "wrong" about what you taste. If the coffee tastes
like 'wet dogs' to you, then it does, if the coffee triggers a honeymoon memory,
Page 26
enjoy it! One of the reasons why most coffee professionals do not cup their coffee
is simply because they think that they are not good at it. There are these so-called
'coffee experts' who may try to impress you with their snobby attitude about
cupping coffee. One can hear them make statements like "I didn't taste any
interesting coffees this year" while keeping their nose high in the air, waiting for
confirmation and admiration. Again, just ignore these folks and don't be afraid to
taste what you taste, to feel what you feel, to think what you think. I always like to
use analogies when it comes to cupping coffee. When I was nine years old, my
mother took me for the first time to a classical concert. I was impressed and
disturbed by all the action on the podium, by the fury of the brass instruments and
by the tender, gentle strokes of the violins. Being a novice, I could hardly follow
the music. The more I went to hear other concerts, the more I could distinguish
melodies, harmonies and I started to 'understand' the music. The same is true with
cupping coffee. Once you frequently start cupping coffee, soon you will recognize
the different tones of acidity in various Guatemalan coffee samples. You will
blindly identify the aroma of your favorite Kenya AA. You will indulge in the
sweet and winey 'finesse' of an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. And, you will instantly
smell 'ferment' in one of those hidden defective samples. However, here are some
rules for the game:
Rule number 1: Always compare. Ignore the sweet talk of your coffee broker
about the beautiful balance of coffee A. Trust your own impressions and senses
and always cup a sample of coffee B (from the same origin) for comparison.
Page 27
Preferably add sample C (from the same origin, from last year) to the cupping
session.
Rule number 2: Always cup your coffee blind. The beautiful name of coffee
"Humptidum" can trigger an expectation, which will influence your perception and
your tasting experience. Also, cupping blind is the best training tool for any novice
coffee cupper.
Rule number 3: Be consistent. This includes weighing the sample to be roasted,
monitoring the roast color of the sample, weighing the sample before grinding,
cleaning the grinder and grinding each sample separately. It involves much more,
and I encourage you to develop a written protocol for your cupping exercise.
Rule number 4: Keep your pallet clean. Cupping coffee right after lunch is a
waste of time. The best cupping moments of the day start right before you are
getting hungry. For example, I cup best between 10 am and 12 noon and I like to
cup coffee between 4 and 6 PM.
Rule number 5: Be quiet! Don't talk until everyone is finished with the entire
cupping session. Especially the curious cuppers tend to brag after that 'wonderful
cup' or to exclaim 'yuck' after that ferment defect.
Rule number 6: Clear your mind and open yourself. Like the Zen-Buddhists
say: "Think Hard of Nothing". I have had the best cupping experiences while
being relaxed, eager and investigative at the same time.
Dear roaster, retailer, wholesaler, cupping coffee brings profits right into your
pocket! Over the years, I have worked with more than 300 different coffee
Page 28
companies. I can personally testify that a good cupping routine creates higher
commitment to the company's products and it creates better salesmanship and
pride with all employees in the company.
Summarized: Cupping = Pride = Profits.
Willem J. Boot is president of Boot Coffee Consulting & Training, a firm
specializing in quality management programs for coffee companies. Additional
services range from advice on green coffee purchasing to the design of signature
coffee blends. Willem Boot can be reached at 415 - 380 1999.

Page 29
Cupping for flavor versus cupping for defects
Cupping involves a complete systematic methodology of investigating the true

nature of green coffee beans, including: smelling and inspecting the green beans,
roasting and grinding the sample, smelling during roasting and grinding, testing
the aroma and then finally the tasting. To me, cupping coffee is so fascinating
because it is like an ultimate chess game between your senses, your investigative
mind and Mother Nature. And if you have done all the steps well, if you're really
sharp, then the bean will always reveal its naked truth. Now, what is this truth of a
coffee bean; does it primarily relate to the bean itself or are we also interested in
the process that was applied to produce the bean? In this case, both questions
should be answered with “yes”
So, why do we cup coffee? First of all, there is the key-reason for cupping:
determining the flavor profile of the coffee. Specialty roasters who buy their green
coffee beans from established importers must taste their coffee to evaluate the so
called ‘cup attributes’ which can be very specific flavor notes that are part of the
overall taste of the coffee. The cup attributes are caused by various factors in the
growing and processing cycle of coffee beans. First, there is –what the French
call- the ‘terroir’ of the coffee. Terroir is a term that was first used by the wine
industry and nowadays one can hear roasters around the world use the word as
well. Terroir refers to a composite set of quality factors that specifically include
the growing conditions as well as the practices to process the coffee beans, if these
are at least the result of cultural and / or local traditions. Take for example the
flavor of Yemen Matari coffee; the terroir of Yemen includes the variety used
(Mocha Arabica), the stressed and dry growing conditions of the Yemen highlands
and the traditional style of sundrying coffee cherries, which strengthens the winey
characteristics of Yemen coffee. The second important cause for the presence of
cup attributes in coffee is the result of the application of optimal agronomic
practices. The most important objective in growing and producing coffee cherries
is to produce, select and pick red, ripe cherries, which can at best guarantee a fully
developed green coffee bean. Despite the fact that there is no conclusive definition
for what identifies specialty coffee, it must be emphasized that it is impossible to
produce specialty grades from immature coffee cherries. The maturation cycle of
cherries generally enhances the development of organic acids in the coffee and
these acids are essential for the presence of sweetness, as well as the clarity in the
cup. The third phase during which cup attributes are enhanced is during the
transformation from cherry to green bean. And –as in all production cycles- every
step counts! When it comes to flavor attributes, we should conclude that the
presence of attributes is enhanced or weakened by each step in the production
cycle. For example, the use of demuscillage machines versus the application of
traditional fermentation methods can have a serious impact on coffee flavor. Or –
to at least the same degree- the choice for drying styles of parchment coffee will
always affect the cup. Sun drying techniques versus the use of machine driers
1
Page 30
generally have a major impact on the intensity and quality levels of acidity, body
and flavor and without expressing a preference for either method, we should at
least conclude that the coffee processor should be aware of the impact of the
cherry to bean process on final coffee flavor. So, if we all agree that coffee flavor
is intrinsically connected to the presence of cup attributes, how do we go about
finding these attributes in the cup? Of course it is essential in this context to focus
on the protocol that is used for the cupping ceremony. There are some important
rules to observe while tasting coffee, especially while cupping for flavor profile:
Rule number 1: Always compare. Ignore the sweet talk of your coffee broker
about the beautiful characteristics of coffee A. Trust your own impressions and
senses and always cup an alternative sample of coffee B (from the same origin) for
comparison. Preferably add sample C (from the same origin, from last year) to the
cupping session.
Rule number 2: Always cup your coffee blind. The beautiful name of a certain
coffee can trigger an expectation, which will influence your perception and your
tasting experience. Also, cupping blind is the best training tool for any novice
coffee cupper.
Rule number 3: Be consistent. This includes weighing the sample to be roasted,
monitoring the roast color of the sample, weighing the sample before grinding,
cleaning the grinder and grinding each sample separately. It involves much more,
and I encourage you to develop a written protocol for your cupping exercise.
Keeping things consistent guarantees that you are cupping the flavor of the coffee
only, without being distracted by possible variabilities in the preparation of coffee
samples. Generally, the roasting process is the main source of inconsistencies in
cupping protocols. I have observed and attended too many cupping sessions where
it was impossible to tell if the flavor differences between samples from the same
origin were due to true cup attributes or that these were the result of a variability in
roast degree.
Rule number 4: Keep your pallet clean. Cupping coffee for flavor profile right
after a heavy lunch is a waste of time. The best cupping moments of the day start
right before you are getting hungry. For example, I cup best between 10 am and 12
noon and I like to cup coffee between 4 and 6 PM.
Rule number 5: Be quiet! Don't talk until everyone is finished with the entire
cupping session. Especially the curious cuppers tend to brag about the cup
attributes they encounter in a given cofee and too often they don’t realize that this
can have a serious impact on the perception and impressions of other cuppers.
Rule number 6: Clear your mind and open yourself. Like the Zen-Buddhists
say: "Think Hard of Nothing". I have had the best cupping experiences while
being relaxed, eager and investigative at the same time. I always like to use
analogies when it comes to cupping coffee. When I was nine years old, my mother
took me for the first time to a classical concert. I was impressed and disturbed by
all the action on the podium, by the fury of the brass instruments and by the
2
Page 31
tender, gentle strokes of the violins. Being a novice, I could hardly follow the
music. The more I went to hear other concerts, the more I could distinguish
melodies, harmonies and I started to 'understand' the music. The same is true with
cupping coffee. Once you frequently start cupping coffee, soon you will recognize
the different tones of acidity in various Guatemalan coffee samples. You will
blindly identify the aroma of your favorite Kenya AA. You will indulge in the
sweet and winey 'finesse' of an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.
Last but not least, it should be clear to all specialty coffee aficionado’s that
cupping for flavor, being the key-reason for cupping coffee, is at the same time the
more difficult and also the most controversial practice. The heart of the
controversy rests in the presumed subjectivity of tasting in general. Haven’t we all
been to these cupping sessions where the experts clearly don’t agree and –as a
result- the tasting panel comes up with different opinions and perceptions about
the same coffee sample? From experience I can tell that coffee tasters too often let
their personal preference interfere with the outcome of the cupping session.
Imagine a coffee taster who doesn’t really like acidity in any beverage, including
coffee. How can this cupper form an objective opinion about the flavor profile of
Kenyan coffee, which is known so much for its vibrant acidity? Should she or he
move on to a different profession or is there still room for employment for this
person. My answer is absolutely yes! The professional coffee taster should
primarily be concerned with the expectations of the final client; this emphasizes
also the necessity of doing frequent product surveys, like final product testing so
that the coffee taster stays connected with market requirements.
The other important reason for cupping coffee is to prevent the purchase of
defective coffee beans. Table A. summarizes the different types of flavor defects
and how they are –most likely- caused. Coffee defects can be present as visual
imperfections and they can manifest themselves as flavor taints. In all cases,
defects are caused by minor or serious flaws in the cherry to green bean
manufacturing process and in my opinion about half of all defects could be
prevented if coffee processors do a better job in keeping their wet mills clean.
3
Page 32
Defects due to Plantation Conditions
Defect Character Origin Flavour
Black Bean Black surface Fungi attack Harsh, ashy
Insect-damaged Circular holes Coffee berry borer Bland to bitter

bean (0.3- 1.5 mm. Ø)
Dark brown bean Brown to black Attack by bugs on Fruity to harsh

immature cherry
Malformed bean Abnormally Growth defect Low acidity, bland
or shell shaped
Defects due to Harvest
Immature Wrinkled surface Unripe cherry Fruity, low acidity,

bitter
Quaker Light brown color Unripe Bland, bitter
Phenolic Unrecognizable Not clear yet Extremely

medicinal,
astringent and
metallic
Rioy Medicinal smell Overripe cherry Medicinal, iodine
when cut
Sour Outside: light. Moulds Sour

Intenally:
brown/reddish
Foreign matter Sticks, stones, Improper selection Bitter, woody,

leaves during picking and bland
grading
Defects Due to Processing
4
Page 33
Damaged bean Bean fragment Improper setting Flat, possibly

of equipment stinker
Sour bean Brown-reddish Wild fermentation Potato

internally
Rioy bean Medicinal smell Soil and growing Medicinal, iodine

when cut conditions
Over-fermented or Almost Contamination Rotten

Stinker bean unrecognizable
(visible under
unfrared light)
Mouldy bean Visible mould Improper drying Musty
Earthy bean Smell of wet soil Dried on wet Earthy

ground
Rubbery bean Unrecognizable Drying on Rubbery, sulphury
highway
‘Funky’ bean Unrecognizable; Pollution, often Winey and fruity
mostly occurs in caused by drying but not over-
Sumatra on polluted ground fermented
Mandheling
Coffees
Hidy bean Yellowish-brown Overheating of hidy
oven
Faded bean Color somewhat Improrer storage: leather-like, hidy
faded insufficient air
circulation,
ambient
temperature too
high
Hulls or husks Parts of dried Improper setting Bland, neutral
cherry and/or of equipment
parchment
Parchment bean Bean still in Improper setting Hidy, woody
parchment of huller
5
Page 34
Successfully cupping for defects requires extensive experience; the coffee taster
has to develop a memory bank of all different defects and this can only be
accomplished by tasting sample after sample after sample. Hopefully, you can find
yourself lucky enough to have an experienced teacher in defect cupping.
During my first years in the U.S. –while I was learning about coffee defects- I met
the late and unforgettable Pete McLaughlin –cofounder of Royal Coffee- and I can
remember vividly his facial expressions while analyzing another defect; “Taste
this one, it’s really bad….”
As a conclusion, I can remark that cupping for flavor is all about assessing the
value of your coffee products and the greater this value gets with more positive
cup attributes the better you can possibly develop cuistomer satisfaction. At the
other end of the spectrum, cupping for defects meets the prime objective of
preventing customer complaints.
6
Categorias de Calificacíon
Coffee Tasting Techniques for Professionals (developed by George Howell and Willem Boot)
Page 35
Defects Defectos ...Acidity ...Acidez …Flavour …Sabor + Aftertaste Resabio

phenolic fenólico - sharp - agudo sweet dulce sweet + dulce
rio río hard duro bitter amargo cleanly disappearing esfumante
ferment fermentado thin baja sour acido pleasantly lingering agradablemente sostenido
oniony cebolla dull opaco salt salado - bitter - amargo
sweaty sudoroso acetic vinoso harsh aspero
sour ácido + chocolate + chocolate astringent astringente
flabby sin cuerpo fruit fruta dirty sucio
Clean cup Taza limpia biting picante berry baya unpleasant desagradable
+ purity + pureza apricot melocoton metallic metalico
free from libre de blackberry mora
faults defectos Mouthfeel Cuerpo black currant grosella negra
clarity claridad (texture, viscosity, (textura, viscocidad, cucumber pepino Balance Balance
- dirty - sucio weight, sediment) peso, sedimento) rasin pasa + harmony + armonia
earthy terroso + buttery + mantequilloso cacoa cacao equilibrium equilibrio
moldy mohoso creamy cremoso peanut cacahuete stable-consistent estable-consistente
fruity frutoso round redondo almond almendra (from hot to cold) (de caliente a frío)
smooth suave caramel caramelo structure estructura
rich rico floral floral tuning entonante
Sweetness Dulzura velvety aterciopelado beefy carne - hollow - vacio
(prevalence of..) (prevalencia de..) tightly knit compacto spicy especies excessive excesivo
+ ripened + madurado - astringent - atringente honey miel aggressive agresivo
honey miel rough áspero smokey ahumado inconsistent change cambio inconsistente
caramel caramelo watery acuoso nutty nuez in character en caracter
vanilla vainilla thin baja
- green - verde light liviano - potato - papa Overall Impresion General
undeveloped inmaduro gritty arenoso peas arveja + complexity + complejidad
closed cerrado grassy herbaceo dimension dimensión
tart agrio woody maderoso uniformity estabilidad
Flavor Sabor gamey sabor a caza richness riqueza
(aroma + taste) (aroma + gusto) baggy saco - going down - decayente
Acidity Acidez + character + carácter vegetal vegetal (from hot to cold) (de caliente a frío)
+ lively + viva intensity intensidad simplistic simple
refined refinado distinctiveness distincion boring aburrido
firm intensa pleasure agrado do not like! no gusta!
soft suave simple or complex simple o complejo
having spine con nervio depth profundidad
crisp aguda
racy espiritosa
Page 1 of 1
Page 36
Making Sense of Taste

How do cells on the tongue register the sensations of sweet, salty,
sour and bitter? Scientists are finding out--and discovering
how the brain interprets these signals as various tastes
David V. Smith and Robert F. Margolskee

...........
Subtopics
The Taste Detectors
Taste in the Brain
Sidebars
Taste Fundamentals
What We Learn from Yummy and Yucky
The Taste Map: All Wrong
Further Information
Related Links
Bite into a gooey candy bar, and what mouth sensations do you experience?
Mmmm ... chewy, sweet, creamy--with the signature, slightly bitter richness
of chocolate as you close your mouth to swallow and the aroma wafts up
into your nasal passages. Indeed, smell is an important component of flavor,
as anyone with a severe head cold can testify.
Page 37
ANATOMY
OF TASTE shows the four types of projections called papillae on the human tongue.
Only the circumvallate, foliate and fungiform papillae bear taste buds (see diagrams
below).
Flavor is a complex mixture of sensory input composed of taste (gustation),

smell (olfaction) and the tactile sensation of food as it is being munched, a
characteristic that food scientists often term "mouthfeel." Although people
may use the word "taste" to mean "flavor," in the strict sense it is applicable
only to the sensations arising from specialized taste cells in the mouth.
Scientists generally describe human taste perception in terms of four
qualities: saltiness, sourness, sweetness and bitterness. Some have
suggested, however, that other categories exist as well--most notably umami,
the sensation elicited by glutamate, one of the 20 amino acids that make up
the proteins in meat, fish and legumes. Glutamate also serves as a flavor
enhancer in the form of the additive monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Within the past several years, researchers such as ourselves have made
strides in elucidating exactly how taste works. Neurobiologists, including
one of us (Margolskee), have identified proteins that are crucial for taste
Page 38
cells to detect sweet and bitter chemicals and have found that they are very
similar to related proteins involved in vision. Other scientists, including the
other one of us (Smith) and his co-workers, have obtained evidence that
nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain can respond to more than one type of
taste signal, just as those that process visual stimuli from the retinas can
react to more than one color. The findings are illuminating what has
historically been one of the least understood senses.
The Taste Detectors
Taste cells lie within specialized structures called taste buds, which are
situated predominantly on the tongue and soft palate. The majority of taste
buds on the tongue are located within papillae, the tiny projections that give
the tongue its velvety appearance. (The most numerous papillae on the
tongue--the filiform, or threadlike, ones--lack taste buds, however, and are
involved in tactile sensation.) Of those with taste buds, the fungiform
("mushroomlike") papillae on the front part of the tongue are most
noticeable; these contain one or more taste buds. The fungiform papillae
appear as pinkish spots distributed around the edge of the tongue and are
readily visible after taking a drink of milk or placing a drop of food coloring
on the tip of the tongue. At the back of the tongue are roughly 12 larger taste
bud–containing papillae called the circumvallate ("wall-like") papillae,
which are distributed in the shape of an inverted V. Taste buds are also
located in the foliate ("leaflike") papillae, small trenches on the sides of the
rear of the tongue.
Taste buds are onion-shaped structures of between 50 and 100 taste cells,
each of which has fingerlike projections called microvilli that poke through
an opening at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore. Chemicals from
food termed tastants dissolve in saliva and contact the taste cells through the
taste pore. There they interact either with proteins on the surfaces of the cells
known as taste receptors or with porelike proteins called ion channels. These
interactions cause electrical changes in the taste cells that trigger them to
send chemical signals that ultimately result in impulses to the brain.
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STRUCTURE OF THE CIRCUMVALLATE PAPILLA (top) and details of human

taste buds (bottom) are shown here. During chewing, chemicals from food called tastants
enter the taste pores of the taste buds, where they interact with molecules on fingerlike
processes called microvilli on the surfaces of specialized taste cells. The interactions
trigger electrochemical changes in the taste cells that cause them to transmit signals that
ultimately reach the brain. The impulses are interpreted, together with smell and other
sensory input, as flavors.
Page 40
The electrical changes in the taste cells that prompt signals to the brain are
based on the varying concentrations of charged atoms, or ions. Taste cells,
like neurons, normally have a net negative charge internally and a net
positive charge externally. Tastants alter this state of affairs by using various
means to increase the concentration of positive ions inside taste cells,
eliminating the charge difference. Such depolarization causes the taste cells
to release tiny packets of chemical signals called neurotransmitters, which
prompt neurons connected to the taste cells to relay electrical messages.
Studies of animals and people, however, show that there is not always a
strict correlation between taste quality and chemical class, particularly for
bitter and sweet tastants. Many carbohydrates are sweet, for instance, but
some are not. Furthermore, very disparate types of chemicals can evoke the
same sensation: people deem chloroform and the artificial sweeteners
aspartame and saccharin sweet even though their chemical structures have
nothing in common with sugar. The compounds that elicit salty or sour tastes
are less diverse and are typically ions.
The chemicals that produce salty and sour tastes act directly through ion
channels, whereas those responsible for sweet and bitter tastes bind to
surface receptors that trigger a bucket brigade of signals to the cells' interiors
that ultimately results in the opening and closing of ion channels. In 1992
Margolskee and his colleagues Susan K. McLaughlin and Peter J. McKinnon
identified a key member of this bucket brigade. They named the molecule
"gustducin" because of its similarity to transducin, a protein in retinal cells
that helps to convert, or transduce, the signal of light hitting the retina into
an electrical impulse that constitutes vision.
Gustducin and transducin are both so-called G-proteins, which are found
stuck to the undersides of many different types of receptors. (The name "G-
protein" derives from the fact that the activity of such proteins is regulated
by a chemical called guanosine triphosphate, GTP.) When the right tastant
molecule binds to a taste cell receptor, like a key in a lock, it prompts the
subunits of gustducin to split apart and carry out biochemical reactions that
ultimately open and close ion channels and make the cell interior more
positively charged.
In 1996 Margolskee and colleagues Gwendolyn T. Wong and Kimberley S.

Gannon used mice they genetically engineered to lack one of gustducin's
three subunits to demonstrate that the G-protein is crucial for tasting bitter
Page 41
and sweet compounds. Unlike normal mice, the altered mice did not prefer
sweet foods or avoid bitter substances: they did not avidly drink highly
sweetened water and instead drank solutions of very bitter compounds as
readily as they did plain water. The researchers also showed that key nerves
in the mice lacking gustducin had a reduced electrical response to sweet and
bitter tastants but could still respond to salts and acidic compounds.
Last year two groups of scientists--one led jointly by Charles S. Zuker of the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) at the University of California at
San Diego and by Nicholas J. Ryba of the National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research, and the other led by HHMI investigator Linda B.
Buck of Harvard Medical School--identified in mice and humans the actual
receptors that bind to bitter tastants and activate gustducin. The teams found
that the so-called T2R/TRB receptors are part of a family of related
receptors that is estimated to have between 40 and 80 members.
Zuker and Ryba's group inserted the genes that encode two of these mouse
taste receptors, mT2R5 and mT2R8, into cells grown in the laboratory and
found that the engineered cells became activated when they were exposed to
two bitter compounds. The researchers noted that in particular strains of
mice a specific version of the gene for mT2R5 tended to be handed down
along with the ability to sense the bitterness of the antibiotic cycloheximide,
a further indication that the genes for the T2R receptors were responsible for
detecting bitter substances. Scientists are now searching for the receptors
that detect sweet compounds.
Researchers are also studying a receptor that might be responsible for a taste
Japanese scientists call umami, which loosely translates into "meaty" or
"savory." In 1998 Nirupa Chaudhari and Stephen D. Roper of the University
of Miami isolated a receptor from rat tissue that binds to the amino acid
glutamate and proposed that it underlies the umami taste.
Other researchers, however, are still skeptical that umami constitutes a fifth
major taste as significant as sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Although the taste
of glutamate might be a unique sensation, only the Japanese have a word for
it.
But taste is much more than just receptors for the four (or five) primary
tastants and the biochemical interactions they induce in taste cells. Although
we tend to think of taste information in terms of the qualities of salty, sour,
Page 42
sweet and bitter, the taste system represents other attributes of chemical
stimuli as well. We sense the intensity of a taste and whether it is pleasant,
unpleasant or neutral. Neurons in the taste pathway record these attributes
simultaneously, much as those in the visual system represent shape,
brightness, color and movement. Taste neurons often respond to touch and
temperature stimuli as well.
Taste in the Brain
Scientists have gone back and forth on whether individual neurons are
"tuned" to respond only to a single tastant such as salt or sugar--and
therefore signal only one taste quality--or whether the activity in a given
neuron contributes to the neural representation of more than one taste.
Studies by one of us (Smith) and those of several other colleagues show that
both peripheral and central gustatory neurons typically respond to more than
one kind of stimulus. Although each neuron responds most strongly to one
tastant, it usually also generates a response to one or more other stimuli with
dissimilar taste qualities.
How then can the brain represent various taste qualities if each neuron
responds to many different-tasting stimuli? Many researchers believe it can
do so only by generating unique patterns of activity across a large set of
neurons.
This thinking represents a "back to the future" movement among taste

researchers. The very first electrophysiological studies of gustatory sensory
neurons, done in the early 1940s by Carl Pfaffmann of Brown University,
demonstrated that peripheral neurons are not specifically responsive to
stimuli representing a single taste quality but instead record a spectrum of
tastes. Pfaffmann suggested that taste quality might be represented by the
pattern of activity across gustatory neurons because the activity of any one
cell was ambiguous. But in the 1970s and 1980s several scientists began to
accumulate data indicating that individual neurons are tuned maximally for
one taste. They interpreted this as evidence that activity in a particular type
of cell represented a given taste quality--an idea they called the labeled-line
hypothesis. According to this idea, activity in neurons that respond best to
sugar would signal "sweetness," activity in those that respond best to acids
would signal "sourness" and so on.
Page 43
Measuring the Preferences of Taste Neurons
NERVE CELL ACTIVITY TESTS demonstrate that taste neurons can respond to
different types of taste stimuli--be they sweet, salty, sour or bitter--although the cells
usually respond most strongly to one type. (Bitter stimuli not shown.)
As early as 1983 Smith and his colleagues Richard L. Van Buskirk, Joseph
B. Travers and Stephen L. Bieber demonstrated that the same cells that
others had interpreted as labeled lines actually defined the similarities and
differences in the patterns of activity across taste neurons. This suggested
that the same neurons were responsible for taste-quality representation,
whether they were viewed as labeled lines or as critical parts of an across-
neuron pattern. These investigators further demonstrated that the neural
distinction among stimuli of different qualities depended on the
simultaneous activation of different cell types, much as color vision depends
Page 44
on the comparison of activity across photoreceptor cells in the eye. These

and other considerations have led us to favor the idea that the patterns of
activity are key to coding taste information.
Scientists now know that things that taste alike evoke similar patterns of
activity across groups of taste neurons. What is more, they can compare
these patterns and use multivariate statistical analysis to plot the similarities
in the patterns elicited by various tastants. Taste researchers have generated
such comparisons for gustatory stimuli from the neural responses of
hamsters and rats. These correspond very closely to similar plots generated
in behavioral experiments, from which scientists infer which stimuli taste
alike and which taste different to animals. Such data show that the across-
neuron patterns contain sufficient information for taste discrimination.
When we block the activity of certain neuron groups, the behavioral

discrimination among stimuli--that between the table salt sodium chloride
and the salt substitute potassium chloride, for example--is disrupted. This
can be shown directly after treating the tongue with the diuretic drug
amiloride. Thomas P. Hettinger and Marion E. Frank of the University of
Connecticut Health Sciences Center demonstrated that amiloride reduces the
responses of some types of peripheral gustatory neurons but not others. It
blocks sodium channels on the apical membranes of taste receptor cells--the
membranes that are closest to the opening of the taste pore--and exerts its
influence primarily on neurons that respond best to sodium chloride.
Smith and his colleague Steven J. St. John recently demonstrated that
treatment with amiloride eliminates the differences in the across-neuron
patterns between sodium chloride and potassium chloride in rats. It also
disrupts the rats' ability to discriminate behaviorally between these stimuli,
as shown by Alan C. Spector and his colleagues at the University of Florida.
Reducing the activity in other cell types also abolishes the differences in the
across-neuron patterns evoked by these salts, but in a completely different
way. These studies showed that it is not a specific cell type that is
responsible for taste discrimination but a comparison in the activity across
cells. Thus, taste discrimination depends on the relative activity of different
neuron types, each of which must contribute to the overall pattern of activity
for an individual to distinguish among different stimuli.
Because taste neurons are so widely responsive, neurobiologists must

compare the levels of activity of a range of neurons to get an idea of what
Page 45
sensation they are registering. No single neuron type alone is capable of

discriminating among stimuli of different qualities, because a given cell can
respond the same way to disparate stimuli, depending on their relative
concentrations. In this sense, taste is like vision, in which three types of
photoreceptors respond to light of a broad range of wavelengths to allow us
to see the myriad hues of the rainbow. It is well known that the absence of
one of these photoreceptor pigments disrupts color discrimination, and this
disruption extends well beyond the wavelengths to which that receptor is
most sensitive. That is, discrimination between red and green stimuli is
disrupted when either the "red" or the "green" photopigment is absent.
Although this analogy with color vision provides a reasonable explanation

for neural coding in taste, researchers continue to debate whether individual
neuron types play a more significant role in taste coding than they do in
color vision. Scientists are also questioning whether taste is an analytic
sense, in which each quality is separate, or a synthetic sense like color
vision, where combinations of colors produce a unique quality. A challenge
to elucidating neural coding in this system is the precise determination of the
relation between the activity in these broadly tuned neurons and the
sensations evoked by taste mixtures.
These diverse experimental approaches to investigating the gustatory

system--ranging from isolating taste-cell proteins to studying the neural
representation of taste stimuli and the perception of taste quality in humans--
are coming together to provide a more complete picture of how the taste
system functions. This knowledge will spur discoveries of new artificial
sweeteners and improved substitutes for salt and fat--in short, the design of
more healthful foods and beverages that taste great, too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further Information:
The Gustatory System. Ralph Norgren in The Human Nervous System.

Edited by George Paxinos. Academic Press, 1990.
Taste Reception. Bernd Lindemann in Physiological Reviews, Vol. 76, No.

3, pages 718–766; July 1996.
Page 46
Neural Coding of Gustatory Information. David V. Smith and Stephen J. St.

John in Current Opinion in Neurobiology, Vol. 9, No. 4, pages 427–435;
August 1999.
The Molecular Physiology of Taste Transduction. T. A. Gilbertson, S.

Damak and R. F. Margolskee in Current Opinion in Neurobiology, Vol. 10,
No. 4, pages 519–527; August 2000.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Links:
A Tongue for Love
The Ascent of Scent
Phantom Limbs
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Author
DAVID V. SMITH and ROBERT F. MARGOLSKEE approach the study of

taste from complementary angles. Smith's training is in psychobiology and
neurophysiology. He is professor and vice chairman of the department of
anatomy and neurobiology at the University of Maryland School of
Medicine, where he has been since 1994, and is a member of the program in
neuroscience there. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh
and received postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller University.
Margolskee's training is in molecular neurobiology and biochemistry. He is
an associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a
professor of physiology and biophysics and of pharmacology at the Mount
Sinai School of Medicine, where he has been since 1996. He received his
M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine and did postdoctoral research in biochemistry at Stanford
University. He founded the biotechnology company Linguagen in Paramus,
N.J.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
KEITH KASNOT (illustrations), JARED SCHNEIDMAN DESIGN (Taste

Fundamentals), EDWARD BELL (chart), LAURIE GRACE (Tongue Map)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 47
Page 48
Article for Fresh Cup Magazine - June 2000
Preparing for Gold

How to educate yourself before you start a coffee business.
Imagine, you're a 22 years old 'green' rookie, fresh from college and with
pounding heart you show up for the first day of work at the local prestigious coffee
importing firm. The cupping room will be your 'stumping grounds' for the next
year and your senses already have a ball with the intense fragrance of some
'Indonesians' and the sweet aroma's of a few 'Africans' that were just ground and
cupped by your new coffee patrons. Innocently you ask them "Where shall I start?"
and all fingers point to the dirty, slimy, brown liquid that has filled up the copper
spittoon.
Many coffee professionals have learned the business the hard way, from the
bottom up. If you ask these lucky people, then most would answer that this is the
best way to get to know all ins and outs of the coffee industry.
If you are starting your own business, whether it's a local café, a wholesale
roasting company or an office coffee service business (OCS), then a solid
preparation is priority number one. Successful entrepreneurs always know the
relevant details of the business they are going to pursue. The difficulty is however
that there is no formal education program for becoming a coffee professional.
Unlike the wine industry, the coffee sector has never been successful in
developing an industry-recognized curriculum for the noble arts and sciences of
coffee tasting, blending, roasting and processing. You can of course enroll in the
faculty of coffee-chemistry in Bologna (Italy) and obtain a PhD in the physics of
coffee brewing but this will not guarantee any fortune in your coffee business. Of
course I should not forget to mention the educational programs that are presented
throughout the year by volunteers of the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
If you're lucky, then you're born into the coffee industry. My father started my
professional coffee training even before I became a devoted coffee drinker. I was
only 12 years old when I was studying for a classroom presentation about the
product coffee, about the different botanical varieties and about the different taste
profiles of Arabica, Robusta and Liberica. At the age of 14, while working in my
dad's retail store, I would already make a serious effort to convert 80 year old
ladies to freshly roasted Guatemala Maragogype. ("Ma'm, I can recommend a
freshly roasted, very mild and mellow after-dinner-low-cafeine-coffee that will
make you sleep like a nightingale"). Enough already with these sweet memories.
If you're not blessed with the heritage of coffee, then you will have to educate
yourself, which can be just as much fun. Let's first review some useful general tips
if you are in the planning phase of your coffee business.
1
Page 49
There is no limit to your potential success

If you're planning to open a coffee café, then start investigating what it will take to
become the best and most successful coffeehouse in town. If you are planning to
start a wholesale roasting business, then study the two most successful local
competitors and do everything better, whether it's their product freshness, the
ambiance, the customer service or their sales techniques. Your success is as big as
you want it be.
Be creative and dare to be different

Today's coffee consumer already has an abundant choice of coffee café's and
specialty roasted products. There are too many copy-cat-companies that simply
duplicate the design, the product listings and the roast style of the local market
leaders. By developing a strong, original and new brand image, you can
distinguish yourself and become the talk of the town.
Taste - taste - taste

Train your very own pallet to become the best coffee purveyor of the Western
Hemisphere. My personal research has shown the following result: coffee
professionals who spend more time tasting will be more successful than
professionals who don't. During the years that I was selling my own specialty
coffee in The Netherlands, I would maintain a strict routine of coffee tasting and
testing. As a result, I was always 'sharp' while doing my customer visits. One day,
one of my customers served me (as a blind and unexpected test) a cup of my
competitor's coffee. The owner - a renowned chef - asked me "How do you like
your coffee tonight?" I replied instantly "I know how my coffee should taste, if
this is my coffee, then I'd better give up my business!" I left an everlasting
impression with this client. The famous chef vowed never to try any competitor's
coffee anymore and this restaurant has become one of our most loyal clients.
So, let's go back to the key question: you're starting a coffee business and a
thriving coffee career; how can you prepare for your golden future? As a
professional consultant, I feel like the fox in the hen house and I could
recommend to you one of my special programs. But let's assume that you are, like
many coffee start-ups, on a tight budget. In this case I recommend you design a
guerilla-style education program. Am I speaking from personal experience,
absolutely yes!
Guerilla Coffee Education
Cupping & Tasting

Cupping and tasting comprises the systematic methodology of measuring,
grinding, pouring, sniffing, smelling, tasting and spitting coffee.
2
Page 50
Call your local coffee importer and invite yourself to their cupping sessions. Offer
them a deal they cannot refuse: in return for their teachings, you will do the
necessary set up and cleaning work (remember that spittoon?). Setting up the
cupping table by itself is a great learning tool; it teaches you the discipline of
preserving consistency in the cupping and tasting ceremony.
Try to complete at least 15 cupping sessions with local importers. By now, you
should be able to distinguish blindly between the complexity of a Papua New
Guinea Sigri A and the mellow tones of a Panama Boquete. Now it is time to start
a regular cupping routine at home (twice a week at least). Purchase one of those
cheap popcorn-popper-type sample roasters and start a systematic roasting routine
with color samples of the previous roast and roast log sheets with roast times and
tasting results. Quite soon, it will be time to move on. Let's start the real thing:
Roasting Coffee
A skilled coffee roaster knows exactly what a given roast profile will do to the
taste of the coffee. Let's try to connect with some local 'artisan' roasting
companies. The purpose is to receive (free) training on their roasting machines in
exchange for help with packaging the coffee, cleaning and/or repair work. When
you approach these local roasters, be careful and diplomatic. Nowadays, small
business owners get harassed more than daily with propositions of any type. Make
it clear that you can be of great help to the roasting company by becoming their
backup roaster operator. Hopefully you will find a roast master, who is willing to
accept you as his or her apprentice. In all cases, be smart and humble, coffee
professionals usually have good hearts but large egos. The next chapter of your
guerilla coffee education is becoming familiar with the coffee café environment.
Barista Exercise
In North America, a barista is in most cases an entry-level position that pays
somewhat better than minimum wage. What a difference with the Italian tradition,
where the barista fulfills such an important role in the coffeehouse! For you, the
guerilla trainee, I don't expect any problem to find employment with a local coffee
café. Before you start your barista career, make sure that the company has a good
record of on-the-job training programs. You should be an experienced / skilled
barista after 'serving' at least 2 to 3 months in the barista-regiments and then it is
time to move on again.
Equipment Knowledge
Did you ever have to do an emergency repair on a 2-group espresso machine while
the café is filled up with an angry coffee-mob? Now is the time to learn, so let's go
visit the local espresso and brewer repair service and maybe they can accept you
as a trainee. Equipment knowledge, if you start a coffee company, helps a great
deal.
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Coffee Field Trip

By now, you can almost call yourself a beginning coffee professional. One
important task is still to be done: picking coffee cherries. Book a trip to Guatemala
or another beautiful coffee country and find out what coffee picking is all about.
Enjoy the friendliness and warmth of your fellow coffee pickers, admire the
remote scenery of the coffee plantation but most for all understand the hardship of
selectively picking red, ripe cherries only. Work a shift on the wet mill, understand
the concept of fermentation and cleanliness and last but not least observe the hand
picking of green beans and /or the electronic sorting process.
So, what more is there to learn before you can successfully start a coffee business?
How about good bookkeeping, creative marketing, attractive packaging, effective
negotiating and most importantly superior quality management? Once you have
mastered all these areas, then you should have more than a good chance to become
very, very successful. And one more important thing, always remember that your
passion for your coffee will drive your success! Have a good learning journey.
Willem J. Boot is president of Boot Coffee Consulting & Training, a firm

specializing in business development and quality management programs for coffee
companies. Additional services range from advice on green coffee purchasing to
the design of signature coffee blends. Willem Boot can be reached at
wboot@bootcoffee.com or at 415 - 380 1999.
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Coffee Roasting Log
Roaster:
No Grs Type Charge Wet 1st Crack 2nd Crack Finish Roast Result
Hay Bread
Temp Grass Temp Time Temp Time Temp Time Grs % Remarks
Page 53
ARTICLE REPRINT
RULING THE ROAST
The Naked Bean

Roasting to Perfection
by Willem Boot
This article
was originally FOR ME, roasting coffee is as meaningful input and allows for a gradual increase in
published in the for my personal fulfillment as it is critical to bean temperature. Finally, at the end of
March/April 2004 the creation of an aromatic cup of coffee. My the roasting process, the bean temperature
personal journey with roasting started at the age needs to drop about 350 degrees as quickly
issue of Roast of 14 when my father built the prototypes of his as possible during the cooling process. For
“Golden Coffee Box” home coffee roaster. A understandable reasons, outsiders might
few years later, I learned roasting on a vintage think that roasting is like the ultimate
L12 batch roaster, which required the use of balancing act: risky and hazardous.
the most sophisticated and valuable measuring However, with the proper amount of
tools a human being has: sight, sound and control, coffee roasting can be as safe as
smell. The many hours I spent roasting coffee toasting bread or barbequing a burger.
in the artisan way were inspirational and Despite all these modern controls, many
challenging at the same time. roasters are still confused about how to use
The inspiration comes from the satisfaction their roaster with different bean types and
of creating a final product, from turning a how to design time temperature profiles to
tasteless green bean into a lively aromatic get the best possible outcome in the cup.
roasted coffee. In my experience, the challenge To develop the proper skills of controlling
with roasting has always been connected to your roaster consistently, it is important to
the intricate desire for perfection, from the understand how parameters like moisture
quest of roasting the beans just right to that content and bean density influence the
defining point of maximum flavor in the cup. A roasting process.
colleague described the challenge of roasting in
an interesting way: “Imagine sailing a yacht in How Green Coffee Quality
eight-knot winds, and instead of lowering your
Affects Roasting
sails, you steer the boat right at full speed past
the entry buoys, into the harbor, just left of the
MOISTURE CONTENT
main pier. When you arrive at your dock you
steer the yacht 180 degrees into the wind, which
In roasting, the moisture content of the
stops the boat completely and brings you home
green bean plays an important role. Under
safely.”
normal conditions, green coffee beans have
Coffee roasting is just like this scenario.
a moisture content of 10–12 percent. The
In the roasting process, coffee beans are first
moisture content will fluctuate freely with
loaded with energy until the heat-absorption
the relative humidity content of the ambient
capacity of the beans is nearly exhausted. Right
air. In cities like Amsterdam and San
before spontaneous combustion becomes
inevitable, the roaster operator reduces heat continued on next page
Page 54
Francisco, relative humidity

levels throughout the year are
nearly perfect for storing green
beans over a length of time,
and for slowing down the aging
process of green coffee. This
also reduces the likelihood
that the roaster operator
has to change roast profiles
to compensate for possible
variances in green coffee
moisture.
The moisture inside the
green beans is partially free or is
present as bound moisture and
contained in the carbohydrate
molecules.
We can summarize the
roasting process as a three-stage
cycle:
The drying phase is when
the moisture content of the
coffee is reduced to about two
percent. During this phase, the
“free” moisture—the residue Picture A.
of the process from cherry to Kenya coffee bean:
green bean—evaporates. Free hard bean structure
moisture also plays a role in the
heat transfer during roasting.
As soon as the beans are
energized with heat, the bean’s
moisture conducts this heat throughout the Beans with a moisture content of less free moisture. The actual phase one of the
bean. When the internal bean temperature than 10 percent have a sharply reduced roasting process can begin as soon as the
approaches 212 degrees F., the free moisture free moisture level and will tend to roast beans start losing their deep green color.
starts evaporating. much faster, especially in the first phase.
In the second phase, from the first In this case, the roaster operator needs to CELL STRUCTURE DENSITY
crack to the second crack, coffee beans change the roasting profile by initiating the
develop their specific aromas and flavors, roasting process at a lower heat level and Lower grown beans generally have a less
which, as coffee tasters know, can produce by maintaining a lower amount of energy solid bean structure than higher grown
a very complex taste profile. At the end supply (less BTUs) during the first roasting beans. The density of the bean structure is
of the second phase, all free moisture has phase. revealed by the shape and the position of the
evaporated. The length of the second phase Beans with a high moisture content center cut. Picture A (shown above) shows
depends on the roasting degree, which can (fresh crop coffees can have a moisture a bean from Kenya, which was grown at
vary from region to region and from product content in excess of 14 percent) often an altitude of at least 5,500 feet. The center
to product. require that the roaster operator includes cut is tightly closed and almost seems to
With very dark roasts, there is also a a pre-drying phase before starting the first be floating in the upper layer of the bean.
third phase which starts when the second phase of the process. During pre-drying, it In sharp contrast, Picture B (shown right)
crack is almost completed. During this is recommended that the roaster maintains
phase, carbonization takes place and the a drum temperature of 300 degrees F. with
bound moisture is destroyed. the objective to slowly remove the excess
Page 55
displays a robusta bean,
grown at almost sea level.
In this case, the center
cut is widely opened and
draws like a deep crevasse
through the coffee bean.
What is the relationship
between bean density and
roasting? High-density
beans have a denser cell
structure and more cells
per cubic millimeter than
low-density beans. As a
result, high-density beans
are more resistance to heat,
which will be especially
noticeable during the first
phase of roasting.
After the evaporation
of free moisture, the color
of the coffee beans starts
changing from (light)
green to yellow to light
brown. During this color
change, the bean starts
expanding. With lower- Picture B.
density beans, the center Robusta coffee
cut will open more quickly, bean(Indonesia):
allowing for a faster soft bean structure
transfer of heat, which will
accelerate the process even
further. III). Soft bean types: These coffees should The next three pictures F, G and H (see
be roasted with low to moderate heat during page 6) display the internal development
Green Bean Types and Time the entire process. Example: Hawaiian of the same coffee beans. In this case, the
coffees, Caribbean types and beans grown roaster operator should attempt to obtain
Temperature Profiles lower than 3,500 feet. an almost linear roasting curve, with the
internal bean temperature increasing
To develop an effective roast protocol, I IV). Fresh-crop coffees: These coffees proportionally with the roasting time.
recommend dividing green coffee beans into normally have a bean structure that is not Notice the remarkable bean expansion
the following four categories: settled or hardened yet, especially if the shown in picture H. During roasting, coffee
coffee did not have its required resting or beans expand dramatically, and their volume
I). Hard bean types: Roast these coffees with curing time. During the first 3–5 minutes, can increase with more than 75 percent.
high initial heat and moderate heat in the the operator should maintain a moderate
final stage of the roast process. Examples: roasting temperature, after which the
Kenya AA, Guatemala SHB and almost any Roasting Profile for Hard Bean
roasting cycle can be continued according to Coffee
coffee grown higher than 5,000 feet. the category indication that was described
before. For hard beans, especially when roasted
II). Medium hard bean types: Roast these Following a normal roasting pattern
coffees with moderate initial heat and beyond the second crack, I recommend an
for medium-hard beans, pictures C, D “S-curve” for the roasting process. (This
moderate heat in the final stage. Examples: and E (see pages 4–5) show the external
Brazil, Sumatra, Java and most Latin is based on endless cupping trials and
development of the coffee beans during the
American coffees grown lower then 5,000 roasting process. continued on next page
feet.
Page 56
comparison of different roast profiles).
The following graph illustrates the corresponding roasting
protocol for a hard bean:
BEAN
PROBE
TEMPERATURE
TP I A END
T I M E
After loading the beans into the drum, the bean probe will
display a drop in temperature, which will bottom out at the
Picture C. turning point (TP).
Kenya bean, after 3
minutes roasting continued on next page
Picture D.
Kenya bean, after 6
minutes roasting
Page 57
Picture E.
Kenya bean, after 11 minutes
roasting (after the first crack)
Hard beans will now be roasted with high initial heat. convection heat (airflow heat passing through the drum) is
Until the start of the first crack, the heat inside the beans is 12–15 minutes. With these roasters, roast times longer than 20
endothermic; the beans are absorbing the supplied heat. minutes will produce baked flavors; roast times shorter than
Right before the start of the first crack, the heat inside the eight minutes will enhance sour notes. For solid drum sample
beans becomes exothermic and the beans start generating heat. roasters, the roast time can be done in 8–10 minutes.
At this point the operator has to reduce energy supply in order Drum roasters using infrared heat usually allow longer
to gain control of the roast process (point I). roasting times without affecting the quality of the roasted
After about two minutes of controlling the roast with low coffee. Fluid-bed roasting machines, which use the concept of
energy supply (less BTU), the operator can again increase transferring heat through a high-velocity airflow at a reduced
heat (endothermic heat; the beans are again absorbing heat) to temperature, usually allow faster roasting times.
prepare for the finish of the roast. The start of energy increase After learning roasting the hard way—by using sight,
can be seen at the point where the temperature curve is rising sound and smell—I later discovered the important value
again (point A, see page 35). of proper measuring tools, such as probes for exhaust,
During numerous cupping trials, I have found that the environmental and bean temperature. Anyone who operates
ideal time between the start of the first crack and the end of a coffee roaster can replicate the experiments I’ve completed
the roast (I and End) is at least three minutes. over the past years. Learning how to roast each green bean
The ideal roast time for solid drum roasters with to perfection is just the first step in creating that perfect cup
Page 58
of coffee. In all cases, a stringent cupping protocol

should determine the optimal roasting profile of
your coffee.
Coming Next Issue
In the next issue, I will discuss roasting defects

and how to prevent them. Specific roasting
questions can be submitted by sending an e-mail to
Picture F. wboot@bootcoffee.com.
Kenya, half bean, after
3 minutes roasting
WILLEM BOOT is president of Boot Coffee

Consulting & Training in Mill Valley, Calif.,
specializing in cupping and roasting courses and
strategic consulting for the coffee industry.
Willem can be reached at
willemboot@bootcoffee.com
or at 415.380.1999.
Picture G.
Kenya half bean, after 6 minutes roasting
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(after the first crack)
Page 59
ARTICLE REPRINT
RULING THE ROAST
Get It Right
the First Time
How to Prevent Roasting
Defects and Taints
This article
by Willem Boot
was originally
published in the photos by Kent Hanson
May/June 2004
issue of Roast
I USUALLY TEACH my students that that batch and start over.
roasting coffee revolves around the simple but However, most of the aforementioned
important concept of “roasting right the first errors can be prevented relatively easily. F
For
time.” During the coffee roasting process, there example, I would recommend installing
are limited opportunities to correct mistakes. a back-up generator that automatically
Once the beans have cooled, it is virtually turns on in the event of a power outage.
impossible to re-roast them to a different degree In this case, the generator can provide
or a different flavor profile. One of the keys to emergency power to the drum drive motor
producing quality coffee is to roast right the first and the roaster impellor, which will allow
time and, in doing so, prevent roasting defects the beans to cool slowly and securely in the
and taints. drum, thus preventing major heat build-
up and reducing the risk of roaster fires.
Furthermore, developing clear roasting and
Common Defects operating procedures, as well as repeating
monthly fire and emergency drills, can
Some major roasting defects occur as a result
help roaster operators respond quickly and
of external events, like earthquakes and
intelligently in case of unexpected events.
power outages. Other defects are the result of
The second category of defects, called
operator errors, such as double charging the
minor defects or roasting taints, occur when
roasting drum, which occurs when the operator
an operator does not calibrate the roasting
accidentally loads a second batch of green beans
machine adequately for the beans being
into the roaster while a first batch is already
roasted. Although these defects are not as
being roasted. Such a mistake can create hours
detrimental to the completed cup of coffee,
of sorting and selection after the fact. Another
they do occur more often than operator
common operator error is accidentally over-
errors and are more complicated to correct.
roasting and burning the beans, to the extent
In the beginning of my coffee career
that even the stoutest operator cannot claim
in the United States, I met a client from
that it was a very special French Roast. Some of
Hawaii who brought me his newest
these errors, such as earthquakes are obviously
crop of coffee beans, freshly picked from
not preventable, so you have to just throw away
Page 60
his Kona coffee trees. He asked me to design a roasting

profile for his precious beans. In my first trials, I failed
miserably and the beans were scorched on the outside and
underdeveloped on the inside. The reason was simple: I
did not take the proper amount of time to “read” the beans
and complete a thorough analysis of them prior to roasting.
Upon investigating the coffee, it appeared that these freshly
produced Kona beans were relatively high in moisture and
still lacked the “settled” cell structure that occurs when
green beans are cured for six weeks in parchment after the
completion of the drying process.
As a result of my analysis, the next trials were very
successful, and I designed a roasting profile for my client
that addressed the higher moisture content and the spongy
consistency of the beans. The fresh crop roasting profile
in question allowed my client to maintain a low roasting
temperature during the first three to five minutes (the
drying phase) followed by a moderate-heat roasting cycle,
resulting in evenly expanded beans with consistent color Picture A.
development inside and outside and no signs of scorching. Panama bean (sliced):
In the end, I learned my lesson, and the client was happy. inconsistent bean development with over-roasting
Let’s review some basic parameters that, if properly and under-roasting in the same bean
analyzed and addressed, can help you roast right the first
time, without defects.
Bean Moisture
It helps to use an effective moisture analyzer, which can
be purchased for less than $900. To prevent roasting
imperfections, the green bean moisture content should
be between 10 and 12.5 percent. Green coffee beans
usually become too dry (8–10 percent moisture) or too
humid (12.5–14 percent) as a result of improper storage
conditions and environmental factors. Think of warehouses
in regions with sub-tropical, humid conditions or regions
with bone-dry, hot climates. High-moisture beans should
be roasted very gently in the first stage and low-moisture
beans must be watched closely because of the risk of an
uncontrollable acceleration throughout the process. I also
recommend recording the moisture content of all green
beans frequently.
Picture A. (page 59) shows a Panama bean with a low
moisture content (8.7 percent), and a roasting process that
was not adequately controlled. Only one minute and 50
seconds passed between the beginning of the first crack and
Picture B.
the end of the roast (Agtron 55–beans). The picture shows
the uneven coloration inside the bean where it was over- Brazil coffee bean:
roasted in some spots and under-roasted in others. minor scorch and char marks
Page 61
Green Bean Consistency

There can be a huge difference between a fully washed
beans and natural- or dry-processed beans. The difference
is usually found in the cell structure of the green bean, and
in the resulting variance in heat resistance during roasting.
Picture B. (page 2) shows a roasted, dry-processed Brazil
bean with minor scorch and char marks on outside layers.
Picture C. shows the massive scorching that occurs when
the same bean type is exposed to excessive heat in the first
stage of roasting. This type of defect leads to burnt and
acrid flavor profiles.
The best prevention in this case is to always verify the
green bean production process and, if possible, use your
sample roaster to check the heat resistance of the coffee
beans prior to roasting a full-size batch. If you suspect
that the beans might be more prone to scorching, keep
the charging temperature of the roaster as low as possible,
without stalling the roasting process unnecessarily.
Picture C.
Roasting Machine Settings Brazil coffee bean:
massive scorching
For best roasting results, maintain a monthly service
schedule of your roasting machine. Depending on your
roaster type, check atmospheric burner nozzles, power
burners or infrared heating systems to ensure that the
heating system is producing consistent BTU. It’s a good
idea to install a gas pressure gauge that displays the
pressure coming from the gas supply line, or rather, install
a gauge that shows the exact pressure between the gas
control valve and the heating system itself.
Additionally, you should inspect the color of the flames
to make sure that the heating system is burning fuel
efficiently. Flames with long yellow tips can reach up far
enough to touch the walls of the roasting drum, which can
cause unnecessary contact heat and tipping and scorching
of the beans. Picture D. (shown right) shows a coffee bean
with the first signs of tipping, which is recognized by the
development of burnt spots on the ends of the beans.
Last but not least, check the airflow through your
system. In this case, I recommend installing a gauge that
displays the air pressure inside your drum. Reduced air
pressure will cause baked flavors that often go hand-in-
hand with reduced brightness, reduced acidity and a flat, Picture D.
dull flavor profile. An air pressure gauge will help you Coffee bean:
monitor and diagnose the root causes for reduced air first signs of tipping
pressures, such as clogged venting pipes, malfunctioning
blowers or impellers, and changing weather patterns.
Page 62
Cupping Protocols Coming Next Issue

There is no doubt that a stringent cupping routine will help you to The challenges and benefits of developing roasting profiles.
improve the consistency of your roasted coffee. Besides measuring
the quality profile using effective laboratory analysis methods, I
recommend documenting the target flavor profile for each coffee
type, which should be compared against the production results
by using effective cupping protocols. For example, after each shift WILLEM BOOT is president of Boot Coffee Consulting & Training
of roasting, the roaster operator should taste at least two cups per in Mill Valley, Calif., specializing in cupping and roasting courses and
roasted batch and compare intensity of the key parameters of the strategic consulting for the coffee industry. Willem can be reached at
coffee’s flavor profile (acidity, body, sweetness) against the targeted willemboot@bootcoffee.com
intensity level. Some companies actually involve all roaster operators or at 415.380.1999.
in daily tasting sessions, which enables the roasting staff to make
effective assessments of their own performance, which will improve
consistency in roast output and, in the end, strengthen customer
satisfaction.
Did you know that only one out of 10 customers usually
complains? The other nine simply will not make the effort to tell
you about their dissatisfaction and, as a result, you could lose their
loyalty. Regular cupping protocols with the goal of preventing
roasting defects are effective tools in maximizing customer
satisfaction and roasting right the first time.

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Page 63
ARTICLE REPRINT
RULING THE ROAST
Lighten Up
Create the Perfect
Light Roast
by Willem Boot
This article photos by Kent Hanson
was originally
published in the
July/August 2004
issue of Roast
IMAGINE THAT consumers and specialty of its finesse. Because too many roasting
coffee aficionados around North America companies simply copy the roasting styles
suddenly refused to purchase dark, over-roasted of some of the big players, there seems to
coffee beans and began to demand that their be only a handful of companies that dare to
local coffeehouse offer a lightly-roasted, vibrant roast any of their beans lighter than Agtron
tasting, easy-to-digest coffee. Would you be able 55 (M-Basic), considered in some European
to handle the challenge of creating the perfect countries to be a very normal roasting color
light roast? for drip filter products. In Northern Italy,
Of course, this is a hypothetical question. many roasting companies apply the same
Dark-roasted beans enjoy such massive degree to roasting espresso beans, just up to
popularity among coffee consumers that it is the very first start of the second crack.
hard to imagine coffee drinkers spontaneously So what’s the big deal about roasting
protesting against the trend. For some reason, dark? Why should we even have to consider
roasting dark seems to keep coffeehouses a light roast when the average consumer
everywhere, from the boardwalk beach caf cafés in generally prefers the sweetness and
San Diego to the rainy streets of Maine, in its potentially creamy finish of a well-crafted
tight grip. dark roast? Why not stick to the play-it-safe
Just ask small- to medium-sized roasters scenario and try to do what the average
about the “why’s” of their dark roasting style, customer wants?
and they will simply answer “because my The answer is not simple. First of all,
customers want it,” usually followed by an I believe that most dark-roasted coffees
explanation that lighter-roasted beans offer a lack brightness, sweetness and often have
more pronounced acidity, which is not preferred cardboard, paper-like flavors, especially after
by most of today’s coffee consumers. the brewed coffee has been kept for more
That said, let’s pretend for a moment that than 10 minutes. Secondly, I believe that
consumers suddenly started calling for a lighter lighter roast colors, such as those shown
roast. Would roasters be ready to handle the in the pictures of the El Salvador peaberry
challenge? Frankly, I don’t know. With the bean and the Colombia Armenia bean (both
grand popularity of dark-roasted coffees, the Agtron 58 to 60), generally offer a much
roasting community seems to have lost some
Page 64
more complex cup profile than the same coffees roasted to a darker
degree, like Agtron 40 or lower. Additionally, there are some other
advantages of roasting light, like a longer shelf life, less emissions
during roasting and a lower risk of roaster fires.
However, roasting coffee as light as the pictures indicate is
not easy; the roaster needs to follow certain steps to ensure that
the flavor profile of the coffee is sufficiently developed, without
creating sour, astringent or malty notes, which can potentially
be predominant with under-roasted coffee beans. The solution
to developing proper profiles for lighter-roasted coffee beans is
to investigate with each coffee bean type the appropriate time-
temperature pattern. In the case of the Nicaragua coffee beans
shown on the following pages, we applied a roasting style with
moderate heat supply throughout the roast, which resulted in a
gradual increase of bean temperature.
So, what’s the secret to creating perfect-tasting light roasts?
Are you expecting me to reveal a long-hidden family secret that
will propel your business straight into the ranks of light-roast fame
and fortune? Hardly, but that’s okay because you don’t need an
ancient roasting secret. Roasting light can be as easy as preparing a
medium-rare steak. Or as cooking pasta al dente, which gives the
pasta a pleasant bite, soft mouthfeel and makes your guest grateful
at the same time.
Let’s assume we have just purchased some bags of Nicaraguan
coffee in the most recent Cup of Excellence auction. Furthermore, El Salvador Peaberry Bean
we have decided to roast the Nicaraguan beans light enough so
that the roast with its inevitable caramelization will not mask the
coffee’s flavor profile. By following a light roasting protocol, we
will attempt to preserve the medium-toned acidity and apricot-like
aftertaste of these precious Nicaraguan beans. At the same time, we
must take into account the semi-hard bean structure of this coffee,
which requires moderate energy supply during a major part of the
roast cycle.
Seeing the Light
Are you ready? Let’s start a light roast. Make sure that the roasting
machine is fully preheated for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Next, we
will determine our charging temperature, which should be not too
high for this coffee, otherwise these medium-hard beans might tip
or scorch. Upon charging, little seems to happen for at least two
minutes. However, under the green surface of the coffee bean, a
major chemical transformation is occurring—the beans are literally
soaking up the heat passing through the roasting drum. The free
moisture that is contained in the cell structure of the beans is
heating up and will eventually start boiling and evaporating. Now,
look at picture A (next page). The roast process is 3–4 minutes
underway, and the color of the beans will slowly start turning a Colombia Armenia Bean
Page 65
golden brown. If you pulled a small sample from the roasting

drum with the trier, you would smell a floral, sweet, almost fresh
bread-like aroma. From this moment on, it is important to watch
the increase in bean temperature. By the sixth or seventh minute,
the coffee develops a more brownish color and the beans start
expanding. A hint of coffee aroma starts to emerge from the coffee
and the first crack gets closer. As picture B. (this page) shows, the
color approximates hazelnut brown and the surface of the beans is
quite smooth.
These Nicaraguan coffee beans can be classified as semi-
hard beans, grown at an elevation of approximately 1,250 meters,
which causes the beans to look quite even at this stage in the roast.
Higher-grown beans—1,400 meters and up—will have a different
appearance in this stage, with a rough surface and an uneven
color development.
ROASTING CURVE FOR LIGHT ROASTS

450
400 D
C
BEAN TEMPERATURE F
350
300
250 B
200
150 A
100 Picture A.
50
Nicaraguan Bean:
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 most free moisture evaporated
TIME IN MINUTES
As the roasting graph indicates (the letters on the graph

correspond to the pictures), the roastmaster has to roast prudently
to ensure a gradual increase in bean temperature. The best way
to accomplish this is by lowering the heat supply to such a degree
that the beans will continue roasting gradually and slowly, which
is essential for light roasting styles. At the start of the first crack,
heat inside the coffee beans becomes exothermic, which causes
them to generate heat. Because roasting too fast can produce sour,
astringent and malty roasting taints, the roastmaster should lower
the heat supply on time to stay in control of the process.
When the first crack starts, listen to the speed of the cracks.
The faster you can hear one crack after another, the higher the
bean temperature is at this stage. If you feel that it’s going too
fast, reduce heat supply; if it’s going too slow, increase heat supply
gradually. Picture C. (see next page) shows the color of the beans
immediately after the first crack (9–10 minutes roasting), and
picture D. (see next page) displays the color about one minute
later. As we can see, there is a marginal difference in color
between stage C and D. This is exactly what we are trying to
accomplish in this light roasting style; by roasting prudently, we Picture B.
Nicaraguan Bean:
continued on next page one minute before first crack
Page 66
Picture C. Picture D.
Nicaraguan Bean: Nicaraguan Bean:
right after first crack
ri one minute after first crack
realize a gradual development of the coffee’s flavor profile without

unnecessarily stalling the process. After stage D, it is up to the
roaster to decide how much time to prolong the roasting process; WILLEM BOOT is president of Boot Coffee Consulting & Training
fundamentally and literally, this is a matter of taste. With a roasting in Mill Valley, Calif., specializing in cupping and roasting courses and
color of Agtron 58 to 60, the Nicaraguan coffee described here tasted strategic consulting for the coffee industry. Willem can be reached at
delightfully complex, with a subtle medium-toned acidity and—as I willemboot@bootcoffee.com
hoped for—a delicious apricot-like aftertaste. or at 415.380.1999.
Hopefully, these tips can inspire roasters throughout the world
to use light roasts as a tool to unveil the flavor profile rather than to
mask it.


T
Roast magazine
Page 67
ARTICLE REPRINT
RULING THE ROAST
The Struggle with

Sample Roasting
by Willem Boot
photos by Kent Hanson
This article
was originally
published in the
Sept./October 2004
issue of Roast
DURING THE PAST YEAR, I have been protocols with those utilized by their clients.
informally surveying the sample roasting Sample roasts are more important in
practices of coffee professionals around the the quality inspection protocol than many
world. During my travels to coffee laboratories roasters realize. Often, the sample itself
in Africa, Latin America, Europe, and especially can represent a large quantity of coffee,
the United States, I have witnessed the various sometimes as much as an entire container,
protocols used by different sample roaster which is about 37,500 pounds of green
operators. coffee beans. That’s a lot of coffee to make
From this, I must conclude that many a decision about, especially if you’re basing
professionals in the coffee industry struggle that decision on a poorly roasted sample.
with their sample roasting techniques. At the Roasting samples is at least as
offices of coffee importers in North America, challenging as operating larger industrial
coffee roasting degrees are often too dark. This roasting machines. Generally, sample
makes it virtually impossible to detect coffee roasting machines are not equipped with
taints or defects and, at least as important, automatic time-temperature profilers. This
dark roasting colors generally mask the natural puts a higher emphasis on the skills of the
flavors of the coffee, which prohibits the operator, who has to assure that roast colors
coffee taster from evaluating the true flavors are consistent and that roasting times are
of the beans. Additionally, I have noticed that within a consistent range.
throughout the industry, coffee professionals Let’s review some of the important
do a poor job in terms of roast consistency; factors that can influence the outcome of the
rarely do I see sample roaster operators utilize sample roasting process.
a master sample to assure that roast colors
of samples are consistent. Few professionals Equipment
use adequate lighting, like incandescent
full-spectrum bulbs, to ensure an objective Most sample roasters generally resemble
inspection of roast colors. I have also seen the larger industrial roasting machines.
unacceptable conditions at the offices of coffee Capacities range from four ounces to one
producers and exporters who don’t make the pound per batch. The heating is normally
effort to synchronize their roasting and cupping
Page 68
done with gas-fired atmospheric nozzles or Probat sample roasters, which have a solid ROAST DEGREE
with electric heating elements. drum and utilize a high volume of airflow.
Many companies in the U.S. still use Most operators of Probat sample roasters During a visit to the laboratory of a well-
“good old” Burns sample roasters, which are use the air damper to increase or decrease known specialty coffee importer, I observed
the dinosaurs of roasters and preferred by the air and heat volume in the drum. This their roasting degree, which was around
many for their simplicity and durability. The allows the operator to gradually control the Agtron 50, right at the start of the second
Burns machines have a perforated drum and drum temperature. While the solid drum of crack. Despite the fact that many roasting
operate with ample airflow, but normally the Probat generally guarantees a more even companies use degrees of roast well beyond
they lack the option to incrementally adjust coffee bean development, these machines this point, I feel that samples roasting
the flame or airflow level, which can make can be difficult to use as few operators should be done at a much lighter degree.
these machines somewhat difficult to use. understand the real function of the air At a lighter degree of roast, the coffee will
As a result, many inexperienced damper and therefore often use roast times reveal its true flavors, and the beans have
operators tend to set the flame levels too that are too fast. developed a minimum of caramelized
high. This causes the beans to build up flavors, which generally occur as a result of
a high volume of heat, which becomes The Keys to Sample Roasting the roasting process.
exothermic when the first crack occurs, Pictures A. (this page) and B. (next
resulting in a roast process that accelerates There are three keys to assuring the perfect page) illustrate a desired roast color for
too fast. This leaves hardly any time for the sample roasting process: roast degree, high-grown Central American coffees.
beans to develop the true coffee flavors. consistency and time.
Other companies use the more modern continued on next page
Picture A.
Desired roast color
for high-grown
Central American coffee
Page 69
Instead of roasting the beans to a dark brown

color with a smooth and even surface, these
lighter-roasted beans are not fully expanded and
still show wrinkles. At this point in the roasting
process, the transformation of sugars—the
caramelization—has just begun and the coffee
will still taste as it was meant by Mother Nature,
without the sweet aftertaste, which is generally a
trait of darker roasted beans.
Besides the aspect of roasting light enough
to taste true coffee flavor, there is the issue of
being able to taste defects. Roasting samples to
a degree of Agtron 558 (beans) or even lighter
makes the detection of defects much easier. How
comfortable do you feel with an importer who
roasts all samples too dark, which inevitably
masks taints like fruity, moldy and dirty?
CONSISTENCY
A second observation I made while surveying

sample roasting practices around the world is Picture B.
the lack of roasting consistency. At the highest Desired roast color
podium of specialty coffee, during the recent for high-grown
SCAA show in Atlanta, I was surprised by Central American coffee
the roast inconsistency of samples that were
presented at the cupping pavilion. The lightest
sample had a color of Agtron #62 and the
darkest sample was at least 20 points darker!
The cupping session that followed proved how big the impact
of roasting can be on the flavor of coffee. The lightest samples had
distinct citric flavor notes, while the darkest samples tasted sweet
Assuring The Per fec t Roastin g Pro ce s s
with a berry-like aftertaste. Unfortunately, the cupping session
ROAST DEGREE
was inconclusive because the cuppers could not sense at all if the
differences in flavor were the result of the coffee or of the sample Utilize a master sample with a color of Agtron 55–62
roasting protocol. This illustrates the importance of roasting (beans). Store the master sample in a cool environment
consistently in color and in time-temperature profiles. and refresh it every month.
So, what are some of the important factors that facilitate a
consistent sample roasting protocol? First, turn on the light! CONSISTENCY
Install one or more 100–150-watt full-spectrum incandescent To obtain the best consistency, compare each roast
lights above the sample roaster with a clearance of about two feet against the master sample during roasting. Utilize full-
above the sample roaster. Full-spectrum lights give the operator spectrum incandescent light bulbs.
nearly perfect conditions for inspecting the color of the coffee
beans during and after the roasting process. TIME
Second, make sure that your sample roaster is equipped with Set a standard for sample roasting times. Roast all
the right hardware. The sample roaster should have a reliable samples in a consistent number of minutes. Roast times
probe that measures drum temperatures. should not be faster than eight minutes and not slower
Furthermore, it is extremely helpful to utilize a gas pressure than 15 minutes.
meter that displays every adjustment in gas flow to the burners, so
Page 70
that the operator at any time can monitor the indicatory

BTU-output of the burners. This device provides the
operator with an accurate indication of what the heat
supply level is to the roaster.
Additionally, the sample roaster should be able to cool
the samples quickly. Unfortunately, most older sample
roasters do not cool the beans fast enough, which can
reduce the acidity of the coffee in the cup.
TIME
A third important factor in sample roasting is time. I

have observed many roast masters roasting their samples
too fast, which can change the flavor profile of the coffee
dramatically. Try roasting a SHB Central American
sample, first for five minutes and then for 10 minutes to
the same degree. The samples will taste very different.
Overall, I recommend roasting samples for cupping
in consistent time-temperature profiles. Ideally, roasting presented coffees, which is exactly what an optimal sample roasting
times should never be faster than eight minutes. protocol is all about.
During the Cup of Excellence competition in Honduras, a
team of two roast masters was responsible for sample roasting. Each
sample was compared against a master sample during roasting
and checked again on a specially designed inspection table. If roast
colors were too light or too dark, then the sample would be roasted WILLEM BOOT is president of Boot Coffee Consulting & Training
again. in Mill Valley, Calif., specializing in cupping and roasting courses and
As shown in picture B. the outcome of this stringent protocol strategic consulting for the coffee industry. Willem can be reached at
was an almost perfect consistency in roast color. As a result, the willemboot@bootcoffee.com
panel of tasting judges could concentrate fully on the flavors of all or at 415.380.1999.


T
Roast magazine
Page 71
Taste not haste
Slow food movement believes the best meals organic, locally grown
By John Silcox - The Journal Gazette
Most of us think "slow food" when it takes more than five minutes for us to get our
Whopper and fries, but for a growing number of people slow food is not
something to rue but to relish. What unites them is the belief that meals should
be enjoyed and savored, rather than simply swallowed. That when you buy
locally grown food, you are doing something to preserve the agricultural
landscape, and rescuing varieties of fruits and vegetables and breeds of animals
that are in danger of going extinct. That if people knew how and where their food
was grown, their meals would automatically become more healthy. What started
out as an anti-fast food campaign in Italy 17 years ago has evolved into a
worldwide "eco-gastronomic" organization that emphasizes traditional and
sustainable growing methods, educating people about quality foods, and enjoying
them at an unhurried pace. So is Slow Food a lifestyle movement? An organic
movement? An anti-fast food movement? Supporters say it can be all of these
things. What it isn't, they say, is a movement simply for the wealthy or well-
educated. "This is a movement for everyone, a movement about everyone," says
Sara Firebaugh, assistant director of Slow Foods's USA office. "Everyone eats."
Slow Food began when leftist journalist Carlo Petrini organized a protest of a
McDonald's restaurant near the Spanish Steps in Rome. He enlisted the help of
some of his friends and they vowed to fight the encroachment of fast food by
promoting its opposite. Three years later, his society of gourmets formed Slow
Food, renouncing not only fast food but also the overall pace of the fast life, and
adopting the snail as its emblem. The group's manifesto reads in part, "We are
enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast
Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us
to eat Fast Foods." Today the organization has a Web site, its own publishing
house, and more than 85,000 followers worldwide, organized into local
"convivia," or chapters. Each year, the group organizes trade fairs and tastings,
including the biannual Salone De Gusto in Turin, Italy, which claims to be the
largest food fair in the world. The Ark of Taste identifies, promotes and protect
foods endangered by corporate farming. And through its "edible schoolyards"
program, students learn to grow and cook their own food. The organization hopes
by nurturing children's palates, it can wean them from fast food and perhaps
revolutionize school lunch programs in the process. "It's hard to get kids to eat an
apple instead of french fries," Firebaugh says. "We really want to re-educate
Page 72
children in taste. "Particularly in the cities, where some children can be so

removed from the source of the foods they eat. "Our hope is that these things
continue to grow, that the parents will demand change. The children themselves
will demand change. They'll want better food."
The Slow Food USA office is probably the most active outside of Italy. There are
now 10,000 members organized into 140 chapters across the country. It's not
surprising that the biggest concentrations are in New York and California, where
food trends tend to start, but it's rapidly spreading to points in between. Architect
Conrad Cortellini founded the Indianapolis chapter a year ago. He says there are
about 18 active members, people from all walks of life who are drawn by their
passion for food and its traditions. A native of Ancona, Italy, a small ship-building
town on the Adriatic Sea, his family immigrated to America at the age of 9, when
his father took a position as a viola player with the Indianapolis Symphony
Orchestra. Cortellini first became aware of Slow Food through its offshoot Slow
Cities, which rejects the North Americanization of European cities, and he was
immediately drawn to the concept. "I've always felt food - as many Italians do -
was an important part of life. Not just fuel for the body." His group organizes farm
visits, lectures and social events - dinners that connect chefs and restaurant
owners to local farmers who support sustainable agriculture. And in the spirit of
conviviality, the group's meetings often revolve around the dinner table. "We feel
that's the best way to promote the concept," he says. In December, the group
toured the Trader's Point Creamery. After hearing about the workings of the farm,
they gathered upstairs in the barn for hot cider and cookies and samples of the
creamery's products. Earlier this year, they cooked a lasagna dinner for 135
residents and employees at the assisted living facility where Cortellini's mother
now lives. And last month, the group met at Wild Oats, an organic grocery chain
whose strategies mirror Slow's mission, to demonstrate how to make homemade
pasta. Cortellini says he gets as much out of these experiences as he puts into
them. "It's been a great year," Cortellini says. "I'm telling you, I've had some great
meals and some great wines. It hasn't been totally altruistic on my part." Fort
Wayne does not have a Slow Food chapter, but there are certainly people who
champion its views and attitudes. Joseph Decuis Executive Chef Lisa Williams
personifies the highest aims of Slow Food, even though she is not an official part
of it. Ever since the Roanoke restaurant opened, Williams has based the menu
on high-quality, in-season ingredients, the freshest she can find. She knows, for
example, where and when most of the fish she serves are caught. The Chef's
Garden in Huron, Ohio, supplies the restaurant with much of its rare and
specialty produce. The restaurant's own garden furnishes Williams with fresh
vegetables and herbs all summer. And Williams has also cultivated relationships
Page 73
with local growers, mostly small farmers trying to grow heirloom fruits and
vegetables using organic or environmentally friendly farming techniques. She
raves about the peaches and apples that come from David Doud's orchard in
Roann, and the free-range eggs she gets from Seven Sons poultry farm. Local
peace activist Sox Sperry became aware of Slow Food through his own
consumer movement - Procott. A procott, the opposite of a boycott, is designed
to get consumers to patronize businesses with values similar to their own. "We
feel there is a connection between the values that Procott articulates and the
values that we recognize in the Slow Food movement," Sperry says. Both
movements ask people to become more critically aware of the choices they have
as consumers, and encourages them to seek out local, earth-friendly producers
wherever possible. And on some level, both movements ask the same
fundamental question: "How do we want to live as people?" "Do we want to keep
accelerating at that pace, or is there a limit to that," Sperry says. "I hear the Slow
Food movement saying we should think about it. Maybe there's a certain point
where fast is too fast, and we need to slow down. "A lot of times we are tricked
into thinking newer means better, but in this case, if newer means faster, I'm not
so sure it is better." Organic farmer Jennifer Disler appreciates the idea of Slow
Food, but wonders whether it will ever catch on with the masses. Today's lifestyle
doesn't make it easy for people to make good choices, and she admits there are
times on a busy day that even he will stop for a drive-though meal. But slow
doesn't have to be expensive or complicated, supporters say. It can be as simple
as taking the time the time to prepare wholesome foods at home, instead of
going out to eat. Or, shopping at a farmer's market instead of buying produce at
the grocery store. Cortellini says it all comes back to his group's motto: "One
meal at a time." "It's as simple as that," he says. If you don't have time to sit
down to a meal every time, do it once a week, or as often as you can manage it,
he says. Williams says make it a goal to eat at home or cook at least twice a
week. And when you do cook, she says, use a traditional recipe or "make
something with something good in there, have a good ingredient." Eat better, eat
seasonally and eat with your family, she says. "What are you working so hard
for?" Williams asks. "To have another burger."
For more information about the Slow Food philosophy, visit Slow Food USA at
wwww.slowfoodusa.org or Slow Food International at www.slowfood.com.
Anyone interested in starting a local chapter can call Chef Lisa Williams at
Joseph Decuis at 260-672-1715.
Page 74
MAKING SENSE OF TASTE - TASTE FUNDAMENTALS
The stimuli that the brain interprets as the basic tastes--salty, sour, sweet, bitter and,
possibly, umami--are registered via a series of chemical reactions in the taste cells of the
taste buds. The five biochemical pathways underlying each taste quality are depicted here
in separate taste cells solely for clarity. In reality, individual taste cells are not
programmed, or "tuned," to respond to only one kind of taste stimulus.
TASTE CELLS AND THEIR MECHANICS
SALTS, such as sodium chloride

(NaCl), trigger taste cells when
sodium ions (Na+) enter through ion
channels on microvilli at the cell's
apical, or top, surface. (Sodium ions
can also enter via channels on the
cell's basolateral, or side, surface.)
The accumulation of sodium ions
causes an electrochemical change
called depolarization that results in
calcium ions (Ca++) entering the
cell. The calcium, in turn, prompts
the cell to release chemical signals
called neurotransmitters from
packets known as vesicles. Nerve
cells, or neurons, receive the
message and convey a signal to the
brain. Taste cells repolarize, or
"reset," themselves in part by
opening potassium ion channels so that potassium ions (K+) can exit.
ACIDS taste sour because they generate hydrogen ions (H+) in solution. Those ions act
on a taste cell in three ways: by directly entering the cell; by blocking potassium ion (K+)
channels on the microvilli; and by binding to and opening channels on the microvilli that
allow other positive ions to enter the cell. The resulting accumulation of positive charges
depolarizes the cell and leads to neurotransmitter release.
Page 75
SWEET STIMULI, such as sugar or artificial sweeteners, do not enter taste cells but
trigger changes within the cells. They bind to receptors on a taste cell's surface that are
coupled to molecules named G-proteins. This prompts the subunits (  and ) of the
G-proteins to split into and  which activate a nearby enzyme. The enzyme then
converts a precursor within the cell into so-called second messengers that close potassium
channels indirectly.
BITTER STIMULI, such as quinine, also act through G-protein-coupled receptors and
second messengers. In this case, however, the second messengers cause the release of
calcium ions from the endoplasmic reticulum. The resulting buildup of calcium in the cell
leads to depolarization and neurotransmitter release.
AMINO ACIDS (UMAMI STIMULI), such as glutamate, which stimulates the umami
taste--are known to bind to G-protein-coupled receptors and to activate second
messengers. But the intermediate steps between the second messengers and the release of
packets of neurotransmitters are unknown.
Page 76
Page 77
The Taste Map: All Wrong
OUTDATED "TONGUE MAP"

has continued to appear in textbooks even though it was based on a misinterpretation of
research done in the 19th century.
One of the most dubious "facts" about taste--and one that is commonly
reproduced in textbooks--is the oft-cited but misleading "tongue map"
showing large regional differences in sensitivity across the human tongue.
These maps indicate that sweetness is detected by taste buds on the tip of the
tongue, sourness on the sides, bitterness at the back and saltiness along the
edges.
Taste researchers have known for many years that these tongue maps are
wrong. The maps arose early in the 20th century as a result of a
misinterpretation of research reported in the late 1800s, and they have been
almost impossible to purge from the literature.
In reality, all qualities of taste can be elicited from all the regions of the
tongue that contain taste buds. At present, we have no evidence that any kind
of spatial segregation of sensitivities contributes to the neural representation
Page 78
of taste quality, although there are some slight differences in sensitivity

across the tongue and palate, especially in rodents.
--D.V.S. and R.F.M.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laurie Grace
Back to Article (Making Sense of Taste)

Page 79
ARTICLE REPRINT
Variety is the Spice

of Coffee
Geisha and
Other Varietals
by Willem Boot
This article
was originally
published in the
May/June 2006
MY HORSE slowly ascends the slippery terrain tasting session, we performed a blind cupping test
issue of Roast of one of the slopes of Volcan Baru, Panama. of the diversity of coffee varieties from the family
With each curve I round along the tiny track estate and we tasted the sweet, refreshing acidity
that’s carved in this part of the mountain, I of arabica typica, the clean citric lemon notes of
am presented with an astounding view over the estate-grown caturra, the winey aftertaste
the lower valley that reaches out to the shining of a bourbon and the disappointing bitter-sour
waters of the Pacific. The sun spreads a glowing aftertaste of the catimor.
afternoon warmth over the mountain. The Despite our disapproval of the flavor profile
terrain is lush, full of beautiful medium- to of the catimor variety, the estate grower continued
high-growth trees waving in the calm wind. the cultivation of the hybrid, which had been
Through the mixed cover of shade trees, I recommended for its high-yielding properties
see a number of colorful birds taking off, their and disease resistance. Only three years after
feathers weaving a contrast against the light planting, the catimor trees already produced 50
blue sky. My companion walks towards me, percent more cherries per acre than the typica.
his hands filled with dirt, saying, “Look at this Despite these production benefits, the estate
beautiful soil with its rich organic matter.” grower ultimately reported that he was unable to
Before I realize it, I am smelling the soil; clean, sell the catimor at sustainable price levels. Finally,
wet earth with a slightly perfumy aroma. I think he decided to replace all of the catimor trees with
to myself: if I were a coffee tree, this humus- caturra and typica.
rich earth is where I would want to grow. The story of this coffee grower is not
To make a long story very short, I was unique; most medium- to larger-sized coffee
trying to decide whether or not to purchase farmers continually analyze the pros and cons
this small, pristine plot of land with rich soil of the varieties they select for their farm. In this
and beautiful views. Needless to say, I already process, most farmers are influenced by regional
knew the answer: yes. But before I even bought traditions and of course by the availability of
the land, I was already asking the important seeds or seedlings of new varieties. Generally,
question that many farmers around the world few farmers will experiment with varieties that
have to deal with during their career: Which have not been planted and tested in their own
variety should I plant? region. As a result, it may take many years before
In the years that I have been tasting coffee innovations with new, unknown varieties become
in producing countries, I have become intrigued accepted throughout a coffee-producing region
by the influence of the coffee variety on the or country. The coffee variety, with its profound
flavor profile of the bean. I vividly remember impact on the flavor profile, can be a crucial
a tasting session with a well-known specialty parameter for quality differentiation and for the
coffee producer in Central America who had bet market success of a single producer or an entire
the future of his family estate on a hybrid coffee coffee origin.
variety called “catimor.” During this memorable continued on next page
Page 80
During the past few years, I have Examples of Arabica Coffee typica. The original bourbon varieties were
become more interested in coffee farming Varieties & Their Cupping called “French Mission,” while their later
and through my travels around the world, progenies from Kenya and Tanzania were
I became very intrigued by the secrets and Profiles indicated by letters or numbers, like SL28
myths of the complex job of the grower. and SL34.
Ultimately, I have become convinced that J Typica
the pursuit for exemplary coffee starts at the Various names are J Caturra
farm; this is where quality is created and at used to identify
its essential core lies the choice for the coffee Caturra
this distinct coffee
variety. Any coffee professional should be was first
variety, known for
aware of the fact that choosing a variety is discovered in
like balancing between two fundamental the elongated oval
Brazil where
economic principles: quantity versus quality. shape of the bean.
it has been
As a result, varieties like mundo novo, catuai In Central America,
cultivated
and catimor are more popular for their I have also heard the names “arabigo” and
commercially since 1937, first in Minas
high-yielding properties, while varieties like “criollo.” Typica plants can have a somewhat
Gerais, Brazil and later throughout Latin
typica, bourbon and caturra are renowned conical shape and can reach heights of up
for their capacities to produce an exemplary America. Caturra is a mutation of bourbon,
to 15 feet. The lateral branches are generally
cup. and it has the ability to produce good
tilted upwards at a 50–70 degree angle
In a country like Panama, at least a quality with high production volumes. In
towards the vertical stem. Typica generally
handful of varieties have been noted for order to maintain the production efficiency,
produces exemplary quality with a low
their ability to produce good quality with the trees must be continually fertilized
production volume, and almost always
efficient volumes of production. A number and pruned. The trees are relatively
of areas in the Chiriqui province of produces a clean and resonant acidity which
short with a thick vertical stem and many
Panama—Boquete, Volcan, Santa Clara and increases in intensity at higher elevations.
secondary branches. The leaves show
Piedra Candela—offer optimal conditions The cup profile can be citric-lemony with
many similarities with the bourbon leaves.
for the production of the finest-quality floral notes and sweet lingering aftertaste.
The cup characteristics of caturra include
coffee beans: various unique microclimates,
well-pronounced acidity with often citric
excellent precipitation, optimal variations J Bourbon
between day and night temperatures and, or lemony flavor notes, especially at higher
Bourbon was first elevations. Caturra is not always as sweet
last but not least, well-established know-
discovered on as typica or bourbon, but this can vary with
how about the cultivation and processing of
different coffee varieties. Reunion, an island the frequency and intensity of fertilization
In the past few years, Panama farmers near Madagascar, applications. The beans can show a neat,
“discovered” an exciting coffee variety originally named dense complexity with a centercut that
that has been grown in Panama since the Bourbon. Some seems to be embedded more into the inner
early 1960s: geisha. Just as specialty coffee experts claim that layers of the bean.
cuppers have become thrilled by the flavor the bourbon variety
profile of this variety, many farmers in is nothing more than a natural mutation of J Catuai
Panama have become mesmerized by its the typica variety, while others make the case
Catuai is a hybrid of the mundo novo and
economic potential. In just a few years that bourbon is a variety on its own, and I
caturra varieties. Catuai can be planted at
time, geisha has already developed the totally agree. After cupping many bourbon
a higher density (more trees per acre) and
status of “Grand Queen,” while the scale of types grown in Africa and Latin America,
will produce high yields, provided that
commercial cultivation and production still I have concluded that there is something
the farmer fertilizes properly. One benefit
remains in the infancy stage. (As a side note, like the “bourbon flavor,” which can be
of catuai is its resistance against strong
roasters beware! Many nurseries in Panama summarized as having a bright acidity
winds and rain; the cherries do not easily
are filled with geisha seedlings, which will with a winey, sweet aftertaste. Bourbons
fall off under those conditions. During
create a phenomenal increase in geisha cultivated at higher elevations almost always
the 2005/2006 harvest, some growers in
cultivation within the next five years). present floral aromatic properties. There are
Panama lost up to 30 percent of their crop
So, coming back to my initial question; also some key differences between bourbon
as a result of strong rainfall. Most of these
Which variety should I plant? Typica, and typica plants and beans. The leaves of
farmers did not grow the catuai variety but
caturra, bourbon or maybe geisha? To the bourbon tree are broad and the fruit
other, more susceptible varieties. In all my
answer this question, I began reviewing my is relatively small and dense, resulting in
options, both for production efficiency and smaller, somewhat rounder beans than continued on next page
for flavor profile.
Page 81
cupping trials, I have not found a typical J Catimor has the tendency to roast too fast after the
catuai flavor profile. However, I have noted A cross between a natural arabica-robusta completion of the first crack. As a result,
that the sweetness of catuai beans can be hybrid from Timor and caturra. It was the roaster operator must roast geisha with
influenced strongly by proper fertilization first created in Portugal in 1959. Benefits moderate heat during the first stage of the
methods. Specifically the application of include resistance against coffee rust, high roasting process.
natural, organic compost can intensify yields and better capabilities to withstand
sweetness levels and improve the flavor the effects of Coffee Berry Disease, which
profile significantly. Geisha Discoveries
is especially feared in East Africa. The cup
quality of catimor is quite distinct because
J Mundo Novo During the past months, I have been able
of its sour acidity with a slightly astringent
to do extensive research by interviewing
Another natural hybrid between the typica mouthfeel and often a somewhat salty
various coffee breeding experts from
and bourbon varieties. The benefits of aftertaste. In Latin America, the cultivation
Panama, Ethiopia and France.
mundo novo include high productivity and of catimor varieties was initially widely
The exotic Ethiopian variety was first
good resistance to diseases. The plant is propagated by agronomists and agricultural
introduced to Panama through CATIE, a
resilient and does well in medium to high “experts” who could not look beyond the
renowned agronomic research institute in
elevations. Unfortunately, I have never narrow horizon of volume production. In
Costa Rica. But, how did geisha get there
tasted an exemplary mundo novo coffee. the past 10 years, they have all proven to be
and where did it originate in Ethiopia?
The flavor profile often lacks sweetness and wrong in their advice, leaving many farmers
Jean-Pierre Labouisse, a French coffee
can present pronounced bitter undertones. behind who were unable to sell their
breeding expert working for CIRAD (a well-
Extensive nutrition and fertilization of the catimor beans against sustainable prices.
known French research institute) was able
tree will allow the farmer to improve cup
to shed some light on the roots of geisha.
quality. J Geisha
“In 1931, geisha seeds were collected in a
Last but not least, there is the earlier- forest coffee area in Southwest Ethiopia,”
J Maragogype mentioned geisha varietal, which I first he said. “Several sites exist with a slightly
This varietal is named after a place called tasted at the Best of Panama cupping different spelling, which is not unusual in
“Maragogype” in Bahia, Brazil. When competition in 2004. Our panel of judges Ethiopia. In this case, the original name is
my father started his specialty roastery had already tasted a first group of well- in the Amharic language and three similar
in Holland in the mid-1970s, he carried processed, lemony-citric Panamas and then, names circulate which are all phonetic
maragogypes from at least three different like a thunderbolt, came that magnificent interpretations: Gesha in the province of
countries. In general, the flavor profile of geisha produced by Price Peterson. Without Kaffa, district of Kefa; Gesha in the province
these unusually large beans is very mild hesitation, I scored the coffee a 94, and the of Kaffa, district of Maji and Goldiya; and
with a subtle sweet acidity. Maragogype flavor left our panel of cuppers dazzled. Gecha in the province of Illubabor, district of
is not easy to roast—the beans must be A tall, elegant tree with large fruits, Mocha.”
roasted slow and light enough to develop geisha’s benefits include resistance against The geisha seeds were probably collected
the unique flavor profile, which is then rust. Some farmers in Panama have also in bulk from different trees. The distribution
best extracted with a vacuum pot or a reported that geisha can withstand fungi like of the seeds was handled through the British
genuine “Kona” coffee maker. Maragogype “Ojo de Gallo” better than other varieties. Consulate; they were exported in 1931 and
is a mutation of the typica variety and the The cupping profile of geisha produced 1932 to the Kitale Center in Kenya under
production yield is very low. in Panama includes a floral aroma with a the names Abyssinian and Geisha.
persistent clean and exotic sweet aftertaste, From Kenya, offspring seeds have
J Pacamara supported by a resonant refreshing acidity, been planted in the Kawanda station,
A cousin of the maragogype, this variety is a like in the tamarind fruit. The mouthfeel Uganda and in the Lyamungu station,
cross between maragogype and pacas. can be surprisingly smooth and silky. Tanzania in 1936. The geisha that
Inspecting geisha coffee, we specifically was planted later in Panama, was first
J Pacas notice the elongated, curvy and thin shape introduced to CATIE, Costa Rica in
of the beans. Additionally, it seems like July 1953 as a progeny of the tree from
A cross between caturra and bourbon;
the centercut of geisha is drawn deeper Lyamungu, Tanzania. I have been told
produces good yields and can perform very
into the bean, creating the impression that that the original geisha tree still exists in
well at medium to higher elevations.
we are dealing with a softer coffee type. Lyamungu.
During the roasting process, I have noticed
that geisha very much behaves like Mocha
Harrar or like the variety pacamara, and it continued on next page
Page 82
Geisha trees were first cultivated in Bellachew explained that geisha is a choice for me—and just recently I was able
Panama in the 1960s. The first seeds were heterozygous plant, which also explains an to obtain ten thousand seedling geisha baby
introduced in 1963 by Don Pachi Serracin. interesting phenomenon about geisha. Until trees. Next summer, they will be planted
His two sons, Mario and Francisco now, coffee experts believed that there were on my Panama land, and thus will begin a
currently play an important role in the two different types of geisha, the variety chapter in the uncertain but exciting life of
emerging geisha culture of Panama. Mario producing bronze tip leafs and the geisha a new specialty coffee grower in search of a
is a geisha expert and renowned agronomist producing green tip leafs. According to the great cup profile.
and Francisco Serracin was the second explanation of Dr. Bayetta, geisha trees—
farmer to present geisha at the Panama due to their heterozygous properties—can
cupping competition. In the cupping event change the color of their tip leafs from one
of 2005, he won second place, just behind generation to the next. Conclusion: there is
the geisha of Price Peterson’s Jaramillo only one geisha! WILLEM BOOT is president of Boot
Estate. Coffee Consulting & Training in Mill
The flavor profile of the Panama geisha Valley, Calif., specializing in cupping and
represents a unique complexity of a floral Ten Thousand Baby Geishas roasting courses and strategic consulting for
aroma with an exotic Ethiopian aftertaste, the coffee industry. Willem can be reached
supported by the resonant refreshing While in Panama, I had the opportunity at willemboot@bootcoffee.com or at
acidity of the finest Panamanian coffee to visit the beautiful organic coffee farm 415.380.1999.
types. When geisha was first introduced to “Hacienda Barbara,” owned by the Bay Area
Panama, the growers planted the variety Rogers Family (JBR Roasters) and managed
in between the other popular coffee by Mario Serracin. As Serracin guided me
varieties like typica, caturra and Catuai, around the finca, I had the opportunity to
thus creating a cocktail of varieties within compare the flavor of ripe coffee cherries
the same farm. Currently, this practice from various varieties. It is interesting to
is sometimes judged with skepticism by notice how different coffee cherries can taste
specialty buyers who prefer the concept of from one variety to the other. The flavor of
coffee growers planting one variety per plot. this 100 percent organic geisha cherry was
However, this growing style may have outstanding: intensely sweet notes of mango
played a role in the flavor of today’s geisha. and papaya with a lingering perfumy floral
Dr. Mario Serracin, Panama’s expert finish; just like geisha tastes in the cup!
in organic coffee farming and a geisha After that experience, I felt there was
connoisseur explains, “The Panama geisha no going back—geisha was the varietal of
most likely evolved from the original geisha
as a result of cross-pollinization, which
is basically the natural process of coffee
varieties creating cross-breeds.”
While discussing this theory during
a dinner in Addis Abeba, I asked the
Ethiopian breeding expert Dr. Bayetta
Bellachew, of the Jimma Agricultural
Research Center for his opinion. “The
likelihood of cross-pollinization is relatively
low and dependant of many factors, like (Canada/Mexico–$35 U.S./year Other countries–$50 U.S./year)
the proximity of the trees, the timing of
the flowering cycle for each variety and To subscribe or for more information contact us
T
of the overall genetic constitution of the at 503.282.2399 or visit www.roastmagazine.com
coffee variety,” he said. “Traditionally, when
we develop selective breeding programs Roast magazine
for coffee varieties, I will always prefer 1631 NE Broadway, No. 125,
not to utilize heterozygous plants, as Portland OR 97232 | e-mail roast@roastmagazine.com
they generally contain different genetic
combinations within the same plant while
homozygous plants have a fixed genetic
structure.”
WET MILL PROCESSING &
Page 83
QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Cherry Receiving Quality Inspection
Soaking in Water Separating Floaters
Separating First
Disc Pulping from Second Grade
Washing Separating Heavier Beans

from Lighter Beans
Traditional Fermentation
Washing
Moisture Inspection
Drying on Racks
& Hand Picking
Cupping Protocols &

Quality Inspection
Wet Mill Coffee Process - © Boot Coffee Consulting

Page 84
What We Learn from Yummy and Yucky
Sensory information from taste cells is critical for helping us to detect and
respond appropriately to needed nutrients. The sweet taste of sugars, for
example, provides a strong impetus for the ingestion of carbohydrates. Taste
signals also evoke physiological responses, such as the release of insulin,
that aid in preparing the body to use the nutrients effectively. Humans and
other animals with a sodium deficiency will seek out and ingest sources of
sodium. Evidence also indicates that people and animals with dietary
deficiencies will eat foods high in certain vitamins and minerals.
Just as important as ingesting the appropriate nutrients is not ingesting

harmful substances. The universal avoidance of intensely bitter molecules
shows a strong link between taste and disgust. Toxic compounds, such as
strychnine and other common plant alkaloids, often have a strong bitter taste.
In fact, many plants have evolved such compounds as a protective
mechanism against foraging animals. The sour taste of spoiled foods also
contributes to their avoidance. All animals, including humans, generally
reject acids and bitter-tasting substances at all but the weakest
concentrations.
The intense reactions of pleasure and disgust evoked by sweet and bitter
substances appear to be present at birth and to depend on neural connections
within the lower brain stem. Animals with their forebrains surgically
disconnected and anencephalic human newborns (those lacking a forebrain)
show facial responses normally associated with pleasure and disgust when
presented with sweet and bitter stimuli, respectively.
The strong link between taste and pleasure--or perhaps displeasure--is the
basis of the phenomenon of taste-aversion learning. Animals, including
humans, will quickly learn to avoid a novel food if eating it causes, or is
paired with, gastrointestinal distress. Naturally occurring or experimentally
induced taste-aversion learning can follow a single pairing of tastant and
illness, even if there is a gap of many hours between the two. One side effect
Page 85
of radiation treatments and chemotherapy in cancer patients is loss of

appetite; much of this is caused by conditioned taste aversions resulting from
the gastrointestinal discomfort produced by these treatments.
This mechanism has also made it extremely difficult to devise an effective

poison for the control of rats, which are especially good at making the
association between novel tastants and their physiological consequences.
--D.V.S. and R.F.M.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Tasting Techniques For The Coffee Professional

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Tasting

© Boot Coffee Consulting & Training, Inc.

Date: Cupping Round: Number Taster: Name Taster:

Fragrance/ Aroma Acidity Flavor Body / Mouthfeel Aftertaste Overall

Fragrance/ Aroma Acidity Flavor Body / Mouthfeel Aftertaste Overall

Fragrance/ Aroma Acidity Flavor Body / Mouthfeel Aftertaste Overall

Date: Cupping Objective: Name Taster:

SAMPLE Fragrance / Aroma Flavor Aftertaste Acidity Mouthfeel

A Coffee Taster's Glossary

Source: The Signet Book of Coffee and Tea by Peter Quimme

Roasting Preparation Environment Cupping Preparation

Cupping Glasses: The type of glass recommended by the SCAA is a 5 or 6 ounce

Sensory testing is done for three reasons:

Theoretically the above scale ranges from a minimum value of 0 to a

Step #2 – Flavor, Aftertaste, Acidity, Body, and Balance

Step #3 – Sweetness, Uniformity, and Cleanliness

Individual Component Scores

Each of these attributes is described more fully as follows:

Acidity: Acidity is often described as "brightness" when favorable or “sour” when

Sweetness: Sweetness refers to a pleasing fullness of flavor as well as any obvious

Total Score Specialty Description Classification

process. Despite many frantic

roast • article reprint 2

a program of product development that trying to mask mediocre coffee components

roast • article reprint 3

Chart B. Blend Styles

25% 50% 25%

continued on next page

roast • article reprint 4

blends are always more than the sum of their parts.

HOUSE BLEND In general, house blends should be designed for all-day

FIFTY-FIFTY BLEND Creating a blend with 50 percent decaf and not

roast • article reprint 5

Article for Fresh Cup Magazine by Willem J. Boot

Cupping = Pride = Profits

Whenever I am teaching coffee workshops, I always ask my students how often

change the world!

So what, exactly, is cupping coffee? It involves a complete systematic

methodology of investigating the true nature of green coffee beans, including:

tasting. To me, cupping coffee is so fascinating because it is like an ultimate chess

rules for the game:

Rule number 3: Be consistent. This includes weighing the sample to be roasted,

cup coffee between 4 and 6 PM.

cup' or to exclaim 'yuck' after that ferment defect.

being relaxed, eager and investigative at the same time.

commitment to the company's products and it creates better salesmanship and

pride with all employees in the company.

Summarized: Cupping = Pride = Profits.

Willem J. Boot is president of Boot Coffee Consulting & Training, a firm

specializing in quality management programs for coffee companies. Additional

coffee blends. Willem Boot can be reached at 415 - 380 1999.

Cupping for flavor versus cupping for defects

Cupping involves a complete systematic methodology of investigating the true

Defects due to Plantation Conditions

Defect Character Origin Flavour

Black Bean Black surface Fungi attack Harsh, ashy

Insect-damaged Circular holes Coffee berry borer Bland to bitter

Dark brown bean Brown to black Attack by bugs on Fruity to harsh

Defects due to Harvest

Defect Character Origin Flavour

Immature Wrinkled surface Unripe cherry Fruity, low acidity,

Quaker Light brown color Unripe Bland, bitter