Hard to believe that the Aroma festival is done and dusted for another year. With all the planning that goes into it, the hard work by all those involved, it is strange to think that all of a sudden it is over in a flash.
For me, this year’s Aroma festival was like no other. This year, thanks to my involvement in the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA), I got to help organise and run the majority of coffee workshops in the weeks leading up to the festival. Essentially that meant a whole lot of cupping.
If you’ve never done one, you should definitely give it a try. “Essentially” it is weighing out about 11g of coffee, grinding it a little courser than you’d use in a French press, pouring over 200ml of hot water so that it can start brewing at 93 degrees, and then letting it brew for 4 min. You then break the crust of the coffee with a gentle stir, and get rid of the remaining **cough** crud ready for the slurping to begin. (More specific details available here)
Why would you want to do any of this? Because slurping coffee in this state, as it changes temperature, and opens itself up, lets your palate explore the flavours, aromas, mouthfeel, acidity and balance of the coffee. While drinking coffee is always interesting, the intense focus on each coffee in a cupping, with each slurp, it helps you identify the resulting product of specialized farmers, coffee varietals from different origins, specialized processes, and roasting techniques (amongst a heap of other things). So my advice is, if someone offers you an invite to a cupping take it, and expand your coffee experience and understanding.
But it wasn’t all about cupping. The steady stream of happy, interested coffee geeks in the making, who attended the workshops and past by the ASCA stand on Sunday, made all of the effort worthwhile. Being able to share my passion about coffee with those looking at expanding their coffee experience was great fun. I even got to push a few people over to my coffee challenge.
Next up, we get to start thinking about what we (ASCA) are going to do at the Coffee Experience.
N.B. Thanks again to all those who gave their time to run the workshops, the volunteers, the sponsors and of course those people who came along to learn.
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