Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/46939
The Art of Cupping I Simon Ford, Pernod Ricard's Global Brand Educator, hosted the evening with Kahlúa at Zócalo in Sacramento. Meet Noe Hernandez Coffee expert Daniel Humphries leads a seminar on the art of cupping, the profes- sional tasting of coffee, as part of Pernod Ricard's BarSmarts educational program. t's been less than a decade since Daniel Humphries first learned about the intricacies of coffee, from the art of latte to espresso extraction tech- niques. But the former Seattle bartender and barista decided to take his skills to New York City, which, he claims, had the worst-tasting coffee he had ever experienced. "It didn't seem to matter if the food was the highest quality," he informed THE TASTING PANEL. "The coffee was just not up to standards, much less surpassing standards, which you would expect from such a food-centric city. It's the number-one consumer bever- age in the country, and industry professionals need to learn its properties as much as they do wine or spirits." Once Humphries made a few changes—and consequently a name for himself in the coffee biz—the 33-year-old consultant returned to Seattle and became involved in Noe Hernandez is the General Manager of Zócalo in Sacramento. A native of Hidalgo, Mexico, Noe Hernandez started at Zócalo as a server and soon worked his way to manager. Our host for the evening, Hernandez oversees the restaurant, with cuisine representing all the regions of Mexico, from Oaxaca to Jalisco to Yucatan. The spacious dining room pays tribute to one artist's work: Ernesto Cruz from Guadalajara. "My focus is on service," insists Hernandez. "We create relation- ships with our customers and therefore, a loyalty factor ensues. We want to create an atmosphere that's like vacationing in Mexico. And tonight, with Kahlúa, we've once more converted the restau- rant to make them feel like they are dining off the coast of Veracruz." sensory evaluation with his favorite subject. "I began working with coffee farmers throughout Central America and taught them how to understand (and evaluate) their product. Educating their noses and palates would help improve their practices and, ultimately, their reputation." As a prelude to the Kahlúa bartending competition, Humphries led a sensory evalu- ation of coffee for the trade, which helped put the subject of the night into perspective. Cupping—the coffee industry term for profes- sional tasting—involves evaluating aroma, bal- ance, sweetness and acidity of the ground and roasted beans. Coffee is a fruit, smaller than a grape, but larger than a cranberry. Its seeds, or beans, are the product that is roasted. "Cupping offers an entrée into quality control," Humphries explains. Through a blind tasting of four distinctly different roasted beans, tested and tasted by our crowd of about 50 trade representatives (all non-coffee experts), THE TASTING PANEL can report that the Arabica beans used for Kahlúa were chosen as the most fragrant and best tasting. The four coffees were each individually brewed by steeping the grounds in 230-degree water and waiting four minutes until sipping. Dave Seva of The Shady Lady in Sacramento took part in the sensory perception program with BarSmarts and Kahlúa. november 201 1 / the tasting panel / 89