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Where to buy a range of beans for cupping activity?

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  • mutualclock
    commented on 's reply
    I know first hand that Beanbay beans are high quality, but it's a pity we can't discuss and recommend particularly good roasts elsewhere in the country. Are there any recommended places for this kind of information -- besides your Insta?

  • CleanFinish
    replied
    Steve82 2 luca Bosco_Lever beat me to it. Everything they said.
    Having come back from US and having lived in Europe and Asia, I would say Oz roasts are way less consistent vs US/Europe - no surprise given the volumes they buy there. Oz is much closer to Asia in that it's very much a hit and miss. Same roaster will be hit one day and less so another. So per advise above....pick TimW or if you can a US roaster like Intelligensia - they sell MASSIVE volumes and their consistency is crazy consistent. Just make sure you buy direct form them so it's fresh - not thru supplies like US Target which bags can be months old. I'm a fan of Counter Culture and Ritual as well. TimW is micro compared to Intelligensia which is why they're EVEN more impressive with their roast consistency

    Leave a comment:


  • Bosco_Lever
    commented on 's reply
    Luca and Steve82 have answered this brilliantly.

    I have a Colombian that I use as a benchmark bean. I use it to calibrate body, acidity, sweetness, aftertaste and balance whenever I have some new coffees, or want to check a roast. It is useful when cupping Kenyans or Geishas, as these are very dominant in a cupping so one has to be brought back to reality.
    Be sure to keep tasting as the coffee cools, you may be amazed how some change and what flavours come out.
    Hopefully this will lead you down the path of pourover/immersion brewing and an appreciation for the Light (Right) side.

  • luca
    replied
    This forum is paid for by CS, which sells green and roasted beans, and sponsorship for others to advertise green and roasted beans. Others have made the point that coming here and asking for recommendations of other beans is a bit like standing up in the middle of a restaurant and asking for recommendations of better restaurants.

    If you want to do a cupping, the important thing is to get a good filter roast level. In general, filter roasts in Australia suck. What you could do is to put together a pack of coffees from multiple roasters, so you could also use this as an opportunity to find roast levels that you like. Australia is ass about from the rest of the world; here everything is roasted for espresso unless specified otherwise, and if you end up with espresso roasts for cupping it's going to be a disaster. Equally, you might buy a filter roast, but from a roaster that isn't really very good at filter roasts, so the roasts might have the aroma baked out of them, for instance. In either case, you could well end up with all of your friends going "wow these are all really similar; they don't taste anything like the tasting notes; emperor has no clothes." In part, this is because now anyone can put up a shingle calling themselves a professional coffee roaster, buy green coffee from a local importer, and copy-paste their tasting notes and marketing information to have a credible looking website and marketing material that makes you think that they have deep expertise and that they are putting on a pith helmet and actually going to the deepest darkest reaches of the jungle to bestow their knowledge on ignorant producers and bring the fruits of their labour back to you. So there's no real sensible way for a regular consumer to have a good sense of how good any roaster is likely to be. Reputation and opinion are useless, since most people writing about coffee only have the frame of reference of what has traditionally been available in Australia, and not a broad frame of reference for much of the universe of coffee possibility. So if you want to do this well, your best bet is to get a selection of, say, 5 different coffees, from 5 different roasters. That way, at least they will probably taste different.

    James' world's largest tastings really focussed on coffees with as much of a difference between them as possible, and, from memory, they were coffees of the types that are commonly available. So you might just want to try to grab something along the following lines:
    1. Brazil Pulp Natural/Natural Mundo Novo/Catuai
    2. Central/South American Washed Bourbon/Caturra
    3. Ethiopian Natural
    4. Kenyan
    5. Anaerobic/Carbonic Maceration Natural anything from anywhere

    RE

    Do you or did you in early stages of cupping have a common control type bean/roast as the comparison yardstick? Or maybe I am asking how do you aim/ensure consistent cupping across sittings?

    You're going to have to figure out grind settings and things. People often say that cupping and french press should have a coarse grind, which is a surefire way to ass about underextract everything, and which encourages people who cup this way to roast darker and to reduce the aroma in their coffees. And this is something where the SCA's grind size recommendations aren't helpful. So I'd say err on the side of finer grind. Then you probably want to make sure that your water doesn't contain too much carbonate, or it will kill the acidity. Melbourne water is probably fine.

    For consistency, it helps to have a benchmark. This could be some coffee that you keep in the freezer for the next cupping, or TW suggests you could even use some instant. As long as you keep on comparing different things to each other, you'll start to build up a picture.

    Leave a comment:


  • FNQ
    replied
    Thanks Steve, good info.

    Leave a comment:


  • Steve82
    commented on 's reply
    Consistency over a long period of time is challenging, the variance in roast level found within individual roasting business in Australia can be quite large and confusing.

    The Facsimile cupping subscription was huge leap for me but that will likely not happen again. Regularly buying Tim Wendelboe over last 4 years has been my main yardstick.

    I suggest you buy 2 bags of TW, first time preferably get same green roasted for Espresso and Light roast. Vac seal individual portions at 2 weeks post roast and store preferably in chest freezer long term. Pull a sample out 24hrs before you intend to cup.

    Cup blind, 4 to 5 cups is a good amount to be able to mix them up. When you are starting out they will quickly become unblinded anyway because TW coffee will stick out like dogs ..... and is one of the most consistent roasters on the planet.

    Try and cup with other people or at least share the same samples and compare notes.

  • FNQ
    replied
    Bosco_Lever and others ( question from a non- cupping person (as yet))

    Do you or did you in early stages of cupping have a common control type bean/roast as the comparison yardstick? Or maybe I am asking how do you aim/ensure consistent cupping across sittings?

    Leave a comment:


  • itsali
    replied
    Thanks for the guidance!

    For anyone interested, I did come across an offering that you can Google search as an "Expedition" (sorry, I'm not sure about posting non-sponsor links), but they contained mostly Geisha and pretty expensive. It made the idea of buying 5 x 200g bags and fighting over them more appealing

    Leave a comment:


  • Bosco_Lever
    replied
    Cupping roasts are used to highlight a bean's attributes and for evaluation. To do this, the roast has to be light, otherwise you will be tasting roast defects, and not the coffee.
    Look for a light roasted bean, designated as filter. Minimum quantity would depend on the roaster. You should be able to get 200g/250g bags.
    There are a variety of Roasters/Cafes offering such beans and you may have to visit a few to get what you desire.
    Suggestions:
    Small batch
    Seven Seeds
    Proud Mary

    As someone who regularly cups their coffee, I can guarantee you that an omni roast or medium roasted bean will not be liked.

    Look for coffees from:
    Kenya, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador,

    Enjoy.

    Leave a comment:


  • WhatEverBeansNecessary
    replied
    To be honest if you want a few packets of at least 200g of good quality roasted beans - you could always buy from BeanBay in 500g lots. You will find it hard to get better, fresh roasted coffee with a good selection like that at that kind of price. Then you can just keep the excess and drink away at a later date.
    $100 or so split between 5 isn't much and you can all fight over which beans you all get to keep and brew later.

    Leave a comment:


  • itsali
    started a topic Where to buy a range of beans for cupping activity?

    Where to buy a range of beans for cupping activity?

    A few friends have recently fallen down the rabbit hole of coffee curiosity and I wanted to host a small coffee cupping activity with them (similar to what James Hoff provided and organised).

    Does anyone know of a roaster that might provide, or be willing to provide, 5 x 40g of different origin and process roasted beans?

    Located in Melb.
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