Taste one coffee processed four different ways, side by side, and find out what fermentation does to a cup. No coffee knowledge needed.About this Event
Almost every coffee you've had was fermented at the farm, and that step changes how it tastes. On October 3, you get to taste it directly: one coffee, from one farm, processed four different ways and set side by side. Thousands of tables around the world will be tasting the same four coffees that morning, led live by James Hoffmann. Ours has twelve seats.
If you've never done a coffee tasting, this is a good first one. We'll show you everything at the table. No coffee vocabulary required. We start with simple questions: which cup feels heavier, which tastes sweeter. "This one tastes like apple" is a perfectly good note.
What you'll taste
One coffee from Guatemala, split four ways after picking:
- One with no fermentation at all
- One fermented the traditional way, by the microbes already living at the farm
- Two fermented with a single chosen microbe: one a bacterium, one a yeast
We'll tell you what those last two were designed to do after you've tasted them.
What cupping is, and why we do it
Cupping is how roasters and coffee buyers taste coffee. Every coffee gets the same amount, the same grind, and the same hot water, poured straight into its own bowl. After a few minutes, a crust of grounds forms on top. You break it with a spoon and smell what rises. Then you slurp from the spoon, loudly, which sprays the coffee across your whole mouth. You keep tasting as it cools, because it changes.
We do it this way because it's fair. When everything else is held the same, the only thing left to differ is the coffee. That's what lets you taste four bowls side by side and trust what you notice.
How the morning runs
- 9:30. Doors open. You'll sit at one of three cupping stations, four people each.
- 10:00. James Hoffmann's live tasting begins on YouTube. We cup along with him and thousands of tables around the world.
- About 10:40. The tasting ends. We turn the stream down and talk at our own tables.
- The vote. All participants vote on their favorite. We brew it on the Moccamaster, and everyone gets a small cup.
- Approx. 11:15. Event is over, but you're welcome to stay and hang out.
Details
- Date: Saturday, October 3
- Time: 9:30am to about 11:15am
- Where: Sips & Souls Café, 218 Hamilton Blvd, South Plainfield, NJ 07080
- Included: a guided cupping of all four lots, plus a small cup of the table's pick
- Host: Harrison
More details
The Fermentation Project was created by James Hoffmann and Lucia Solis. Solis is a fermentation consultant who trained in viticulture and enology at UC Davis and worked in Napa wine production before moving to coffee. The four lots were released to roasters worldwide as green coffee.
- Farm: Finca San Miguel Urias, owned by Hector and Lilian Leal. Antigua Valley, Guatemala, between Ciudad Vieja and San Miguel Dueñas.
- Variety: about 85% Caturra, 15% H1, and some Bourbon.
- Processing: Solis worked with the farm team on all four lots.
- Mechanically demucilaged, with no fermentation. This is the control.
- Wild fermentation, 48 hours. The traditional washed process.
- Lactobacillus-inoculated fermentation, 48 hours.
- Saccharomyces yeast-inoculated fermentation, 48 hours.
Additional information: https://www.thefermentationproject.com/
Event venue
Sips & Souls Cafe, 218 Hamilton Blvd, South Plainfield, United States
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