Coffee Cupping

By Annemarie Ahearn

In selecting a coffee brand for our cafe and marketplace, slated to open in the spring of 2013, we wanted to explore a range of brands and varieties before reaching a decision.

It turns out coffee has come a long way in the past few years, and coffee companies are thinking about sourcing their beans the way we think about sourcing our ingredients: through building relationships with purveyors.  It has become more standard for coffee companies to offer an educational component to their service, training baristas across the country how to make the perfect cup of coffee.  They also guide new companies through the purchase of equipment, its installation and its continued use.

Photo by Irene Yadao

Yesterday, we tasted 6 brands of coffee and 19 varieties in all.  We followed strict coffee cupping etiquette, measuring out the grinds carefully, letting it steep, breaking the seal and so on.  We judged each cup on its smell and then its taste.

Photo by Josh Nagle 

There were 7 judges in total, some with more knowledge about coffee and others with less.  Then we discussed packaging, carbon footprint, brand ethos, and brand services among other things.   It was an interesting process, one that will ultimately help us to make a decision about what coffee we will serve at our cafe and marketplace.

Below were the competitors:

– Counter Culture (Durham, North Carolina)
– Stumptown (Portland, Oregon)
– Handsome Coffee (Los Angeles, California)
– Bard (Portland, Maine)
– Matt’s (Portland, Maine)
– Green Tree Coffee (Lincolnville, Maine)
– Rock City (Rockland, Maine)