June 6th was a very exciting day for us because we could arrange a cupping with all the samples of coffee that had been harvested in the current season. This means coffees picked by hand between November 2022 and April 2023.
We had samples from the Fincas “William”, “Fran”, “Emilio” and “Juan”. Most of the coffees on the cupping-table were processed as “naturals” wich means that the harvested cherrys were dried on african beds without depulping them. So called “naturals” are less intense in acid and should exhibit a pronounced sweetness.
Others were depulped right after harvest. Some of these were washed in waterbassins to quit the fruit slime others were directly laid out on african beds for drying – in general called honey or semi washed. These coffees should be defined be more pronounced acid and less sweetness.
All samples were grinded right before the cupping started to keep the aroma present as long as possible.
Each sample got 3 cups to prove that the coffee has a continuous quality and to ensure that in case of a contaminated cup that there would be two more cups without fault.
Each sample was infused with the same amount of hot water at a temperature of 94°C.
After 4 minutes the crust was broken and the jury could get a very first impression of the aroma of the different samples.
In the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Cupping Form we differentiate between dry and wet aroma before an after infusion.
10 minutes after infusion temperatur is low enough to start cupping the coffee by slurping it from a spoon.
The jury of 5 persons was consisting of a team from Langen Kaffee (Medebach/Germany) & moxxa.caffè (Cologne/Germany). Used to the cupping form of the SCA the samples were graded by standards of the specialty coffee association. As we still are in a phase of bilding up the infrastucture for a professional processing and monitoring of the drying process we were surprised about the good quality we allready found in our samples. This experience motivates us to keep going on our way in LaGomera.
Next steps will be the installation of a first roaster on the Island of LaGomera wich means that in near future all the coffees of the Linea la Gomera will be roasted on the island.
This, to us is great news!
