Coffee 10, Yankees 0

You know what I love? Cupping. You know why? Because it's almost entirely about simile and metaphor, about analogy. It makes sense to me; I'm a writer.

Plus, man, that stuff tastes good!



This afternoon, Counter Culture Coffee's John Moore (the company's regional sales representative in New York) led a small group of us nerds through a three-coffee cupping. All of the beans on offer were Counter Culture sourced and roasted.



It was a blind cupping, which is my favorite kind, and it was awesome how shocked we all were by the reveals at the end.

Using senses like this, in a truly palatable, taste-tangible way, is the closest thing to which I can compare the process of writing. When you have a scene in your mind and you're trying to commit it to paper in the most accurate way, when you're trying to find the perfect pitch, the right language to use to describe the feelings you're experiencing for your characters, that's what it's like to put your nose down next to a coffee liquor and draw it into your nose and into the back of your throat, trying to think of what it reminds you.

Intense!



We cupped two El Salvadors (Finca Muritania and Finca Kilimanjaro) and a Honduran (Finca Bashasa). The Finca Kilimanjaro was by far one of the most surprising coffees I'd ever tasted. The whole time we were profiling it we were all getting berries, spices, tomato, toasty notes with a tealike body, and we were pretty sure it was an African coffee.



After telling us we were all wrong (that never happens! kidding, kidding), John made an interesting point about moving away from thinking about beans in terms of region and more in terms of farms. Every farm is so different, especially when you get into really high-quality COE-level crops.

John was a great facilitator—very open and receptive, and incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic, not only about coffee in general, but about the coffees with which he works, which is no small thing!



I would also like to state for the record that Danger Dan will use any excuse to taste leather in something. Just saying!

In other news, the Yankees are losing 0-4 right now against Toronto, and I'm displeased. At least my fiancé's Oklahoma Sooners are winning (so far, knock on wood). It's only right that somebody should be happy with sports in this house!