This week's class made me think a lot about how the coffee industry has continued to learn from the wine industry. In my first blog post for the class, I mentioned the similarities I see between the wine industry and the coffee industry.
On Thursday, Alder shared with us the wine aroma wheel with us. While at Starbucks, I had a similar wheel hanging at my desk but for coffee! It is called the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel (https://counterculturecoffee.com/learn/resource-center/coffee-tasters-flavor-wheel). It was created by Counter Culture Coffee, an indie coffee roaster out of Los Angeles (one of my favorites). I completely agree with Alder that is takes practice, time, and familiarizing yourself with descriptors to become "good" at tasting and describing wine. The same is definitely true of coffee. At Starbucks, there is a tradition of starting most meetings with a coffee tasting. The individual in charge of the tasting would usually make a few french presses and bring to the meeting. Partners (Starbucks' term for employees) know to bring a tasting cup to meetings (to reduce cup waste). When Alder was leading us through the steps of wine tasting, the way people taste coffee is very similar (if not the same). I remember when I started working at Starbucks, I thought it was so strange to taste coffee in the same manner as wine. I didn't believe that people could actually taste the different notes in coffee - how wrong I was! I worked closely with a gentleman who had been working at Starbucks for 22 years and was truly a coffee expert. I loved spending time with him and learning about how to taste coffee and describe it. He could nail the region, flavor notes, and wash of the coffee he tasted - it was incredibly impressive! I remember one time when he tasted a Roastery small lot coffee, and commented that it was a sun-dried roast from Africa with notes of blueberry and cocoa. He was 100% right. This tradition was one of my favorites of Starbucks - I actually led a coffee tasting with my section in the first quarter. It was extremely fun and people seemed to love it.
I hope to continue learning the art of wine and coffee tasting going forward.
It's so interesting to hear how similar wine tasting and coffee tasting are. I am admittedly not a coffee lover but I've actually been trying coffee more and more over the last few years. It reminds me of how I first started trying wine. My parents are wine lovers and they would pour a small amount of wine in my glass and mix it with club soda so I could start to get the taste of wine but very watered down. It took years for me to acquire the taste but at some point a flip switched and I began loving it. I'm trying to do the same with coffee but using lots of milk and sugar (instead of club soda) to soften the flavor. It's been gradually working but I'm still not quite at the point of enjoying the flavor of the coffee itself. I think the flip switch is not far off though.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to learn more about wine and coffee because I'm hoping to work in Latin America and those are great industries that support small and medium sized businesses in the region. Specifically in Latin America, coffee is one of the few differentiated products farmers could offer that have high demand globally (another is chocolate).
Seeing how much enjoyment others get from trying different types of coffee and knowing that it might just be something that, like wine, I'll learning to love I'm hopeful I'll be excited about coffee soon. And then I'll have a whole new caffeine source too!
I loved reading this post! Like Juliana, I have been trying out different types of coffee lately (though I am admittedly a coffee addict already). This brought to mind a player in the Bay Area who I think -- much like owners of wine rooms -- is using its physical coffee shops to create an experience in tasting. The owner is Phil Jaber of the SF-famous Philz Coffee.
ReplyDeleteThe coffee shop's site reads: "Phil wanted to make sure the coffee making process embodied a personal and social feel, so he designed his own coffee station allowing for every cup to be crafted one cup at a time." As someone who has frequented these stations, I can attest to the personal feel of the experience. Even as a regular, I was always asked what I was feeling that day, what notes I like to taste most strongly, and the caffeine level I needed/wanted. The friendly, knowledgable barista almost always asked if I'd like a taste before ordering, and always asked me to "taste it and make sure it's perfect" before moving to the cash register.
Philz is doing what others like Starbucks Reserve is doing -- creating a personalized experience out of the tasting of coffee. I too believe that other beverages and perhaps other food retailers (ex: Zimmerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan) can take a page out of the wine industry's book.
Coffee and wine - two of my favorite things!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that there are so many flavor profiles for coffee - I drink coffee everyday (shameless addict) AND used to gush over my favorite coffee shops back in undergrad. But, while I swear I could taste a difference between coffee shops, I really couldn't tell the difference between the specific coffee beans. And if you asked me to pick out the "notes" in a coffee, I'd surely fail.
Wine, however, I drink less frequently but have a better sense for the different tastes. I'm guessing that's just because I was taught early on in my wine drinking that wine is meant to be considered. My attitude towards coffee has always been "something smooth" + caffeine. From now on, I'm going to make an effort to try new kinds of coffee and think about the flavors - maybe even while "tasting" the coffee like wine :)
Also, this post helped me see how Starbucks's venture into wine (at least in some stores) actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing!