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The Gentle Art of Cupping
A cadre of highly trained tasters are constantly exploring the complex world of coffee in search of the best beans from the most common and exotic sources
Mark Pendergrast
From the Print Edition:
Dennis Haysbert, Nov/Dec 2006
(continued from page 3)
Some people watching cuppers might think they are a bit weird, slurping and spitting and sticking their noses at coffee cups all day long. But their expertise takes them on adventures all over the world in search of great beans. Half of the cuppers I called for this article happened to be at origin, or about to go there, either in Latin America or Africa.
And what other occupation would make you remember a particular set of beans from Indonesia more than two decades ago? I asked Jim Reynolds if he remembered a particularly special brew. "Yes, in 1982 there was a Java called Redjo. It had a rubbery flavor quality, which doesn't sound good, but it was such an intriguing flavor. Jerry Baldwin, then the CEO of Peet's, called it an old-tennis-shoe flavor, but he understood what I was talking about, and we bought it. It was incredible, but after a couple of years, it disappeared, and it never resurfaced. For years, I looked for those beans."
Mark Pendergrast is the author of Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World.
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