A coffee cupping session at Common Man Coffee Roasters is a coffee appreciation session followed by a tasting of their ever-popular brunch menu!
Photos by Swee of Make Your Calories Count
Coffee has been our pet interest which never fails to fascinate with its depth of knowledge behind each cup, from its beans, place of origin, brewing method to the multi-faceted taste in each mouthful.
We were honored to be invited by Common Man Coffee Roasters to a coffee cupping session, to understanding more about what goes on behind each cup of coffee and the depth of flavours in it, followed by a tasting of their ever-popular brunch menu!
Coffee cupping is a tasting session to observe the taste and aroma of brewed coffee. Some aspects are determined from the cupping, namely its body, sweetness, acidity, flavour and aftertaste. For the session, we had a taste of 6 different types of beans from different origins hence different flavours (e.g. fruity, nutty, tobacco-flavoured) due to the difference in climate, elevation, rainfall etc.
Beans for the session: 1. Kabirizi from Rwanda 2. Tiga Raja (Peaberry) from Sumatra 3. Ardi Sidama from Ethiopia 4. Nelson Trivino from Colombia 5. Camocim Estate (Iapar 59) from Brazil 6. Finca El Mirador from Colombia
3 cups are typically prepared to ensure consistency of the beans.
3 cups are typically done for the Master Tasters to assess the flavour profile of the beans, as well as to evaluate defective coffee or create new coffee blends.
To determine these, coffee cupping consists of deeply sniffing for a hint of the different flavours first. Andy is the person in-charge of their beans and mentioned that the sniffing process was where most of the flavours can be identified. As first-timers, almost all 6 of them smelled the same to us, with only a few of them having very distinct fruitier/nuttier flavours that we could differentiate :/.
After a round of sniffing, hot water was then added and allowed to settle for a few minutes, to a warm brew to prevent scalding. In each cup, break the top hardened crust layer with 3 backward stirs, allowing for some agitation, releasing volatility gases for a sharper smell.
Then comes the ''show" where you'd have to slurp the coffee loudly to allow for aeration and for its taste to spread to the back of the tongue.
Aeropress - another method of brewing coffee, using air pressure to improve the extraction of flavor.
The filter and aeropress are used for different types of beans with different characteristics, and while technicals were being explained, we thought it might be easier to leave it to the baristas to decide on the best brew to serve for us.
Did you know?
1. After roasting coffee, it cannot be brewed immediately and requires about one week for maturing /oxidising. If the coffee is brewed too fresh from its roast, it will be too sour for consumption.
2. 'Sour-ness' can denote several things. Lingering sour-ness may be due to the beans being roasted too lightly, Or, beans were too fresh. Otherwise, it may be due to the different fruity notes in it.
It takes training and more conversations to accurately decipher what it is. We were quite surprised how this can actually mean different tastes when we were more conscious of our senses, and even tasted savoriness in a cup subsequently!
3. Amongst cappuccino, latte and flat white, the strength of coffee decreases in that order. Cappuccino is the strongest tasting coffee among the trio, with more foam to absorb the taste, hence a stronger flavour with every mouthful. Flat white, on the other hand, is topped with microfoam, therefore a lighter taste.
4. Coffee tastes bitter when it's hot, while acidity rises as it starts to cool down. Hence it's typical for us to taste sour-ness when it's left for a while, though a good cup of coffee should not be too overwhelmingly sour. In fact, the fruity notes are supposed to come through stronger when it cools down slightly.
5. While everyone has a different preference of coffee, a good cup of coffee should always be balanced. And of course, while latte art makes for good instagrammable moments, it does not, in any way determine if the coffee is good or bad. We used to think that bubbling meant that the milk might not have been foamed properly, but had just realized that it was in fact normal, and could mean that the coffee was fresh. :) 
The friendly head barista is always keen to share his knowledge about coffee. Snag a seat at the bar counter for more coffee conversations to understand more from him!
We had an enriching session learning about coffee cupping and definitely how to appreciate our coffee better! To spread more about coffee knowledge, helping common man like us understand more, they have public cupping sessions every Wednesday at 2pm. Check out their Facebook page for more updates and registration details.
P.S: Thank you Alexandra for the invite and the Common Man team for such an informative session!
Common Man Coffee Roasters
22 Martin Road #01-00
Singapore 239058