Five Senses Coffee Blog

Half way there…

Day two of serious cupping is over.  We have now officially cupped all the national winners and we will know tomorrow which ones made it through the first round. Day three is the big day, where we re-cup all of the coffees that scored 84 and above. It may very well end up being 4-5 rounds for each coffee … I must force myself to stay focused!

It’s been great fun connecting with what feels like a little COE family from all around the world.   Everyone works with coffee in some capacity and it’ a good mix of importers, cafe retailers, wholesale roasters and quality control experts.

It’s also a great experience to get a chance to connect with other girls in coffee. Nothing against the boys, I swear! The industry sometimes feels very male dominated, so it’s nice to see how women across the globe fit into the specialty picture. There’s the lovely Annette, head roaster and joint owner of Square Mile; Sunalini, the voice of reason and Indian green bean expert, who has reinvigorated my interest in Indian coffees; Marilyn, a bubbly, sweet and smart owner of T.A.N Coffee in Toronto; Addy, a passionate wholesale roaster and owner of Kaffitar in Iceland; Yuko from Japan; Lori from Techno Serve, based in Rwanda; Leatitia from the National Rwandan jury and, of course, Susie Spindler, who is the executive director of ACE (Alliance for Coffee Excellence).

At the end of a long day, while chowing down on yet another meal of potatoes, rice, plantains, pasta and buns (that’s right … carbing up) we catch a glimpse of the COE commercial on the local Rwandan channel.  We watch as images of cuppers, cherries, trees, farms and then … wait for it … a huge pile of CASH flash on the screen.  We had to laugh at the ad, but it is true in a way, a huge amount of money can be paid for the top coffees.

Big day tomorrow — a short safari in the morning, then we finalise the top 10 positions in the afternoon … no complaints here!

The girls of COE