Cupping Kona: the Subtleties Involved in Cupping Different Beans

This will be my ninth year serving on the judging panel at the Kona Coffee Cupping Competition in Kona, Hawaii. Although I cup coffee every day in Sweden for Gevalia, the cupping experience at Kona is truly unique.

While I employ a consistent method to tasting all blends and beans, the charged atmosphere of the Kona Competition requires that a particular and undivided attention be given in a very intense and exciting situation. In Sweden, David and I cup between 250 and 300 cups of coffee daily, but the challenge of choosing the winning bean at Kona requires two intense days of four judges each cupping over 600 cups per day. If this year is as successful as last year for the Kona growers and the crop produced, I anticipate that more than 70 farms will enter their coffee into the competition.

David and I often discuss how important it is to cup in the same manner from day to day. There is, of course, a science that we follow closely. But as the number of cups I work with doubles for two days at Kona, I will need to rely on things beyond the science of cupping, and trust that decades of honing my senses of smell and taste will serve me well. And, of course, I will be carrying my lucky cupping spoon with me. I never cup coffee without it.