Cupping for a new blend

At Vienna Coffee Company we are always looking to improve our coffee, and make new blends of coffee that will tantalize your taste buds. Here are a few pictures taken from this Monday during one of our cupping sessions. "What is a cupping session?" you might be asking yourself.

Cupping is one of the coffee tasting techniques used by cuppers to evaluate coffee aroma and the flavor profile of a coffee. To understand the minor differences between coffee growing regions, it is important to taste coffee from around the world side-by-side. Cupping is also used to evaluate a defective coffee or to create coffee blends.

In this picture, Bob Knoll is doing the first step of the cupping process, smelling the ground coffee before water has been added. The next picture is Audra actually tasting the coffee once the water has been introduced to the coffee. The next step would then be to taste it again after it has been sitting for a little while. The coffee will have different aromas and flavors at each process of the cupping. Knowing all of these flavors and aromas can help to make the perfect blend for anyone's pallet.

Are you interested in learning more about cupping and would like to join us for a cupping? Please email cristi@viennacoffeecompany.com for more information.

Nashville Coffee Society: Bali Blue Krishna

We just picked up a new organic coffee that we are really excited about. We are thrilled to be able to serve you this rare coffee from Bali, Indonesia called Blue Krishna. It is quite rare for this area to get a Balinese coffee, but we have it, and we want you to try it.

We were asked to provide a lightly roasted coffee to the Nashville Coffee Society's cupping series that is going on this weekend. We, however, will be roasting this coffee darker for our store sales, but we are excited to hear how the cupping goes. The cupping is highlighting Tennessee roasters such as Stone Cup Roasting Co. and us.

Interested in going to a cupping and are in the Maryville area? Sign up for one of our classes.

Weekly Deal: Cupping Coffee of the World

Today we started our coffee classes and cuppings up again. This week we focused on Organic vs Non-organic from around the world. To accomplish this, we cupped our Sumatran, Guatemalan, and Ethiopian. It was an interesting class, and we would love for anyone to join us for our next class.

Our next class, on Tuesday, August 25 we will be hosting "What is Espresso - tasting and training." Space is limited so reserve your spot today.

Just for signing up for this class this week you will recieve a free 2oz. bag of coffee of your choice!

The image is a picture of coffee fields in Sumatra taken by Les Stoneham on his most recent visit to Sumatra.

Coffee Vocab: FINISH

In coffee terms, the finish describes the aftertaste on the palate after the coffee is swallowed. Full-bodied coffee tends to have lingering finishes, while thinner coffees may be fleeting. For example, our Organic, Komodo Blend (Swiss Water Process Decaffeinated coffee from the South Pacific) has a mildly sweet start and a slightly floral finish. To better understand what finish is describing, come to the roastery for a cupping. There you will be able to sample a few of VCC's coffee and learn for yourself how to better understand and describe what about a certain coffee you like and dislike. That way, we can help you find the best blend or single origin coffee for your tastes.