Next time you invite a friend or three to coffee, take a break from your regular coffee routine and try something new. Host a coffee tasting! It is a great way to tempt other coffee lovers over to your place and create some fun with a difference. Do it in the morning, early afternoon or for brunch – just get brewing and try some new, potential, favourite blends.
Thokozane Radebe, brand manager for L’OR coffee capsules gives us the lowdown on hosting a successful coffee tasting.
What you’ll need:
- A variety of good coffee. L’OR has a diverse range of quality blends to enjoy. They range in different intensities and flavour notes. When using capsule coffee for your coffee tasting, a capsule machine in good working order is needed. Don’t be shy to borrow one if you need another (depending on the number of guests you have). Place the capsules to be used for the tasting in separate bowls, so as not to mix up the blends. This way when the blends are revealed the guests can remember which one is their favourite.
- Enough coffee mugs and cups to go around. As this is a coffee tasting you don’t need to fill the cups to the top. A small amount is all that is needed for the tasting. This gives the drinker the chance to taste the coffee and enjoy more, without getting a caffeine rush.
- A sweet and savoury snack collection to complement the coffee choices. Chocolates, tarts, cheese and crackers and fruit are only some options that your guests can enjoy while tasting.
- It is important to try the coffee without milk at first so that the drinker can savour the taste. Once a favourite is decided upon, this is when various kinds of milk, sugars and sweeteners can be brought out for your guests to enjoy their favourite full cup of coffee.
Although many believe that since coffee is their choice of drink throughout the day, they know what to look for. But, just as in a wine tasting, different steps need to be undertaken:
Step 1: Pour a half-a-cup of coffee into each guest’s cup or mug. This will allow the coffee to cool down quickly. When it comes to tasting, your sense of smell is just as important. Savour the aroma by telling your guests to put their hands around their cups and inhale the coffee aroma. You can make this a conversation point and ask questions such as ‘what do you smell?’, or ‘does this aroma remind you of anything?’.
Step 2: Once the aroma has been enjoyed and the coffee cooled down enough, it is time to take a sip. This is the time to discuss what everyone thinks. It may be too strong or too weak for some while others may be picking up on flavours they are finding enjoyable. Since this is coffee tasting, the focus of the conversation will likely be coffee.
Step 3: As the host, it is up to you when you reveal the blends and flavour notes of the coffees. Usually, this would be done after each tasting so that your guests can mark which coffees they enjoyed, and those that they did not.
