First, we were given a few green coffee beans. They have no taste, very hard. Then some dried pulp from coffee cherry. They have a slight citrous smell. Doesn't taste much. Apart from the genesis story of the company, how sustainable and direct sourcing in the company model, we were shown one of the very first 6 Roring Roaster ever made, a single burner which recycles heat. We also learned the different processing methods of coffee beans: washed, natural, honey, and why they might affect the taste. Nossa Familia sells organic coffee too. So the factory has all the tools used for organic process separately labeled.
Next, we were led to the "lab" for cupping - my first ever. 5 different coffees, each in 3 identical ceramic cups (12.5oz coffee in each cup). Step 1, smell the aroma of the dry roasted coffee; Step 2, pour hot water until fill to the brim; Step 3, break the top (after a few minutes of cooling) in 3 succession of spoon moves and smell the aroma (personally the dry coffee smell much better); Step 4, use 2 spoons to scrape off the floating solids; Step 5, tasting. This means: scoop coffee with your spoon and slurp in from the spoon, rinse your spoon in the empty cup (now half filled with hot water -- note, this cup of water is not changed, so you are rinsing in someone else's diluted saliva), compare the 3 cups. Of course, I tried all 5 coffees. To a non coffee drinker, they all taste similar. I could tell the minor difference when tasting side by side, but not a minute later. Finally, we were shown which coffee we were testing. The Brazil decaf is a surprise: full flavored.During the tasting, a young lady from Guatemala joined in. She received a US grant for Latin America entrepreneurs to tour US' related business. She was assigned to Portland for a month, and NYC next month. She's a representative of some community coffee exchange program. Very good looking and speaks good English.
I told the guide that I was going to Guatemala soon. She suggested De La Gente's Coffee tour in Antigua, as well as Coffee District, Augusto's cafe in Guatemala City. Augusto is the founder of Nossa Familia.
