10/13, Friday morning. I went to yet another coffee cupping. This one organized by Alliance for Coffee Excellence. Only later did I realized that I'm not the target audience.
Darrin Daniel, ACE's US Executive Director, led the tasting. He introduced the organization, competition selections, regional differences, process methods. 
He's very patient, answered all my amateur questions regarding to judge selection, roasting consistency. He showed us the water filter system in the lab, which has 2 separate filters and 2 mineral injection cartridges, as well as Water Standard (copied below) in a thick manual from American Specialty Coffee Association of America. From SCAA's website, I found the flavor wheel at the bottom of this blog, and also Green Coffee Standards, Brewing Best Practice, Cupping Standard (including coffee-water ratio, grind and roast level and tasting temperature 200°F, plus cup size, table and room sizes -- a bit too much). ACE uses a Probat BRZ2 sample roaster in the lab.| Odor | Color | PH | Chlorine | TDS | Calcium Hardness | Alkalinity | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| odor free | clear | 7 | 0 | 150 mg/L | 4 grains (68 mg/L) | 40 mg/L | 10 mg/L |
A long table lined with the top 10 coffees that participated this year's Columbia competition on each side (to allow more event participants), according to the ranking, with a label of farm name, region, elevation, tasting notes. Few score carts, and a dozen iPads loaded with a new app hoping to replace it. 
2 cups on each side, with a tray of roasted beans. This is not a blind tasting. Even for amateur, I can tell that #2 is much more floral and mild. #1 is heavy. A few of them preferred #8. Not too many people today. A couple and me are consumers. The rest are professionals.Overall, an educational experience.
