Our Rainforest Alliance friends decided that they loved Charleston as much as we do, and wanted to host the cupping competition here again! This year we knew what to expect, so it definitely went a lot smoother, and everyone could relax and enjoy the coffees. We had two days of preliminary cupping, with 75 rainforest certified coffees from Central America and the Carribean.  We had 12 official “cuppers” here another two days where the coffees were critically scored based on sweetness, uniformity, and cup cleanliness. These were long days of cupping 5 cups of each coffee, totaling 375 cups of coffee sipped and graded. This whole process of grading the coffees really helps to emphasize a link between social, ecological, economic sustainability and quality. After the cupping event, the farmers receive feedback about their coffee, how it was roasted, and how it scored.

All in all it was a fun group and everyone did a great job. After the work was done, we all got to enjoy a fun family style dinner at the always delicious Two Boroughs Larder.

 

Everyone that attended this years cupping! photo

 

In the process of cupping and grading the coffeeIMG_1773

 

Marty, the leader of the cupping, has an amazing beard, so we decided we needed beards as wellIMG_1798

 

Dinner at Two Boroughs LarderProcessed with VSCOcam with t1 preset