this is coffee

A Cupping Bowl (Photo P. Straith)

We had a great turnout at the Cup of Excellence cupping on Saturday, Feb. 21st.  A room full of people hovering over bowls of coffee and barking out flavor descriptors always generates a lot of attention and questions, which we welcome enthusiastically.  I will try to address some of the more common queries here.

What are you guys doing?!

Coffee Cupping is a sensory skills exercise practiced by serious coffee drinkers and coffee professionals in an effort to broaden our knowledge and perfect our craft.  We prefer ours to be fun, focused and free.  Due to demand, we require advance sign-up.

How often do you do this?

As roasters, we cup every new coffee when we get samples from growers or importers, or when we are developing a new blend or roast level for new coffees.  Our public cuppings are every Saturday at 10:00 AM and give us an opportunity to cup current roast profiles for coffees in inventory with a new group of people every week.

How do I sign up?

You can email us with a request to hold a spot for you or register for an account (free) at NovaRoast.com and sign up for our newsletter.  Information about our cuppings is emailed to Nova Roast customers who are given first priority for spots at the table.  You can also find us on Facebook, become a fan and we will post scheduling there.

What if I don’t know anything about coffee?

Then you are exactly the kind of person we want at our table.

What if I know a lot about coffee already?

Then you are exactly the kind of person we want at our table.

What is the Nova Roast-Easy Chair connection?

After 13 years, the Easy Chair Coffee Shop has evolved into much more than an espresso bar/specialty coffee shop.  We have an extensive food menu, a loyal following of customers from Virginia Tech and Blacksburg who rely on our late hours for meetings, study groups, or just for a place to hang out.  Through Nova Roast, we have been able to focus our expertise and devotion to our coffee roasting program to try to reach a wider audience.  If you have a French Press, Chemex, AeroPress, Vacuum Pot, high quality espresso machine or home roasting equipment, then we would like to be your roaster.  If you have ever driven past several big, corporate coffee establishments to find the hole-in-the wall shop pouring perfect espresso shots, then we would like to be your roaster.  If you care about truly sustainable and rare coffee of extreme quality, then we are your roaster.

Ten of us turned out for the second Bourbon Club meeting at the Pub.  As an added bonus, Blacksburg Brewing Company’s Pilsner was on tap.  I still miss the New River Pale Ale and I tend to prefer ales, so I approached this beer with a healthy dose of skepticism.  My initial assessment: we finally have a great, genuine local brew again.  Congratulations to John Bryce and crew.  By focusing their efforts on producing one great product, they have delivered a balanced beverage with a hoppiness that finishes clean, goes great with food and should be a crowd-pleaser.  As a coffee guy, I’m not backing away from my preference for a bigger hop presence, but BBC has made it harder to order from the local selection of taps.  Oh, and it was served in the cool logo glass pictured.  For now, that is the only way it is served.

On to the bourbons.  Our host, the tenacious John Bissey of the London Underground set out plates of roasted beef tenderloin garnished with red onions and a white sauce over sliced baguette.  (Hey, it’s Bourbon Club, not Favorite Sweater Club.)  Next he poured Basil Hayden’s 8 Year into our commemorative Pub rocks glasses and we sipped.  The mint and honey that characterize this beverage were unanimously noted even if we were slightly distracted by the Sharks/Bruins game in HD.  Two teams allegedly in contention for Lord Stanley’s Jug and not one pair of mitts ever hit the ice.  Grr.  Speaking of ice, the Basil should not be tampered with, ever.  At 80 proof, leave it alone.

The next pour came from Wild Turkey’s beautifully crafted Kentucky Spirit bottle.  The vessel itself bears mention and resembles something Robert Winkler paid homage to in his book about the “feathered dinosaur.”   True Kentucky spirit is alive and well in this honey-colored, rich bourbon with its perfect balance between sweet and fire.  We were lucky enough to have some branch water this week.  Not that these bourbons needed it, but it gave our tasting authenticity.  A splash in my glass at least allowed me to savor each bourbon a little longer.

Cruiser Update: East Coasters valiantly tried to get the Electra Delivery Cruiser in for us.  We are still committed to working with them to get the bike road-ready.  I have reluctantly ordered it from another dealer since there are no other local purveyors.  Nova Roast local delivery should be pedal-powered by March, 2009.