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.

Le Nez du Cafe

Tuesday, February 3rd will probably be tough to beat for the Nova Roasters.  Despite rough sledding during the day jobs, we picked up a new restaurant account in Blacksburg, attended the inaugural Bourbon Club meeting at the London Underground, and taught a cupping class at Virginia Tech’s Coffee College to an enthusiastic group of Hokies.

As part of the 20th anniversary celebration at Blackburg’s only real pub, bartender and manager John Bissey has organized a month-long course of bourbon tastings.  The meetings are every Tuesday in February and will feature a wide range of single barrel bourbons from the best distilleries in Kentucky.  We started off with a glass of Woodford Reserve and enjoyed its distinct apricot and vanilla flavors.  Those of us lucky enough to brave the blast of Blacksburg winter were then presented with a pour from the Elijah Craig 18-year-old.  I’ve had the 12-year-old, but I was unprepared for the intense caramel and oak, the long, slow heat and candied almond flavor.  To better understand these bourbons, John had spring water (trying to get some branch water for next week) and ice, the only additives grudgingly approved by distillers.  Wisely, he also served up a fantastic white cheddar with some apple and bread slices.  We each took home a commemorative rocks glass which right now sits on my desk, sadly, empty.

Virginia Tech’s Coffee College is organized by Don Harvey of Deet’s place and Nova Roast’s Brian Babcock.  Again the weather was not enough to keep the coffee-curious away.  (For background, read the old Planet Blacksburg entry here.)  Tuesday’s class was an introduction to roasting, blending and cupping, with heavy emphasis on cupping.  The lucky group of students that turned out were presented flights of Yirgacheffe, Sumatra and Colombia and a comparison of three different roast levels of Selva Negra.  The class was quiet at first, but once the coffees started brewing they came alive and many students really nailed the different characteristics of each coffee.  Wouldn’t be surprised if several from this group found careers as specialty coffee professionals.