Alex's Coffee Adventure

Well, I’m close to the end of the Q. Tomorrow is our last day, and it’s looking up in the air. The only scheduled tests tomorrow are General Knowledge and Asians Cupping & Triangle, but I’m also retaking Washed Milds Triangle, Africa Triangle, and Sensory Skills (sweet/sour/salty). I have not yet failed any non-retakeable tests (cuppings and general knowledge), so I’m still in the running. General knowledge should be fine – pretty basic coffee knowledge, multiple choice, 75% passing grade, and we reviewed a fair bit as well. So far, I’ve been good at the cupping tables and picked out all the right defects, so hopefully I’ll be able to do so tomorrow as well on the Asian coffee cupping table. Lastly, the Asian triangulations will probably be on the easier side because we’re likely to get a very wide range of coffees, including wet-hulled, washed, and commercial coffees.

Here’s where I’m at:

1. General Knowledge Exam – tomorrow
2. Cupping 1 – Washed Milds – passed
3. Cupping 2 – Africans – passed
4. Cupping 3 – Naturals
5. Cupping 4 – Asians – tomorrow
6. Triangle 1 – Washed Milds – 1 retake remaining
7. Triangle 2 – Africans – passed (1 retake)
8. Triangle 3 – Naturals – 2 retakes remaining
9. Triangle 4 – Asians – tomorrow
10. Olfactory 1 – Enzymatics – passed
11. Olfactory 2 – Sugar Browning – passed
12. Olfactory 3 – Dry Distillation – passed
13. Olfactory 4 – Aromatic Taints – passed (1 retake)
14. Sensory Skills 2 – Modality and Intensity Sort – passed
15. Sensory Skills 3 – Mixed Modality and Intensity Sorting – 2 retakes remaining
16. Green Coffee Grading – passed
17. Roasted Coffee Grading – passed
18. Roast Sample Identification – passed
19. Organic Acids Matching Pairs – passed

So here’s what I’m thinking: there is a real possibility that I’m able to pass the Q tomorrow if everything goes right. At the same time, there’s a real chance that I miss one or two cups and don’t get the certificate tomorrow. One the one hand, I’m really proud of how things have gone so far. On the other, I really want to pass tomorrow… just think of how good of a blog post it would make.

In reality, it’s not actually hugely consequential whether I pass every test tomorrow or not, because I get 18 months to retake whichever individual tests I missed at whatever upcoming Q’s I can attend. So I have set myself up to almost certainly get the Q by winter of 2020, which is really cool. But again, it would be incredible to get it tomorrow.

Now I want to take a chance to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses to help me mentally prepare for tomorrow and to give you an insight into where I’m at so far.

Triangles, triangles, triangles

Triangulations are certainly the most difficult exams for me. 6 coffees – 6 trays, each have 2 cups of 1 coffee and 1 of another. You have identify the odd cup out on 5/6 trays to pass. For Example, a triangle exam might look like:

In this example, the letters in the circles represent the coffees, so Tray 1 has 2 cups of Coffee A and 1 cup of Coffee B. You circle around the table and sniff, brew, then taste them. On your answer sheet, you check off which cup of the 3 was the odd one out.

The test I’m most scared of tomorrow is the Washed Milds triangulation. I’ve now failed it twice. For me, this is probably the most difficult test of the week. All of the coffees are washed processed coffees, usually from Central and South America. They taste the exact same!! Who knows how you’re supposed to tell apart an 83.5-point Costa Rican coffee with notes of honey and milk chocolate from a 84-point Honduran coffee with rounded sweetness and balanced acidity? If you know, please tell me, because I don’t.

The toughest point this week came for me when I failed the Washed Milds retake. I had just failed the naturals triangle when I went in to washed milds, thinking that I could bounce back and that I would pass all of my retakes. In fact, last time I took washed milds I’m pretty sure I got 4/6 of the tables correct – there were 2 coffees that I could really well identify and they were spread across 4 trays so I felt good about those 4 trays, so I was pretty close already.

I went in to washed milds and almost immediately started to psych myself out. It had just started thunderstorming outside and the room was was overtaken by a relentless noise of the raindrops clanging against the corrugated metal roof above the lab. I became distracted by the noise, so I overcompensated by turning my brain up to 11. I would taste each cup and rattle off 3 flavor notes I found in it. At the next cup on the tray, I’d ask if I found those 3. Well, maybe, I guess, was usually the result for cup 2, then Hmm, maybe again for cup 3. So I’d sip cup 3 again, get 2 notes, then go back to cup 1. “What about now? Well, yeah, I can see it. Cup 2? “Um, I guess you didn’t find blackcurrant in cup 2, so that one’s different?” – my mouth might tell me. Ok, cup 2 it is. Definitely odd one out.

By the time I’d hit the next tray, I would be confused, nervous, and physically strained. Taking 6-10 slurps per tray is a great way to tire out your palette and coat your tongue and throat with coffee oils, reducing the intensity of subsequently perceived flavors. One of the coffees on the washed milds table had a notable woody characteristic which helped me easily identify it in 2/6 trays, but beyond that I was really struggling. I would dial in, stare down the coffee, and run my brain full speed as the coffee hit my mouth.

This is the wrong way to do this.

I handed in my triangle sheet and nervously awaited the news. I thought that I was pretty close. The instructor walked out and said, “well, we’ve got a lot of coffee left. You’ll get another go.” Darn. Ok, I’ll try it again. But will I ever actually pass? I was having so much trouble because I was 0/4 on triangles at that point. Failed washed milds, failed Africans, failed naturals, then failed washed milds again. Oh jeez.

So when it came time to take the Africans triangulation retest, I knew I needed to pass. I could take 3 triangles in a day if I had to retake naturals and washed milds Saturday after the Asian cupping and triangle, but retaking all 4 triangles in one day would be pretty bad. I really needed to pass the Africans triangle. I texted two trusted friends in the coffee industry who both have experience with the Q for tips. “Trust your nose, don’t second-guess, and relax” were the common threads. Nothing groundbreaking, and stuff I knew I should do, but important to hear.

I took a walk around the facility and recalibrated. This one will be OK, I thought. I’ll pass the Africans. Those coffees are great. I just unwound the spring, turned off my brain, and took the test. The lights went red and we approached the tables. I took my time on the dry fragrance, taking a lungful of each cup of ground coffee and a 2 second pause in between them. Everyone has their own way for sniffing – for cuppings, I do more of the bunny-style “sniff sniff sniff” with my face in the coffee quickly moving from cup to cup. That wasn’t working for triangles, so I went the other direction and slowed all the way down. Full breath.

Ok, I’ll be ok, I thought. A couple of coffees stood out to me and got one or two of the big X’s next to their line. We set up for pouring the water and I turned off my brain again. It’s just you and the coffee.

Full disclosure – I got a big windfall on the pour. When you pour water on the coffees, the grounds form a crust on top of the cup as it cools, which you then “break” to smell the aroma and skim off with spoons. Sometimes, though, if the coffee is very lightly roasted or extremely dense, the crust will be thin or might even fail to form. We had 2 full trays with glaring differences in crust density which basically solved the triangles for me. I took it as a sign that I was on the right track.

Here we go, time to taste. Trusty cupping spoon in one hand, clipboard under the armpit, and spit cup and pencil in the other, I approached the table. One sip per cup, right down the line. Oh, it’s cup 3. Step back, mark, next tray. Sip sip sip. Well, cup 1 was much sharper. Come back to it, but probably that. X marks the spot, step back, sniff my wrists,  roll my tongue, step right up. (Wrists/hands are your “neutral scent” for your nose, so smelling them helps to reset your sense of smell. Or at least so I’m told.) I proceeded this way for the whole tray and had a pretty consistent series of X’s next to each line.

Finally, I get to the last trip around the table. After a slurp slurp slurp for tray 1, I looked down at my clipboard, and felt reassured. Same cup as last time! I thought. I proceeded to the next tray, then the next, then the next, each feeling the same positive reinforcement. I had got this down, and I felt good about it, so I didn’t fuss anymore and just handed in my triangle sheet to the instructor. I watcher him grade it right in front of me with extreme anticipation, but with each proceeding check mark felt better and better. I passed!

It felt great. I had done it – passed a triangle! But mosts importantly, I knew what I needed to do. Trust myself, trust my nose, and turn off my brain. Let the coffee speak to me, and don’t overthink it. Don’t overtaste. Relax.

Coincidentally, the instructor has a poster hung outside of the exam room. It says, “Don’t overthink. Don’t overtaste. Relax.”

One more day. Let’s hope for good news tomorrow.

Alex