Monday, January 26, 2009

A Summary of the Last Meeting

Hey all,

We had a successful meeting last Friday, with 17 people signing in, and several others dropping by over the course of the meeting. In all, we had 5 professors attend.

As far as homeroasted coffees went, we featured Panama Geisha (Gesha) and Brazil Poco Fundo Peaberry. The Geisha came out great, with light body, a jasmine aroma, and lemon acidity, roast was a full city +, a little dark, but balanced. The Peaberry was defective, tinged with smoke from a chaff fire during the early stages of the cooling cycle. Most unfortunate but interesting because the accident presented itself immediately in the cup.

From Starbucks, we featured Guatemala Casi Cielo and Costa Rica Bella Vista Tres Rios. The Bella Vista was probably the best Starbucks coffee I've had in a while, as it was actually roasted light enough to reveal a pleasant acidity and floral aroma. Unfortunately, the Casi Cielo was not treated so kind by Starbucks' roastmasters. The Casi Cielo was completely biased toward roast notes, with very little of the savory and cocoa flavors that I remembered from trying it two years ago.

All in all, a good event. I will try to figure out some sort of educational seminar for a meeting in the near future. Look for the Cupping Club at the Fiesta Maya Festival this Sunday, we'll be serving a Guatemalan coffee roasted by our friends at Dilworth Coffee.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

First Meeting of the Semester

Hello all,

This is an announcement: Cupping Club will be having its first meeting of the Spring '09 Semester on Friday, Jan. 23rd at 2 pm in the Burrow. We will be sampling the Geisha cultivar from Panama, courtesy of Rogers Family Coffee Co. We will also sample Starbucks Guatemala Casi Cielo. Depending on the response, we may also sample another homeroasted coffee from Latin America.

Just a little club business: we have chosen Friday at 2 pm as the best meeting time for the following reasons:
1. I am unavailable Monday and Friday
2. Many of our members are unavailable Tuesday and Thursday
3. 2 pm allows participants to have coffee earlier in the day, lest they are sensitive to caffeine
4. It's after Forum, I figure most people could use a pick-me-up after that
5. It allows faculty and staff to attend
6. It fits in with the campus goal of encouraging resident students to stay the weekend

Finally, we will have our budget proposal presentation at 2 pm on Sunday, Jan. 25th. If you feel that this club benefits the campus and the community, please take the time to send me a message or comment. I will take any feedback to our budget presentation to show the support our club has.

Thank you,
Sincerely,

Brendon Parsons
Club President