Had an incredible time visiting the Square Mile Coffee roastery in London, for the Celebrating Costa Rica Cupping!

Roastery tour

It started with a tour of their roastery, which made me a very happy coffee nerd: after all, it’s one of the best coffee roasters in the UK, one of my long time personal favourites, and I’ve already seen this place on James Hoffmann’s YouTube channel a few years ago. Apparently, they still have the roaster he used for his winning WBC performance.

 

Cupping

After the tour, the actual cupping began. The cupping table had 4 Catuai coffees from Costa Rica with 4 different types of Honey process, which Costa Rica is renowned for: white, yellow, red, and black.

Cupping table

Honey process - quick reference

Honey process is basically the middle ground between washed (no fruit left before drying) and natural (the whole fruit is left). The colour order represents how much fruit remains on the bean before drying - from white (almost washed), to black (almost natural). In other words, it’s roughly what colour the coffee becomes after drying.

What I also found fascinating during cupping, is that the colour coincidentally matches the taste descriptors:

  • White: clean, light bodied, tea-like.
  • Yellow: dried fruit and apricot notes, reminded me of warm Kenyan coffees (probably my favourite).
  • Red: juicy, bright, and acidic - like red apple or redcurrant.
  • Black: blackcurrant, lots of fermentation, same as natural process for me.

This made it easy to remember for the future, and now I have a much better feeling for what to expect of those four Honey processes.

We went through the four coffees one by one in more detail, while people were putting in the tasting notes into the app which was displayed on the screen - that interactive bit was quite cool. By the end of it I felt quite caffeinated indeed, especially considering welcome brews with their filter blend. I frequently do cuppings at home, and every single time the caffeine kick happens so suddenly!

Final thoughts

The absolute best thing about the whole experience were the organisers behind it, and I’d like to say special thanks for making it so interesting, informative, and fun. In particular, to Jamie, who orders coffee for @squaremilecoffee, works with the producers, and is totally a coffee guru, and to Sara, who is the head of education at @prufrockcoffee / @squaremilecoffee, and is very skilled at keeping highly caffeinated people engaged for a long periods of time.

It’s also impressive how, while being super informative, it all still felt quite approachable, so even people who are just becoming coffee nerds would still learn a lot. I’ve probably already become one, and yet I have learned a lot as well.

TL;DR: awesome experience for all coffee nerds, highly recommended!

Brought some stash home Me and my wife got a free sample each, and I couldn’t resist getting another bag





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