What large, widget-making corporations call quality assurance, we in the industry call cupping. And cupping coffee, like your morning coffee, is a daily ritual around here. It helps us maintain consistency among our award-winning roster of coffees and gives us an opportunity to sample potential new blends.

Cupping coffee is a fairly regimented process. It's akin to an organoleptic tasting an aged brandy or a sommelier (not the right word—help me out please) discerning the components of a fine wine; however, cupping depends upon many controlled variables built into the actual cupping process.

Each sample is cupped exactly the same way:

1. Fragrance analysis of the dry, freshly roasted, freshly ground coffee.
2. 5 ounces of hot water, between 195°F and 205°F, is added to 8.25 grams of coffee.
3. Aroma analysis for 1-2 minutes.
4. Breaking of the "crust" with a preheated spoon and additional aroma analysis as the spoon is pushed to the bottom of the cup.
5. After the coffee has cooled slightly, the spoon is used to scoop out enough coffee for sampling. The coffee is quickly and quite literally slurped off the spoon and aspirated over the entire tongue.
6. After the coffee has cooled more thoroughly, the slurp and aspirate are repeated.
7. The coffee is critiqued, overall, for its fragrance, aroma, flavor, acidity, aftertaste and body.

Cupping ain't easy. Just ask Danny O'Neill and Norman Killmon; both are often invited as coffee judges throughout the country and the world. Cupping requires a fair amount of training and experience for the brain to discern and categorize the signals from the eyes, nose and tongue.

Next time you pour a cup of Roasterie, save the danish and try your tongue at cupping. Just remember: trust yourself by practicing regularly and be open to learning from cupping veterans.