Our first cupping was held at Nemesis Coffee in Vancouver, where we featured an array of Colombian coffees from Cata Exports along side our current Small Batch Series Coffees like Burundi Rotheca Project, Ethiopia Asikana, and Rwanda Nyampinga Women's Coffee Project. We connected with the team from Cata in Colombia via Zoom, and they shared a little bit about their coffees while Swiss Water's Cupping Lab Manager and event organizer, Stacey Lynden, talked about the Small Batch Series coffees on the table.
After having such a successful cupping at Nemesis, Stacey decided to take the Small Batch Series Cupping on the road and host a cupping in Portland Oregon to coincide with SCA Expo. This Half-Caf cupping, featuring both decaffeinated and caffeinated coffees, was held at Buckman Coffee Factory in Portland, Oregon. Swiss Water was joined by Onyx Coffee Importers and Forward Specialty Green Coffee Importers, both of whom brought amazing coffees to share as well.
Especially exciting was the chance to taste Swiss Water's most recent Small Batch Series coffee, Guatemala Los Conejos, a natural process Guatemalan Coffee sourced through Onyx Coffee Importers and offered as part of their "Gems Series" of exceptional coffees (and it is!)
Also on the table was a super exciting coffee from Indonesia, Catur ‘Kamala, Inoculated Natural Kartika, which Swiss Water had the pleasure of decaffeinating for Forward Coffee earlier this spring. Both Forward and Onyx brought pre decaf and post decaf versions of their coffees to the table, allowing cuppers to taste how similar the decafs tasted to their caffeinated cohorts.
Alongside these coffees, we also shared several other coffees from our Small Batch Series for cuppers to enjoy as well!
The event was attended by at least 50 roasters and importers from Canada, the USA, Australia, Mexico, and Colombia, and was a great way for everyone to connect over great decaf! We owe our thanks to both the teams from Onyx Importers and Forward Coffee, as well as our hosts Buckman Coffee Factory.
We're looking very forward to doing a few more decaf coffee tastings this year and continuing to share great decaf! If you're interested in collaborating on an event in your city, get in touch!
