Ritual Rumukia description

[SL28ave]

Hehe, I like the language. Who wrote it?

Click Here

Also, isn't this a Fair Trade lot?

[coffeetaster]

a fragrance of green jolly rancher, and the taste of kumquat, pineapple, and orange soda.....
....MMMmmmmm.

[ryan brown]

i wrote it.

it's a conventional, and it really is a delicious coffee. the dry fragrance is really inviting (i personally like green apple jolly ranchers), and additionally has a lush elderflower note. the kumquat acidity really does give way to an orange soda finish, but a soft mango character is present too.

spencer, you seem interested, give me your address and i'll send some along to you. i'd love to get your feedback.

[SL28ave]

i wrote it.

I'll continue to read the descriptions you write if you don't mind.

I think there was some "green Jolly Rancher" in a wine I had last night, but here's the description I came up with last night,
2005 Belle Pente Willamette Valley Pinot
Really enjoying this wine tonight. Light, dense and supple mouthfeel with medium acidity. The perfect dose of beeswax, raspberry banana sauce, mellow asparagus perfume, cola and an afteraroma of musty oak.

[SL28ave]

A Stumptown description,
"Finca Kilimanjaro's silken texture overlays flavors of red currant, cherry jolly rancher and rose' with a delicate perfume aroma."

[Jeff Jassmond]

When I first started working for the Stumptown my manager was a woman who grew up in France, had a great grasp of coffee, but wasn't so sure about some of the culturally specific descriptors that were thrown around at the cupping table. Jolly-Ranchers was one that really confused her.

After her first trip to cash and carry there was a jarful of jolly ranchers under the register, just in case anyone needed to calibrate their palate. The green apple ones went away first, and a year later there is still a handful of "grape."

To this day, my favorite descriptor is still "chocolate bunny rabbits."

Jeff
stx
97214

[SL28ave]

To this day, my favorite descriptor is still "chocolate bunny rabbits."

The "bunny rabbit" part of it is superfluous and confusing. It relies on emotion. What if you're afraid of bunnies but like chocolate?

"Green Jolly Rancher" is an understandable, distinctive, meaningful, and elegant descriptor. A Prime Number of a flavor.

[rob mcdonough]

The "bunny rabbit" part of it is superfluous and confusing. What if you're afraid of bunnies but like chocolate?

I think it is indicative of the quality of the perceived chocolate character...

[SL28ave]

I think it is indicative of the quality of the perceived chocolate character...

Exactly, it indicates rather than makes obvious. In the meanwhile bunnies stir emotions.

[Aleco]

I think it is indicative of the quality of the perceived chocolate character...

Exactly, it indicates rather than makes obvious. In the meanwhile bunnies stir emotions.

I wrote the chocolate bunny rabbits descriptor. Milk chocolate wouldn't have been enough to describe the sensation we were tasting. When I was a kid we used to get chocolate bunny rabbits from my grandmother on Easter. They had an extremely sweet, unpure chocolate flavor and were creamy in texture. I used chocolate bunny rabbits to not only imply flavor in this coffee but tactile sensation as well. Take from it what you will. I'd send you some but unfortunately (or fortunately) it sold out months ago.

[scottlucey]

In the meanwhile bunnies stir emotions.

We're edging on something indicating psychological damage! CLOSE THIS THREAD!

[Klaus]

I wrote the chocolate bunny rabbits descriptor. Milk chocolate wouldn't have been enough to describe the sensation we were tasting. When I was a kid we used to get chocolate bunny rabbits from my grandmother on Easter. They had an extremely sweet, unpure chocolate flavor and were creamy in texture. I used chocolate bunny rabbits to not only imply flavor in this coffee but tactile sensation as well.

Hi Aleco
When you draw on a personal childhood experience in describing a coffee, don't you worry that Chocolate Bunny Rabbit might mean something entirely different to whoever reads it? I mean, for me for example, it reminds me of cheap, bad tasting, vegetable-fat-induced chocolate with a sticky mouthfeel

I think you touched upon a good point, Jeff, with the cultural specific descriptors. I've never heard of Green Jolly Ranchers before and had to look it up to find out what it is (thanks Wikipedia!).

[Aleco]

Yo what's up Klaus

I think any descriptor could mean any handful of things to whomever reads it. Not everyone likes green jolly ranchers or even knows what they are. When we started bouncing that description around in the Annex after tasting the coffee people seemed to love it so we went with it.

So I suppose my question is, when does anything mean exactly the same thing to everybody?

[Jimmy Oneschuk]

When you think of it, using non-traditional terms can be a great way to make tasting more culturally accessible (and be perceived as less elitist, perhaps?). And certainly this must arouse some curiousity in customers who might not be of your hardcore coffee-taster niche?

On the other side of the coin, I sometimes worry about these descriptions crossing the line into superfluity, and creating a negative reaction in skeptics. I know we can't please everyone, but especially when you're in a smallish market, I'd like to limit any negative reactions... oi.

[andynewbom]

we have tasted coffees that taste exactly like guanabanas or cherimoyas. No one on staff had ever heard of one nor tasted one. So no one believes me.

I brought in a cherimoya and a dragon fruit to let people taste them side by side with the coffees we were cupping that had those flavors. they were surprised to taste them so strong.

but I still have not met a customer of ours who has ever tasted a gunabana/cherimoya so us describing it like that is almost the same as the chocolate bunny. (ROCK on stumpies for that one!! I love it.)

so how can we desribe unique flavors and sensations without using chocolate, caramel and strong?

we got to push the envelope on flavor expectations.

[Christopher Schooley]

Ryan, I love the idea of the orange soda finish. Is it effervesent as well? This sounds like a really dreamy coffee.

[gabelucas]

Chris,

It is yummy. not for the weak or faint of heart. send me your address and we will ship you some.

pm it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh!

[Ryan Willbur]

In our training we did an exercise where we had a table of generic foods... bananas, peanuts, grapes, and a lot more. The test was to write as many descriptors for each item without mentioning anything close to what the actual item was. It was really, really hard... However, if you want to be serious about tasting and describing coffees, I recommend taking the challenge.

[Edwin Martinez]

In our training we did an exercise where we had a table of generic foods... bananas, peanuts, grapes, and a lot more. The test was to write as many descriptors for each item without mentioning anything close to what the actual item was. It was really, really hard... However, if you want to be serious about tasting and describing coffees, I recommend taking the challenge.

- thats brilliant!
this is also a great exercise to determine what may be a good coffee pairing.

Last Sat we did a pairing where we had a dry choc cookie that had no sugar in it with a hand whipped creme again no sugar in it.. and some fresh cut up orange folded into the creme. So the only sweet was from the orange. We paired this with a huehue we're working with and it knocked out what little body was there and made the grapefruity citrus and sweets explosive! While this was my favorite I found those who consume much sugar did not like this pairing.

Then we paired the same coffee with a lemon pepper corn meal wafer cookie. This too was fresh baked and it's complexity and brighter citrus seemed to taper off some of the brightness of the coffee while preserving the subtle choc notes and body offering a balanced taste that is more agreeable to the common palate.

While this was a simple exercise it was extremely exciting because while taste and preference differed from person to person on the coffee... the descriptors where very unanimous.

So I'm curious... what descriptors does one come up with for banana besides banana-y

[Jason Haeger]

Starchy, slightly sweet, with a very slight hint of melon.

That's all I got. I didn't taste one to write that, that's just off of memory.

[malachi]

Must
Only
Use
Approved
Terms

Cannot
Resist
The
Power

Knowledge
Must
Be
Controlled

[Mark Prince]

My favourite all time overheard descriptor:

"It's a bit porn-y".

It made complete sense once put in context.

Mark

[barry]

MOUAT CRTP KMBC?

WTF?





--barry "too much crypto time"

[Christopher Schooley]

This was a remarkably effervescent cup, with tons of hard candy/cake frosting sweetness. I personally felt it was more of a grape jolly rancher, but either way it was deliciously tangy. Great coffee, awesome roast. Well done Ritual Crew.

[gabelucas]

gansta.


thank you friend.


I prefer to stay bronze.