Cup Tasting is a discipline that consists of tasting coffee. Professionals compete in the French Cup Tasting Championship which rewards the best coffee taster at national level.
How does the championship take place? 🥇
The candidates are faced with three cups placed in a triangle, with two cups containing the same coffee and one cup with a different coffee. The aim is to identify the different cups as quickly as possible, in less than 8 minutes, out of a total of 8 triangles. The candidate must ensure a maximum number of correct answers in a minimum amount of time to qualify at each stage.
In the semi-final only 8 candidates are qualified, then 4 for the final. At the end of the final round, the candidate with the highest score becomes French Cup Tasting Champion and has the privilege of representing his or her country at the World Cup Tasting Championship.
A nose for coffee
Cup Tasting is an art that puts the senses, especially smell and taste, to the test. The discipline requires not only experience but also a great deal of attention and concentration to analyse aromas and tastes.
Like a “nose” in the world of perfume, coffee tasting is worked on daily to train the senses to recognise and identify different cup profiles. Each country offers a unique coffee with different taste and smell characteristics, which makes the exercise all the more complicated.
Back on the course of Sébastien and Virginie during the Cup Tasting Championships 🏆
At Café Sati we are fortunate to have some prodigies among our staff, notably Sébastien Maurer, Quality Manager, and Virginie Leclerc, Human Resources Manager.
In 2014, Sébastien will become French Cup Tasting Champion for the first time. A first place that enabled him to participate in the World Championship in Melbourne, Australia. He stopped at the ¼ finals stadium, 15th out of 33 countries.
Two years later, he became French Cup Tasting Champion once again. At the World Championship in Shanghai, China, he finished 5th in the first round qualifications and failed in the ¼ final to finish 12th out of 37 countries.
In 2017, he wins his third French Championship title (the second in a row). A full card that sent him once again to represent France at the World Championship in Budapest.
In 2018, it’s Virginie’s turn to show us her talent by taking third place in the French Cup Tasting Championship.
In 2019, Sébastien did not win the French Championship title but still finished 3rd on the podium.