Aggressive slurps echoed across the spacious Long Beach Arena. Spectators concentrated around three competitors who briskly filled round spoons with coffee, sipped violently, licked their lips and repeated for seven minutes.
The U.S. Cup Tasters competition was one of four competitions that took place live during the U.S. Coffee Championships from Thursday through Sunday. This is the first year that Long Beach hosted the competition – something to celebrate for Long Beach’s growing community of specialty coffee enthusiasts.
“If you slurp and a little bit goes back into your nose, you’re doing it right,” Meara Simpson, a member of the Barista Guild of America, said.
Contestants sipped to discern between the individual notes in each of six groups of three coffees. Once they found one brew that was not like the others, they placed it out front of the group and hoped the bottom was dotted red when the judge came around.
Simpson, an aspiring barista and coffee shop owner, said she learned about the art of cup tasting in October at a Barista camp in Rancho Mirage, which was hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
Simpson traveled from Beaumont area for the national weekend event. She said she frequents coffee expos and competitions, and in April she will be heading up to the World Coffee Championships in Seattle.
The BGA and the SCAA host the annual national competition. Coffee-centric cities such as Seattle, Boston and Portland have hosted the event in the past.
Like Simpson, many attendees were BGA members and have taken advantage of the classes, workshops and events that the guild holds throughout the year. The well-dressed ladies and tattooed, mustachioed men made up a small crowd that moved through the arena, holding complimentary mini-mugs of golden espresso, fruity, full-immersed African and sweeter South American blends.
According to the BGA website, the organization aims to create a community of baristas “dedicated to innovating, sharing and demonstrating the best practices in coffee preparation,” promoting high-quality coffee as the key to success.
“At this level, we evaluate specific flavors within coffee, whether it’s aftertaste, body, acidity – stuff like that,” Sam Brown, a BGA member volunteering at the event, said.
The USCC traditionally follows the SCAA trade show, but this is the first year that the national championships were held independently. Israel Serna, the event marketing manager of the SCAA, said that this year’s competition has hosted over 150 competitors across the six categories: cup tasting, brewing, latte art, roaster’s choice, coffee of the year and best overall barista.
The final competitor in the U.S. Brewers Cup championships, Kim Alexander, narrated her process to instrumental accompaniment as she manipulated the hints of her own chosen coffee.
“Some coffees aren’t meant to be consumed in a mug-like fashion,” Alexander said as she served the three judges, sitting right under her nose, with non-conventional cups. “Some are meant to be enjoyed in small quantities or slowly, like a fine wine or an aged whiskey.”
Alexander, a barista from Tanager Coffee Shop in Portland, explained the variables that professional baristas consider while performing the delicate art of manual brewing: brew temperature, agitation, ground size, water quality and proper ratios.
In the main event, the U.S. Barista competition, baristas performed to their own music and made lattes to the groove. Stadium seating was set up on each end and spectators watched as the meticulous art of latte design took place below.
Brad Penna, an apprentice for Torch Coffee Roasters in Riverside, said that although some in the professional barista world are worried about getting the best quality beans, others are focused on refining the brew process to strain the best flavor. He said that his shop roasts and then cups their coffees every day for quality control.
“When you get better coffee you can enjoy all the flavors in it instead of just adding sugar,” Penna said. “When people say they like coffee, and then you go out with them, it turns out that they really just like sugar.”
Penna, said that for coffee enthusiasts, the love of coffee goes beyond the need for a morning kick; it’s about enjoying the product of a process that has been refined over the years, and savoring flavors that bring people together.
“Our motto is, ‘coffee is about people,’” Penna said.