http://www.corridorkitchen.com Necessity is the mother of invention. Tue, 23 Feb 2021 23:46:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 http://www.corridorkitchen.com/2011/05/the-cupping-room-newtown/ http://www.corridorkitchen.com/2011/05/the-cupping-room-newtown/#comments Mon, 02 May 2011 21:16:50 +0000 http://www.corridorkitchen.com/?p=1512 When I arrive at 5 to 3 on a Saturday, it’s hot and crowded and I can’t move for the customers. I’m not surprised, it’s one of the reasons I don’t come here that often, but when my partner in crime arrives, she’s shocked. ‘It’s as if there aren’t any other coffee shops in Newtown,’ she marvels. Well, for some, that may be true. We elect to wait outside. 10 or so minutes later we’re led through the crowd to the back of the store, up the steep stairs lit by a single dangling light bulb. Like an old-time speakeasy, a panel in the door slides open and a pair of eyes peer out. ‘Two?’ Asks a voice. We nod. We enter. The space is pitch black save for a long wooden table, stainless-steel edged and lit by a line of spotlights. Our host, Todd has laid out 6 small bowls of coarsely ground coffee for each of us to ‘cup’ or taste. Cupping, he explains, is standard practice for roasters all over the world. The idea of cupping is that because you’re removing all the variables inherent in brewing coffee, you’re levelling the playing field and you really are just tasting the coffee. Each step of the cupping is usually given a score and that’s how a coffee is chosen by buyers.]]> http://www.corridorkitchen.com/2011/05/the-cupping-room-newtown/feed/ 11