Why let coffeehouses have all the fun? Grab some friends, a variety of coffee blends, a willingness to slurp loudly, and enjoy a cupping party right in your own home.

It’s New Year’s Eve and many people’s plans for the evening include kicking back with a glass of champagne or four. But what about ringing in the New Year with a beverage of a different sort that can be experienced much in the way wine is without the following day’s hangover? Tonight, and any reason you might invite friends over, is a great excuse to host your own, at-home coffee-cupping event.

Cupping is the act of experiencing a cup of coffee for all that the beans used to brew it have to offer. The same way oneophiles sip, swish, and spit while romanticizing over oak casks and rain-soaked vineyards, those who take part in coffee cupping use their tastebuds to draw out the different flavors from several types of coffee blends. Once upon a time, only Master Tasters – coffee company employees responsible for tasting roasts for quality assurance – enjoyed the practice of cupping while setting standards for flavor and bean quality.

Slurp, smell, enjoy

To become a first class cupper, all you need to do is brew a fresh cup of coffee, starting with quality beans, ground at home. Once the coffee has been poured, place your nose over the cup and deeply inhale the aroma. One technique to fully experience the scent involves lightly placing a closed hand over the top of cup’s opening, just until your skin starts to heat up, then pulling your hand away to breathe in the vapor that was trapped there.

Next, take a sip of the coffee, slurping loudly to spread the liquid out over the surface of your tongue. What do you taste? Does the body of the coffee make you imagine that it’s oily? Is it sweet, acidic, or a combination of the two? What sort of aftertaste does the coffee leave in your mouth? What part of the palate does each flavor note hit upon? If you want a nice guide to each of the flavors (if you’re like me and can’t quite put your finger on what it is that you’re tasting), Wikipedia has an entry that lists almost 20 types of flavors to help you identify each of the coffee’s undertones.

Taking it home

My best friend Morgan and her husband Phil just took part in an at-home cupping event hosted by two friends who work at a Starbucks near their home in Pasadena, California. Their host offered three types of Starbucks blends: Italian Roast, Sumatra, and Ethiopian Sidamo. Morgan said the barista used the party to educate his friends about different coffee growing regions and varieties while he showed his guests how to slurp and imagine the flavors each blend brought to mind. She said the Ethiopian Sidamo, with its hidden notes of lemon, provided an unexpected twist to the otherwise earthy and robust flavors found in the other two blends.

To host a cupping party or event in your own home, you can take a cue from my friends’ experience and serve your guests a few varieties from one roaster or serve blends from several different coffee companies. You could offer one big-name coffee brand like Starbucks or Green Mountain, next to a smaller, local roaster that you like to see how each blend is translated. Concentrating on one coffee-growing region, like Brazil or the African highlands, could let you have fun with décor, music, and food served with the coffee. Who knew slurping a cup of Joe could be so festive?

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