@JimmyP Please show, share and educate us with what you have got in your bag. You may start with why cupping is a great way to improve one’s palate. Please don’t be generic in your response, tell us how ? Videos, experiences, answers to MWJB’s queries and step by step process to get there are what you may require. Please be prepared as some extremely knowledgeable members will challenge you; and, you may challenge their practice, techniques than going personal. Otherwise, please give it a rest.

Enjoy your coffee. 👍

    JimmyP Folger’s doesn’t cut it, but you do you. I gladly laugh at the mere mention of ‘being trained’ as that’s simply being led to believe what others think is better/different as in being their trained bitch. I taste exactly what I do from my dialed in setup with coffees I choose to roast. My home, my setup, my roaster gives my palate what I prefer and what others choose to pursue makes absolutely no difference in my world.

        JonWoo187 It’s a shame you don’t understand. Everyone can improve their tasting ability 🙂👍

        Flair 58, Mahlkonig EK43, Kinu M47, 1zpresso ZP6.

            LMSC I sense you’re triggered here. By something you don’t like.
            But I will bear your suggestions in mind 🙂👍

            Flair 58, Mahlkonig EK43, Kinu M47, 1zpresso ZP6.

              DavecUK You are forgiven 🙂👍

              Flair 58, Mahlkonig EK43, Kinu M47, 1zpresso ZP6.

                Ok. I sense a certain amount of discontent here, but I don’t suffer fools gladly!
                For those that want to improve their palates I repeat my question of how you do that?
                Surely you pay attention when you taste your coffee?
                Let’s break that down. What questions do you ask yourself when you taste your coffee 🙂👍

                Flair 58, Mahlkonig EK43, Kinu M47, 1zpresso ZP6.

                  DavecUK Part of what I’m trying to do here is challenge the unhealthy environment of nerdy blokes talking about their equipment.
                  Let’s talk about coffee! 😅👍

                  Flair 58, Mahlkonig EK43, Kinu M47, 1zpresso ZP6.

                      dfk41 It’s a shame you’re so limited. I would be keen to offer help if you hadn’t hurled abuse yesterday 🫤

                      Flair 58, Mahlkonig EK43, Kinu M47, 1zpresso ZP6.

                          JimmyP It’s a shame you’re so limited. I would be keen to offer help if you hadn’t hurled abuse yesterday

                          I am tempted to say have some more but that is what you want and I am not feeding you. Once again you have come onto this forum and stirred trouble up. You have not contributed one bit of help to anyone. I suspect even if you offered help to folks, they would not want it matey…..so, what is next then Jimmy?

                          https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

                            JimmyP Part of what I’m trying to do here is challenge the unhealthy environment of nerdy blokes talking about their equipment.

                            I’d prefer you didn’t do that, everyone is entitled to enjoy their coffee in the way they like best. Some like talking about kit, others like the tactile sensation of producing coffee, some like to try new techniques and identify/improve flavours.

                            It isn’t for you to decide what’s unhealthy or nerdy, or insult people, and to try to do so, simply makes you a troll in the eyes of others. So you won’t get your message across whatever it is, as people won’t engage with it..

                            Contact me

                              JimmyP Dude, I TOTALLY understand everything that affects my everyday and at the end of the day that’s all that counts. ‘Improve/better’ are opinion and not much else. I definitely find the craze over equipment and burr blindness to be hilarious to say the least, but we are all entitled to do what WE like.

                              You mention some don’t focus on the coffee itself, but I DEFINITELY do as that’s by far the most important part of the variable equation, with water balance being a somewhat close second. My main focus is green selection/roast development to get exactly the taste notes/texture I strongly prefer with espresso. No equipment change regardless of type/cost will ever come close to matching changes I can make with the coffee itself.

                              You can keep barking up the wrong tree, but clearly that dog can’t/won’t hunt, bwahaha.

                                JimmyP Let’s break that down. What questions do you ask yourself when you taste your coffee 🙂👍

                                The first question I ask is, ‘have I made a representative cup?’. Does it have prominent generic faults like under-extraction, is it too silty & muddy. Has this brew method given me good results with the last few bags of coffee.

                                How you make the coffee in the first place affects how acidic/balanced/dry it will turn out.

                                In fact, scratch that - the question above is my 2nd question, the first would be, ‘Am I buying an origin that is one that I do not have a dislike for, based on my previous experience?’

                                …OK scratch that…Q1 is now Q2, & Q2 is now Q3…the real Q1 is, ‘Is my experience with this roaster generally positive?’ My first purchase with any roaster is always a speculative punt…I try not to form too firm an opinion on that particular coffee based on 1 roast from anyone.

                                Oh dear, this post is beginning to sound a bit like a Spanish Inquisition…

                                    JimmyP For those that want to improve their palates I repeat my question of how you do that?
                                    Surely you pay attention when you taste your coffee?
                                    Let’s break that down. What questions do you ask yourself when you taste your coffee 🙂👍

                                    Tbh, I had thought the intent of your first post on this thread of yours was good.

                                    Please ask these questions yourself, which I am sure you had, and lead from the front.

                                    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 👍

                                      For what my opinion is worth, which I grant you is not much. I have told you sort of where my palate is at, and that is not very, if at all attuned to the tasting notes given out by roasters for their beans. So, as I have not in your mind (I hope) been a bit nasty or sarcastic to you in my response, how about you enlightening me how (apart from just cupping) I can go about improving my palate? You say you have been trained to improve yours, so what is the secret? What did the training involve? Can it be replicated in a non-professional home environment? And if that is possible, what references would there be for me to know it has improved?

                                      So, there you have it, straight down the line. I have told you where my palate is at.

                                      I love ‘real’ coffee, and I am disappointed I cannot appreciate all the nuances it has to offer that others can, because my palate is that of a Neanderthal. I AM eager to learn, as I know are most people on here, regardless of what you think… So, teach us. Give us something to try and respond to. The one thing about most good teachers, is that they want to pass on their knowledge. Not keep it to themselves and mock those less informed.

                                      I’m sorry if I’ve hurt feelings here. That was never my intention at the start.

                                      Flair 58, Mahlkonig EK43, Kinu M47, 1zpresso ZP6.

                                      20 days later

                                      Interesting topic. I was considering creating one myself about the palate.

                                      I love food and drinks, and have been to wine tastings and coffee cupping sessions. It’s far easier to pick up notes and differences when comparing different beans or wines, but I rarely got a lot of bags of bottles of wine open, and when I only taste a single bean the next day, it’s not as easy anymore. I have a friend that is far better at it than me in all kinds of drinks. Coffee, wine, whisky. I still enjoy drinking everything, but it would be more fun if I was better at noticing differences.

                                      Has anyone made an effort to improve their palate and ability to taste differences and pick up notes, and improved their ability? Is a lot of it down to genes and what you are born with? I know you can train the palate and get better at it, as I’m sure sommeliers and people in the coffee industry does, but I always wonder if that is people with a more refined palate to begin with. That their natural perception to flavors is part of the reason they got into the industry in the first place.

                                      I saw a good documentary on wine a few years ago called Sour Grapes on Netflix. Very interesting documentary where taste and palate is one of the key topics. It’s about a guy that among other things blended cheaper wines to mimic more expensive ones, created fake labels and sold them at a premium. IIRC, he was able to do this because he had a really good palate and actually managed to blend wines that mimiced the expensive ones in a way that fooled many.