We can’t wait to hear how you got on with the difficult-to-hide pineapple quest.
We all know pineapple is not exactly a note that should require a treasure hunt and a compass. If it is there, it should be fairly obvious. That said, I’m not entirely sure pushing roasters will always lead to the outcome we want. More often than not, the response will probably be: “sorry,” “refund,” “replacement,” “how are you brewing?” and, if we are lucky, something useful like “what gear and water are you using?”
Catch someone on a less friendly day and you may get the slightly less polished version of: “Let us know if you have anything useful to add,” which we all know roughly translates to something much less customer-service approved. I have heard all of these responses in the past.
I do sympathise with roasters as well. Margins are tighter, costs have gone up, and many are working hard to survive while still putting good coffee on the table.
I’m also sure all roasters cup during profile development. Some will blind taste and see what they pick up during cupping. Others may check whether they are getting what was written on the green coffee offer sheet. But I think very few actually write on their website what they genuinely thought of the coffee when they cupped it. That, to me, is far “more valuable” than just “pineapple, guava and mango,” which, in my humble opinion, can sometimes become fairly pointless as tasting notes.
I did request a lot of roasters to include their own take on the coffee. Roasters like @LeefromFoundryCR do this well, while some bigger names will not even mention roast level on their websites, let alone give you their honest impression of the cup.
So yes, definitely ask what recipe, equipment and water they used. That is a good question, especially when asked as a fellow coffee nerd trying to unlock the note. Haha
