There is a chance that Sunalini Menon is addicted to her work but there’s a compelling reason for it: she is Asia’s first woman coffee taster. Menon’s affair with Coffea Arabica and Coffea Robusta began when she was a college-going girl. No wonder, Bengaluru-based Menon, who later founded her own company Coffee Lab, likens the coffee bean to that of spreading wisdom, teaching her humbleness, perfection, passion and friendliness.

At a time when women were still trying to cement their place in the social order of things, Menon was miles ahead of the same. She completed her schooling from Good Shepherd Convent and broke the record by securing first position in BSc at the Women’s Christian College. While pursuing her master’s in Science, she got a paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, a rare feat for a non-medical professional. After completing her PG, she applied for the position of a coffee taster and moved ahead in the selection rounds. Though her appointment was objected to, on the basis of her being a woman, Menon finally made it as an assistant cupper in the Coffee Board.

An unusual profession it may be, but it comes with its own set of unique challenges. “If you are a professional cupper, you need to preserve your palate and I do so by avoiding spicy food, alcohol and tobacco. I ensure that I am always in good health to be able to taste and identify the subtle nuances of coffee,” says Menon. By that same logic, ice cream too is a strict no-no for me.

There are other senses to be employed as well. Menon shares that one needs to use their eyes to see size, the degree of roast, and colour of the beans; while the sense of smell comes handy in knowing the green beans, roasted beans, coffee brew and processing of the coffee. The sense of touch helps in understanding the strain of coffee beans, while the sense of sound in measuring the right temperature —when you roast the coffee beans, they will crack or pop at certain temperatures.

Over and above, a good cupper comes equipped with an innate acuity of taste, intense training, experience and exposure to coffees from around the world, repeated calibrations of the palate with global tasters, good memory, fine concentration skills and most importantly, the ability to communicate what one has experienced in the palate.

Menon quit the Coffee Board in 1995, to set up her company Coffee Lab in 1997, which provides a whole range of services—right from evaluation, certification to advisory. Coffee Lab, which won the Hidden Treasure Award in 2006 by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), is now developing brands for green coffee beans. “Flavours in coffee are very diverse. You could have sugar browning flavours such as chocolate, caramel, nuts, malt and vanilla; dry distillation flavours such as spices of pepper, clove, thyme; medicinal such as camphor; resinous such as black currant; or enzymatic flavours such as herbal, floral, citrus, berries, legumes etc,” elaborates Menon.

Tasting not less than 100 samples per day, Menon says: “Some coffees around the world possess very distinctive floral notes, some have blueberry flavours, some with intense citrus flavours of oranges and lemons, besides red and green apple.” She is also the proud recipient of the 2014 Alfred Peet Passionate Cup Award, conferred by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) during their 26th annual exposition and conference at Seattle.

When asked about any coffee buying tip, she quickly replies: “One needs to look at whether the coffee is dark-roasted or medium-roasted. A medium-roasted coffee will have a balanced taste, while a dark-roasted one will have a strong mouth feel, but with bitter edges. To make the perfect blend the proportion of powder-chikri (chicory) is 70-30 and also the freshness of say an hour of the decoction is important.” But the best advice is saved for the last. “Coffee means friendship. If you have coffee with someone, you become friends with them,” concludes a smiling Menon.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> LifeStyle> Food / by Sujitha J / April 16th, 2016