For the last five years, I've given a coffee history and tasting seminar for undergraduates at the University of Chicago. This is not an academic thing; but an extracurricular activity put on by the head of a hall of residence who happens to be a coffee hobbyist and HBer. I get a lot more out of this than I put in; since it gives me a chance to get away from us coffee people and see how interested and bright people who know very little about specialty coffee respond to the world of high end coffee.

I begin with a history and geography of coffee (borrowing more and more from George Howell's lectures), and follow this with a tasting of the historical coffees: an Ethiopian and Yemen Natural, an Aged Sumatra, and a 100% Robusta espresso (I'm' ahead of George on this, since he's way too refined to roast these old staple coffees)

Then comes a short history of specialty and amateur coffee starting with Alfred Peet and Ken Davids (I know, high end roasters hung in during the era of mass coffee, but the move up from the Folger's nadir started in Berkeley with these two). Each year, I serve coffees to highlight some current issues. This year we compared a Kenya Nyeri SL-28 and an Antigua Bourbon done as a light (cupping) roast and a medium dark roast (first pops of the second). I asked the tasters to judge whether the light or dark roasts were more distinct, and which they liked. Turns out the group was split on whether the dark or light roasts were more distinct. Most liked the darker roast on the Kenya and the lighter roast on the Antigua. I picked these two coffees since they are not that easy to tell apart. Both have similar taste balances being muscular, dry and spicy.

In the dark roast, the spice notes of the Kenya distinguished it from the smoke and caramels of the Antigua, while at the lighter roast, the aroma and degree of acidity were the easiest tells. As a matter of interest, after introducing the terminology, several people spontaneously characterized the coffees in precisely these ways. Most people are too shy to talk about taste; but those who did, tended to be accurate. I wasn't giving tests; but this and similar experiences at my other tasting events make me optimistic that the coffee tasting vocabulary has a fairly high degree of validity.

This year, I added something new; a more general take on the various "taste hobbies" -- wine, food, barbecue, beer, and coffee. I talked about the tendency of hobbyist to focus the objective nuts and bolts of quality, rather than the subjective experience or personal benefits of tasting. I also talked about the ideas to Goerge Howell, Tim Castle and Michael Sivetz that high end coffee is about preserving and conveying the quality of the coffee flower and cherry itself. I askd whether anyone had liked this bit; and it got a anonymous thumbs up. People nowadays grow up with subjective or cultural theories of quality, taste and beauty; therefore, being told about how the details of coffee are sweated, and how this is an objective aspect of taste and quality, is apparently an eyeopener and relief. Tuns out, you can like good food and drink without being a poser or snob; since it's not about you pretending to be superior, but about the food or drink actually being really tasty.

We finished off tasting the Perci Red. If great coffee is about conveying the experience of coffee blossoms and cherries; a good Geisha is probably the closest you can get. It was the favorite of the afternoon, as expected.

The take away is that HBers should take any opportunity to give talks on coffee, and not be scared to get into the nitty gritty details. Most people think that tasting is something subjective and cultural like art appreciation, and are intimidated by that. So it's a relief for them to find out that coffee and other gustatory appreciation are comfortably objective and nerdy.

Great job, Jim, and a real public service.

I am planning to give a coffee education talk at a coffee shop in the near future. Any suggestions?:)

The head of the support organization I was working for years ago encouraged us to do a sort of "lunch and learn" and share our past times with each other, so I brought in different origins and brewed them up in Clevers. It was fun, but turned into more of a social gathering even though I'd prepared some talking points.

Don't be afraid to get technical and detailed. The best public lecture on coffee I've ever heard is George Howell's, which could easily be turned into a University course.

Also, make sure you serve coffees that make your point. Pick a few "difficult" coffees like Kenyas as well as crowd pleasers. George Howell has gotten to seamless perfection in the way he serves the coffees at these lectures; but he charges, and has Randy Pope, head of research at Bunn, to supervise the brewing. The demos at my lectures are much more improvised and ragged, but I cover for that by doing the Q and A during the service.

The main issue is making sure the coffees are well brewed (or shots pulled). Here's my brewing set up; no need to do the same thing, but it's an example

• 2 quart service jugs marked with the water height, for immersion brewing
• 5 liter Zojirushi to hold water at temperature, and kettles to boil water (the Zoj warms up too slowly),
• Preset grinder, scale, and timer for the brewing,
• a set of push down French Press sieves (they don't have to fit, use them to break the crust like you use a spoon at a cupping) and ancillary strainers for decanting the brews.
• disposable cups and spoons to fit what you are doing. I use the three and five ounce cups used at water fountains: the wax is more taste neutral than the regular cardboard, and its less mess to dispose.
• If there are no sinks or trash bins, you need to bring bottles for brewing and tubs and towels for clean up.
• Make sure you let the coffee cool to good tasting temperature before serving -- people will not wait once it is in their cups.
• most important, someone who has practiced a few times making them. Brandon does the UC brews, and he's great, while Terry and Lin made great shots at the last Coffeecon lecture

I've been working on doing this too. Live in a highly academic populated area. Been spending some time over the last couple years hanging out with H-B member (ex trahere) Patrick at his farmers markets and event pour-over set-ups and talking with his customers. I really enjoy it. Have also been to several of George's open house events over the years and they are thoroughly enjoyable and the attendees get a lot out of them.

Ex trahere is a bit quiet on HB. But I really like what he's doing with that Western Woods Coffee. Give him a shout for me.

Will do. Patrick provides a great personal service to his coffee customers. Outside the rush of a typical cafe setting.

I need to start fairly simple. We live in an area without much knowledge of specialty coffee and maybe coffee in general. The idea for some education was spawned off questions such as; "do you grow this?" Something like that. I tell people the only place in the states that grows coffee is Hawaii...

Consider tuning in to the science channel, watching a few episodes of "how its made," especially on things about which you know nothing. If you can absorb the information in the show; you might be mistaken in thinking your audience can't absorb something at the equivalent level of detail about coffee.