Thank you for clarifying K, frankly I didnt understand the question first up. I will answer by giving you an example of what I do all the time in my cupping lab. I cup my own coffees for quality control, and I cup other roasters offerings to keep abreast of what they are offering predominantly to the cafe market and of course to see how we compare from a perspective of quality. I start by placing a quantity of beans in an empty grinder. The gtrind setting is where it was set for the last lot of beans cupped. It is nothing more than a starting point. My objective for each lot of beans, no matter whose they are, is to work out how to get the best out of them OTHERWISE YOUR RESULTS DONT MEAN ANYTHING. And so it begins.....grind out coffee, brew as per "usual" technique. Watch all brew variables and cup. If I dont get very best result, I go again, adjusting grind OR technique to try to improve the brew, cup again, etc until I am satisfied I cant get it any better. Fill out my cupping sheet (do not rely on your memory). Empty grinder, start the whole process again with next lot of beans. Repeat: What am I doing.....? Trying to get the very best I can out of the beans at this time. You will be surprised how markedly the character of one lot of beans can change in the cup, with the above process, and you will see a progession through a range of body, mouthfeel, acidity, "top end" and their balance , with each change you - the barista- make. Not all "baristas" employ the same modus operandi, to get the very best they can out of their bean supply. A lot of emphasis is placed on having the "right" equipment (usually the subject of my wll known rants), and of course also in having the right "brand" coffee beans. There is a lot of marketing influence placed there.... Well, the question remains, despite that being done, why is the resulting wet coffee in so many cases, nothing more than ordinary? "Brightness", "fruitiness" or whatever in coffee can be really nice attributes, and just like any other nice attribute in coffee, there also needs to be a good balance overall. A barista is much the same as an artist who has been given a palet (spelling?) of paints and a blank canvass. Its up to him what he makes of it and how he balances it all out, and what he makes of it is the measure of his talent. Therefore K, whatever you have perceived in a coffee in any particular cafe is not set in stone as dictated by the name on the packet or the description on the website (often written by the marketing people), it very much depends on the nut behind the handle working for best effect with his coffee bean supply. And of course, if despite all the above someone is using an overly "bright" supply, they can always change it for something more well balanced...its all an individual thing. Hope that helps. Attilio very first Crema site sponsor.
