By: Lauren Male ’27
Last Wednesday, October 4, the Honors Lounge was converted into a third-place-style coffee shop akin to Suited, a Pace favorite down the road from our very own dorms at 55 John Street. Accompanied by the smell of coffee in the air and the soft sound of smooth jazz, barista Eli demonstrated for his customers the art of the pour-over coffee brewing method. He led us through the process of cupping, or, in his words, “comparatively tasting different coffees to evaluate for tasting notes and quality.”
Paired with gourmet pastries from a local bakery, Dunkin’, the audience sampled a variety of coffee roasts, blends, and origins, starting with Cafe Bustelo’s instant espresso and light roast Green Mountain k-cups, and advancing to higher-end brands like Joshua Tree, Superlost, Sey, Stumptown, and Botz. Special guest Justin Ritchie amazed the audience with his French press skills and allowed us to examine the differences between various brewing methods. We agreed that Stumptown’s Indonesian coffee was rich and earthy, with notes of chocolate and baking spices, yet the taste differed from the Superlost Supernatural coffee which had similar notes, but a sweeter taste.
As Eli explained, this is due to the difference in bean processing. The naturally processed Superlost coffee beans were dried until the surrounding fruit flaked off, allowing the bean to absorb the taste of the fruit for much longer than washed – a process in which the fruit is immediately washed away from the bean. The Botz Bekele Belacho was a crowd favorite for its sweet, fruity-tasting notes: “Eli’s blend of Botz coffee literally awakened something inside of me. Oh my gawd, I have never had fruity coffee before and the Botz blend of fruity coffee was the best blend of coffee ever,” said attendee Danica Godshall.
Seeing the honors community come together to experience coffee culture in a more personal space reminded me of my local coffee shop back home, and the sense of familial comfort it brought me. In a city like New York, where coffee culture is so commercialized, it’s important to remember to slow down and appreciate small things, like the tasting notes in your cup of coffee. Specialty coffee is a great way to take advantage of such experiences; as Eli expressed, “It’s an interesting way to taste different tastes from around the world and to connect you to different places.” He also spoke about his inspiration, world barista champion James Hoffman, who helped him realize specialty coffee is one of the few passions that allows you to develop sophisticated skills and work with high-quality materials on a daily basis while still remaining relatively affordable.
Many, many thanks to honors advisors Eli and Justin for taking us away from the fast-paced corporate coffee world for an hour and reminding us of the community in sharing a pot (or cup) of home-brewed coffee.