The Sommeliers of Coffee

By Michelle Shaw

Quick question: Have you seen the movie Somm?

If not? I recommend you do.

It’s a documentary following four people who are preparing for the extremely difficult Master Sommelier examination. As the candidates study, and swirl glass after glass, you begin understanding what it takes to identify and score wines.

The ability to differentiate between blackberry and raspberry, apricot or peach, old world or new world, and on, and on, and on, simply by smelling and sipping.

To make it more complicated? You have to be able to do this quickly and repeatedly.

There’s a moment in the film when one of the men swirls his glass, takes in a big sniff, and then says, “I’m getting a hint of . . . cut garden hose.”

Seriously? There’s something in your wine that is reminiscent of freshly shorn rubber?

Wait. This gentleman knows what cut garden hose tastes like??

I’ve never forgotten that line, because for me? It represents the nearly absurd complexity of honing one’s skills to such a degree.

At this point, you may be wondering: “What does this have to do with anything related to coffee? Has MichiDos already had one too many glasses of Chardonnay today?”

Well, the coffee industry has its own version of becoming a sommelier. In coffee speak, the equivalent is to become a Q Grader, short for Quality Grader.

A Q Grader is a coffee industry professional who is trained and licensed to thoroughly and objectively evaluate coffee for its physical and sensory characteristics and qualities. In order to become a Q Grader, you have to pass 22 different tests! Apparently, these tests aren’t easy. In fact, there’s about an 80% failure rate for first-time participants.

Becoming a Q Grader is a huge professional accomplishment, and it can lead to many more career options.

As of early 2021, there were around 700 Q Graders throughout Latin America:

• 318 in Brazil
• 286 in Colombia
• 110 in Mexico

Add that up? 714 . . . not leaving much representation for all other Latin American countries. While I could not find the specific data, I know that a vast majority of these Q Graders are indeed men.

Allow me to introduce you to two amazing female Q Graders from our partner farm, Finca Terrerito (Finca T) in Honduras:

Lourdes Villeda

Lourdes has been in coffee her entire life . . . she’s the daughter of a small producer who became a barista, a roaster, and eventually a Q Grader. She has been working with Finca T as their Director of Quality and Exports since 2021.

She is responsible for tasting and evaluating all of the coffee samples that move through Finca T. Now, you may be thinking: “Her job is to sit around sipping coffee all day? Where do I apply?” Having watched Lourdes at work, I can assure you. This is not an easy gig.

During harvest time, there may be 30 different coffee samples per day, seven days a week.

In order to evaluate just one sample, Lourdes has to prepare five different cups of coffee and go through a process called cupping.

Initially, the sample is evaluated based on the aroma of the ground beans in each cup. Next, hot water is added and the cups are sampled. Each cup is tasted again at medium temperature and finally at room temperature.

This all has to happen very quickly and with precision timing. Lourdes records her notes and scores as she moves along. At the end of the cupping process, she will have a score for the coffee, be able to explain its tasting notes, talk about any variations or defects, and so much more.

The temperature of the water matters. The grind of the beans matters. The amount of time the water has had contact with the grounds matters. All of this has to be controlled.

When Lourdes cups, it’s not just to determine the quality going forward. Because of her background in coffee production, she cups to give small producers feedback. Maybe they are not picking at peak ripeness. Or maybe, they are leaving their coffee exposed to too much moisture. Or maybe they are over fermenting in the wet mill process. And a thousand other things she can tell.

As Finca T works with so many small producers, this kind of feedback about their processes is invaluable. And because she can truly speak their language, and understands the hard work and complexities of being a coffee producer, they actually listen to her.

If you want to see Lourdes get upset? Watch her when someone walks into her cupping lab with muddy boots from the farm. That new smell will contaminate her entire tasting operation, and she doesn’t have time to get slowed down because there are 29 more samples that need to be evaluated.

Thankfully, Lourdes recently gained a second Q Grader to help her through the hectic days: Elisa Rivera, Cupper and Assistant to Director of Quality at Finca T.

Elisa entered the world of coffee through a different pathway. Her older brother, Marciel, is the Farm Supervisor at Finca Terrerito. When Elisa was about 15, she started getting into some trouble. As a form of punishment, Marciel brought her to the farm and put her to work cutting down old coffee trees??? The work was hard, and she burned through all the money she made.

After graduating high school in 2020, Elisa started working on the drying patios . . . the large concrete patios where the coffee beans rest so they can reach the correct humidity levels. Her job was to get the dried beans into sacks and then move the 120-pound bags onto a truck or into the warehouse. The work was physically challenging and exhausting.

Elisa began considering trying to make her way illegally to the United States because she wanted a different life.

About this same time, Leticia Lopez started talking to her husband Al about changing Elisa’s position on their farm. Soon after, in 2021, Elisa started working in the lab alongside Lourdes.

Elisa was relieved for the opportunity for this work, and she has been rising and thriving ever since.

She didn’t think she could learn all the nuances of coffee and become a Q Grader, but in 2024 she did just that! And yes, even though it’s not customary in their culture to say so, Marciel is definitely very proud of his little sister.

Coffee is a complicated industry. Not all of it is pretty. In fact, much of it is downright tragic. But, there are incredible people doing the hard work throughout the supply chain. Quality Control is critical to ensuring that the Farm-Direct Specialty Coffee bought for BIGGBY and for OBIIS tastes exactly how the consumer expects it to.

Yep. That means Lourdes and Elisa are an integral part of our coffee tasting so good.

If you haven’t yet made the switch to our Farm-Direct coffees? I suggest you give them a try! Every single cup served is a reflection of those doing the hard work.

Thank you, Lourdes Villeda and Elisa Rivera, for ALL that YOU do.

Ahhhh, I think it’s time for another delicious cup!