Gage (https://salemoon.co.uk/) and I first formulated the idea for this event as a response to a similar event hosted by Ake & Humphris: Wine & Music Night.
At first, the idea seemed quite abstract, and we were unsure how it would be received. Striking a balance between making the event engaging and enlightening versus pretentious and alienating felt challenging— We wished to avoid the latter.
Initially this seemed like a very difficult task... Had we bitten off more than we could chew?
However, as time and planning for the event went on, we gradually began to realise just what a good idea it turned out to be!
Typically, when we taste coffee, we use four of the five senses. The first few are obvious:
1. Taste - I think perhaps the most obvious. Whenever you sip a cup of coffee and evaluate its flavour profile, this is an exploration of your sense of taste.
2. Smell - Similarly, when you assess the fragrance and aromatic qualities of the coffee in front of you, you engage more in using your sense of smell.
3. Touch - We actually have a technical word for all touch based sensory assessments in coffee, which is 'Tactile'. You might hear other words like: 'mouthfeel', 'body' and 'weight', which are all tactile based descriptions.
4. Sight - Perhaps this is the least obvious initially. But as we begin to parse it apart, it becomes more obvious.
Does coffee with high quality latte art taste better? If the liquid in our filter jug appears more red, does this make us pre-emptively believe that the coffee is going to taste more fruity? Do we judge an espresso before we taste it based on what the barista is doing?
Again, this is all sensory information that informs both our expectation and indeed our very flavour perceptions. There's even reasonable evidence to even suggest that coffee served in a pink cup enhances our perception of sweetness.
5. Hearing - This appears to be where the line is drawn.
Aside from listening to the shrieking of under-textured milk in a pitcher, it seems like there's nothing to suggest that sound has any impact on our perceptions.
The SCA Barista Championships seems to incorporate something along these lines, where communication from the competitor is used to set expectations for the judging panel. Many competitors also experiment with using music to set the scene (much like one might do in a cafe), but this is an area that is under exploration and there are no concrete conclusions.
So this was the brief! We wanted to complete the sensorial pentangulation and focus on sound for this event.
We presented four coffees at the event, and came up with three tracks for each coffee that we felt best represented the coffee.
How did we come to such a conclusion?
Firstly we characterised the coffees based on the emotional response that we personally felt upon tasting the coffees:
Did the coffee make us feel happy and joyful? Did it make us feel warm and cosy? Did it remind us of summer, or winter? What kind of imagery came to mind? Did it remind us of a warm summer’s day lounging on the beach, or a drive through a woodland autumn setting where maple leaves fall all around in dazzling orange and red?
We used this mental imagery as a foundation to select songs that reflected a similar mood.
Once we had produced a track list, we welcomed our guests and asked them to choose which songs paired best with the coffees. Here are the results:
The Coffees and the music
1. Hermanos Aguilera - Costa Rica
We decided to begin the event with a neutral coffee—not too funky or complex—offering a gentle introduction for the audience.
Imagery descriptions: Gentle, warming, sweet, cosy, neutral, summery, comforting.
Songs:
1: The Message Continues, Nubya Garcia
2: May Ninth, Khruangbin
3: For What It’s Worth - Buffalo Springfield
Crowd's Favourite: May Ninth, Khruangbin
Second Favourite: Buffalo Springfield
Third Favourite: Nubya Garcia
Imagery descriptions: Springtime, flowers, polite, well defined, nuanced, complex, building, transformative
Songs:
1: Les Fleur, 4Hero
2: The Four Seasons Violin Concerto in E Major, Op 8, No 1, Vivaldi
3: Freedom, George Michael
Crowd's choice: Freedom, George Michael
Second favourite: Vivaldi
Third Favourite: 4Hero
Imagery descriptions: Bass-heavy, janky, minty, unexpected, complex, energetic, attitude
Songs:
1: Lost Ones, Lauren Hill
2: Angel, Massive Attack
3: Venus As A Boy, Björk
Crowd's choice: Angel, Massive Attack
Second favourite: Björk & Lauryn Hill
Imagery descriptions: Candy-like sweetness, funky, complex, wibbly-wobbly, in your face, extraverted, expressive, pack-a-punch
Songs:
1: Superstition, Stevie Wonder
2: Chameleon, Herbie Hancock
3: Da Funk, Daft Punk
Crowd's choice: Da Funk, Daft Punk
Second favourite: Herbie Hancock & Stevie Wonder
You can find the full list of music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cZNOgfjdDI2nI1ZyxfFzi?si=tb1DBXHySnyL7-lwjftHmw&pi=ytbDkVYWSOCur