Taste and Place

Last month I spent a large amount of my time helping out at the local green (coffee) bean importer.  It was an awesome experience and prompted me to think a bit about the experience of taste.

At the importer is a cupping lab where all the coffees that come in are supposed to be assessed for their quality.  The intention of the lab is to provide a space free of distractions where they can accurately judge each incoming coffee. This makes sens, however, it prompted my thoughts to wander.

It almost goes without saying that we believe the best analysis is done “without distraction” or with our “undivided attention”.  In many ways this is true, however, it’s also important to get out of the lab and taste things in other places… because place matters.

Where we are, what we’re feeling, these things aren’t always distractions from flavor, but in many ways, they create it.  Amongst those of us who seek to get more out of food than simple nutrition, there is a misconception that because a lab may be a great environment for assessing quality, it follows that it must also be the place to best experience flavor and taste.  However this rests on a flawed assumption that somehow by creating a boring environment, we’re eliminating the influence of it, when in reality, we’re simply creating another environment that affects us equally, although not always positively. We’re always someone who is somewhere, we can’t get away from that fact, even if we choose to ignore it.

It seems better to embrace this. Instead of eliminating influences, perhaps we should increase them. We should experience things in a myriad of settings with as many people as possible. This is how we “know” things in a relational way. I don’t (or, rather, didn’t) go on dates in labs, rather, I met people in various settings to truly see who they were.

John O’Donohue wrote of this kind of knowledge is respect to matters of the soul (of which I believe the taste experience is one). He said, “The light of modern consciousness is not gentle or reverent; it lacks graciousness in the presence of mystery; it wants to unriddle and control the unknown. Modern consciousness is similar to the harsh and brilliant white light of a hospital operating theater. This neon light is too direct and clear to befriend the shadowed world of the soul.”

We who seek out flavor are quick “to unriddle and control the unknown” in our pursuit of perfection.  We pick apart our experience until there little is left to enjoy. It’s a good reminder to leave the lab and step our into the world of raw, wild experience. Though we may not know or be able to explain why, enjoyment – our ultimate goal – may follow.