Angel’s Cup Tasting Flight Review

I returned home from a trip on New Years day to be greeted by a warm gift for some intense icy weather. Angel’s Cup had kindly sent me a free run-through of their new service: Tasting Flights! These flights include four samples from experienced and respected roasters such as Spotted Cow and Conduit Roasting. On the package of each sample is a number (#0053) that can be input into the Angel’s Cup Cupping App to track your notes, and reveal the notes of the roastmaster for intuitive comparison.

In other words, Angle’s Cup allows subscribers to develop their palates and compare their notes against the actual roasters themselves. How cool is that?!

I set up my cupping equipment, pulled up the app, and began the tasting.

#0033 (NEAT Coffee: Kenya Thiriku AB)

The only tasting note of the roaster’s that I knew was lemon. The other three were foreign to me, so naturally, my descriptors were different. I was really thinking I was spot on with the maple/brown sugar combo, but apparently NEAT thought otherwise. It was a fairly complex cup with a well-balanced acidity and some sweetness among the aftertaste.

Click the images for more graphs and colors and stuff!

#0052 (Coffeed: Panama Traditional Kotowa)

According to Victoria at Coffeed’s tasting notes, this coffee was sweet and citrusy. I don’t know what coffee blossoms taste like, unfortunately, but I wonder if it resembles Jasmine, which is what I interpreted. I imagine the vanilla notes I picked up could have been considered raw sugarcane by Victoria, and my orange could easily be her lemon.

It seems my taste descriptors were fairly close to Victoria’s this time.

#0053 (Coffeed: Burundi Rutana AA)

Amazingly, Victoria and I both claimed the aroma to be chocolate and peanuts. I’ve never been a very good judge of aromas, so I was excited by this.

As far as flavor goes, it was definitely a deeper, darker cup, with a low acidity and full body. Although it wasn’t my preference, I appreciated the cup and see why others would adore it. I didn’t notice it until I compared my notes to Victoria’s, but her cola descriptor is spot on!

#0054 (Spotted Cow Coffee Company: Cerro Azul, Costa Rica)

This Costa Rica bean was my favorite, but interestingly, my notes were fairly distant from the roaster’s. I noticed right off the bat that this cup was fruitier than the others, but I interpreted the tastes to tropical.

There was a part of me that wanted to venture into the berry subsection of the tasting app, but I eventually decided I was happy with my tropical and chocolate notes. I should have ventured in, according to Spotted Cow’s notes.

The Verdict

I cannot say enough how much I enjoyed this tasting experience. For one, the coffees were excellent, despite being just over two weeks old when I finally opened the bags. Secondly, the app was very intuitive and enabled me to process what I was tasting at a deeper level. Thirdly, comparing my notes to the roasters’ was an opportunity that I’ve never had to this depth before, and it was amazing.

Each tasting flight includes four samples, each with around 25g of coffee, which is enough for a round of cupping and a manually-brewed cup of each. The total cost (including shipping) for these flights is $7.99, a small price to pay for this experience. I will be subscribing myself!

If you haven’t already, check out one of my full notes compared to the roaster’s to see the power and variability of the app. Then play around with the app yourself.

I highly recommend Angel’s Cup to enthusiasts and laymen coffee drinkers alike. It’s a unique and fun experience for friends, families, and coworkers to taste some incredible coffees and experiment with their palates.