What is coffee slurping? In this article, learn:
- Could slurping ever be a good thing?
- Who slurps coffee?
- What is coffee slurping?
- What happens if you don’t slurp coffee
- How to slurp coffee
Could slurping be a good thing?
I have to confess something. I slurp soup. I know I shouldn’t, I know we’re told that it’s bad to slurp, and it’s even a bit shocking.
I do try to control myself in restaurants. But at home…
I remember one time my husband and I were having soup at dinner and he looked at me with a bit of disgust and said to me, “You’re slurping.”
Not a good thing, huh??
You could be asking, “What? Didn’t your mother teach you to never slurp?” Well, sometimes it’s necessary, and not just when you’ve got a hot bowl of soup in front of you.
Who should slurp coffee?
Because with coffee, we need to slurp.
Slurping is a big thing in the coffee world. In fact, if you go to a professional coffee cupping, you may almost be deafened by the sound of slurping.
You never knew that human beings could slurp so loud.
What does it mean to slurp coffee?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines slurping as “to make a sucking noise while eating or drinking.”
A definition for “coffee slurping” could be: “to make a sucking noise while drinking coffee.”
To slurp, you want to pull the liquid into your mouth fast. Some people make a little bridge from the coffee cup to their palate with their tongue.
Just touch your tongue to the cup and use it as a pathway for the liquid. Just be careful and practice quite a bit so you don’t wind up aspirating too much coffee in.
The more air that comes in with the coffee, the louder the slurp.
You might be asking, “Is this really necessary? Can’t I just sip the coffee?”
What happens if you don’t slurp
If you sip coffee, the liquid doesn’t go where it’s supposed to go.
You can try this out right now: go get a glass of water or, why not, prepare yourself a fantastic cup of coffee.
Now sip it. Where is does the liquid wind up first?
Just on the tip of your tongue. Then it goes to the back and down the hatch. But have you really tasted the drink?
NOT REALLY.
How to slurp coffee
So what do you need to do?
If you’ve done wine tastings, you’ve seen this. You don’t just sip wine at a wine tasting. You’re taught to get that wine all over your tongue, mouth and palate by slurping it in at full speed.
It’s the same deal with coffee. You want to slurp coffee in quickly enough so that it gets aerated and spreads all over your tongue and palate. That way your tongue can fully register the taste sensations. Also, your nose picks up on many aromas and helps you detect even more flavors.
You need to get your nose working with your taste buds. Why do you need to get your nose involved? We go into this with more detail in our coffee courses and workshops, but the brief explanation is that you don’t actually taste with your tongue.
You taste with…your nose.
Sounds odd, huh? There isn’t time to go into it right now, but just believe me on this one.
So when you slurp, both your taste buds and your nose get involved and you really truly taste the coffee. So you need to slurp.
That’s why my book is called Permission to Slurp, and almost all my coffee courses all have “slurp” in the title. Because slurping is at the core of learning about coffee.
So yes, we’re telling you it is just fine to slurp your coffee – the louder the better – to get the full taste experience. Professional cuppers and baristas slurp long and loud, so don’t be shy about your slurping.
Why you should slurp coffee
So… Are you ready to slurp?
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You can get a sneak preview of vital lessons such as the Secrets of Coffee Professionals, Do Coffees From Around the World Taste Different, and How to Improve your Coffee Tasting Memory.
A plus is you get to do a lot of slurping along the way…
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