Strangeways Coffee will hold its first public cupping with local Bushwick coffee roaster Lofted Coffee this Sunday Aug. 30 at 1 p.m. In case you’re wondering what a cupping is, it’s the professional process of tasting the different aspect of brewed coffee. Hot water is poured into coffee grounds, then the crust or foam is scraped off. You then sniff the coffee, then loudly slurp the coffee so it spreads to the back of the tongue.

“We hope to use this to teach people about the differences in coffee varietals as well as a way for people to start thinking about what all these different coffee taste descriptors mean,” says Strangeways owner Eddie Cedeno. “We feel it’s a good way for the neighborhood to interact with local producers and a local product. Our goal is to make it accessible to just anyone off the street, so don’t be scared!”

The Science of Coffee (photo via Lofted Coffee)

Cedeno hopes to attract coffee experts as well as novices to this event, where participants will taste seasonal offerings from Lofted Coffee and then discuss each one. “I would love for regular coffee drinkers and food peeps in Bushwick to get involved and interact with a product that’s being produced right here in their own neighborhood,” he says.

Lofted Coffee is, in fact, coffee produced in a Bushwick loft by Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg. They source all their own green coffee and roast it in-house (literally). In Bushwick, you can find their coffee at Strangeways, Hops and Hocks and Dear Bushwick.

Coffee cupping is this Sunday Aug. 30 1 p.m. at Strangeways, 87 St. Nicholas Ave. Free admission.