• Strasbourg resident Sébastien Maurer became French tasting champion for the 4th time in mid-May.

  • Who is he ?

    How did it come to this?

    Meeting with the one who will soon participate in the world championships in Milan.

  • Every day, Sébastien Maurer enjoys coffee.

    A lot.

    He explains how to do it.

Machines of all kinds.

With capsules, filters, pods, beans, with visible percolators… But also roasters and many cups and other spoons.

Welcome to the laboratory of the French coffee tasting champion.

Sébastien Maurer won this title for the fourth time in mid-May in Paris.

As in 2014, 2016 and 2017, the Alsatian was the best in the "cup tasting" event.

The principle is simple: the competitors have three cups in front of them and must determine as quickly as possible which one has not been filled with the same coffee.

An operation to be repeated eight times, in the first round, in the half and in the final.

That is 72 times in total, over two days of competition.

“The one we take out is often very slightly different.

We don't give you two robustas and an arabica.

You can play on the region, the grade, the cooperative that produces it in such a region of the world, etc.

“, Details the specialist, 46 years old “including 25 in coffee”.

Not in just any position: as quality manager at Sati in Strasbourg, the largest roaster in the region (3,000 to 4,000 tonnes per year).

"You have to suck, gargle and spray in the mouth"

It does not permanently monitor the industrial process.

Its role every day: to taste.

“Coffees that we have just received in our warehouses, to check if the label is in conformity with the product, or those that traders send us for possible orders.

From the grain, Sébastien Maurer enters the scene.

According to a very particular technique, called “Brazilian”.

The freshly roasted and then ground coffee is then put in a cup, before being infused using water at 93°C.

Then four minutes of rest before "breaking the crust" that has formed on the surface.

Let's go for the tasting.

Be careful, it is done with a spoon and avoiding swallowing.

“You have to inhale, gargle and spray in your mouth.

In English, we say "slurp" because we bring back air.

The palate analyzes the flavors and the nose the aromatic panel.

“Then the champion of France rejects to avoid saturating.

“On arrival, I didn't drink a lot, maybe five to six a day, I spit a lot,” laughs the connoisseur, who “learned as I went along”.

Because coffee was not originally a passion for him.

“As a student, I took it from the coffee machine, that's all.

His arrival at Sati changed everything.

“I prepared the tastings and listened to what the jury said.

Then I tasted afterwards.

“His opinion was then often “not really taken into account, even if I was rarely off the mark”, remembers Sébastien Maurer with a smile.

Question of palate, perhaps finer than average, experience, and work.

For “about fifteen years”, his expertise has been listened to keenly.

He will still have the opportunity to prove it from June 23 to 26 in Milan, for the world championships in his specialty.

His fourth.

“I did 15th, 12th and the last time, I was in the shallows.

I want to catch up!

he says before returning to his lab.

For some tasting training.

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