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At the tea factory, she was introduced to She went to the office for the interview
the process of tea-making and tasting. Her and noticed that in a room full of men
uncle would slurp a spoonful of tea and with PhDs, she was the only woman, and
spit it out. Whenever the tea was bad, he with just a master’s. At that point, it didn’t
would call out the tea-maker. It was a fun matter to her whether she got the position,
experience for the Menon sisters. Post her because she was anyway flying to the US.
uncle’s tasting session, the sisters sisters sat However, she was curious about what cup
at the tasting table and had a little spitting tasting entailed, which was what motivated
competition of their own. Back then, little her to apply to the job.
did she know, that slurping a spoonful The first round was a tasting test, which
of liquid and spitting it out would be her Menon cleared. She also cleared the
calling as a coffee cupper. external panel and then at the internal
panel, the panelist said: “She is a woman!
Becoming India’s first woman to be a We can’t have a woman at the tasting table.”
coffee cupper Those days there were very few women
who worked as professionals as most would
get married and leave their jobs. Hence the
internal panelist didn’t think it was a good
idea hiring Menon. She was upset about
the sexist statement and told them that they
should have mentioned that the post was
reserved only for men. However, the then
chairman of the Coffee Board, said: “We
can’t disqualify her because she is a woman.
If she has done well then she deserves it.”
When Menon arrived in Bengaluru after Menon did land the job as the assistant cup
doing a master’s in food technology, her taster, but had to make a choice: studying in
plan was to become a dietitian. Those days New York or foraying into an undiscovered
her sister was in the US, hence the idea world of being a cupper. She contemplated,
was to go there. She had applied to the New and decided to go with the cupper
York Institute of Dietetics, and since it was opportunity. So, instead of going to New
expensive, she applied for a scholarship York, she ended up going to Switzerland
as well. By the end of all the procedures, for professional cupper training, thus
Menon acquired a seat at the New York becoming India’s first woman in the field of
Institute along with the scholarship. She coffee-tasting.
was all set to go to the Big Apple.
One day, Menon stumbled upon an The Art of Coffee Cupping
advertisement calling for an assistant cup Coffee cupping is the scientific method
taster. She got drawn to the idea of sipping of assessing and appreciating the aromas
many cups and getting paid for it. She went and tastes of brewed coffee. The process
ahead and applied for the post. As she had is complex and there are certain protocols
the required qualifications, she got called that needs to be followed. People may
for an interview. often think that coffee cupping is all about
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