How to become a coffee tester

If you don’t feel awake until you’ve enjoyed your first cup of coffee each morning, you may want to apply to become a coffee tester. As yes, it’s actually possible to get paid to test out different varieties of coffee. As a wide variety of coffee companies are willing to pay real individuals for their honest opinions about their up and coming products.

Apply to join a coffee testing panel:

It’s well worth joining as many product testing companies as possible. As an example, you may want to sign up for a profile with ACCE International. As they frequently hire coffee testers and offer the best taste testing panels.

Make a great first impression:

Once you’re invited to your first product testing session, ensure to make a great first impression, in order to increase your chances of being asked back for subsequent coffee tasting panels. As examples, make sure that you turn up at the address which you’re given 10-15 minutes before your designated start time and dress in tidy casual clothes.

Be open to online coffee tasting sessions:

While some coffee testing panels may involve traveling to a research facility in order to take part in face to face panels, you’ll sometimes be sent coffee products, which you’ll rate online. Usually via a video call on an app such as Skype or Zoom. Surprisingly online coffee testing panels often pay just as much as in person taste tests. Just be warned that you’ll have to sign a non disclosure statement regardless of whether you’re interviewed in person or online.

Practice taste testing different varieties of coffees and ranking them at home:

In order to ensure that you’ll be ready to start giving your honest opinions on different brands and types of coffee, it’s a great idea to practice taste testing at home. To get started, purchase coffee beans from numerous brands and get a friend or family member to brew a cup of coffee from each brand. So that you’ll be able to perform a blind taste test. Next, on a piece of paper write down your thoughts about each cup of coffee that you try. You may even want to try guessing the price and brand of each cup of coffee that you test blind.

Don’t be afraid to give your honest opinion:

While you may be tempted to rate a coffee which you don’t enjoy highly in order to please the company that you’re working for or the company which has hired your testing company to review, companies actually want diverse, honest opinions. So don’t be afraid to be honest, when you don’t like a particular coffee and would never voluntarily buy it from your local store.

Remember companies often make changes to their products before launch, based on consumer research. So your honest assessment may actually help one of your favorite coffee companies release a better tasting product. Which you’ll actually be willing to purchase with your own money.

So if you’re passionate about coffee and don’t go a day without enjoying a hot cup of coffee, first thing in the morning, it’s well worth getting paid to taste test different types of coffee.