Tasting is the act of evaluating flavors. This profession requires a refined palate and a lot of study to know how to appreciate qualities and look for defects in a product. On the menu of Brazilian tasters, the main items are coffee and wine. How about trying this area?
TRAINING
Undergraduate and postgraduate: a higher education course is not mandatory, the specific tasting courses are essential
Other courses: each course gives basic notions of tasting a product. On the Santos Commercial Association website https://www.acs.org.br/bn_conteudo_secao.asp?opr=162, you will find information about coffee tasting courses. Those who prefer wine can try it at https://www.miolo.com.br/seg/curso.htm
What is learned: in the case of wine, for example, one learns to differentiate the four tastes perceived by the tongue — sweet, salty, acid and bitter — and to use the various senses to compare the evaluated drink with already established standards
WORK
Occupation area: usually in companies that manufacture the product, but coffee tasters also work for the Commodities and Futures Exchange, analyzing samples of traded beans
Day to day: coffee tasters work in quality control, tasting samples to assess whether the beans are good. The wine ones go through tasting batteries with the different types of product. In a single day, around 30 drink samples are evaluated, which are generally not swallowed: the taster just puts them in his mouth and then spits them out.
Market situation: the coffee market in Brazil is not the same anymore, but there is still work. The wine market has more potential to grow, which would bring more jobs to the sector
What else is worth: being able to taste and become an expert on a product that you really like
Why think twice: the responsibility is great: an evaluation error can cause great harm to the manufacturer
REMUNERATION
Initial salary: around 1 500 reais (coffee) and 800 reais (wine)
Possible salary after ten years:
an experienced coffee taster can earn up to 10 thousand dollars a month