To maximise the coffee tasting experience, as a general rule of thumb, you should avoid doing the below at least half an hour before your coffee tasting as it may interfere with your senses and tasting capability:
Eating
Drinking anything other than water
Wearing perfume or deodorant
Eating chilli and spicy food
I recommend smelling your coffee before you taste it. Three sharp sniffs will encourage more of the aromatic molecules from the cup into your nose, allowing you to detect the nuances.
Most of what we taste is through smell, so by slurping you can connect your ability to taste and smell (coffee tastings are one of the few cases where slurping is not only acceptable but encouraged). As an experiment, try holding your nose when you take a sip then let go.
The slurping technique is an effective way to maximise your coffee tasting experience. When you slurp your coffee quickly, it is able to aerate and spread across your palate stimulating your tastebuds. With this technique, you’re also able to smell the coffee aromas better and pick up more flavours.