There’s somewhat of an art and a science to tasting coffee. It’s not just about whether a brew tastes ‘good’ or not, it’s about identifying a coffee’s unique characteristics and underlying flavours. This is where the practice of coffee cupping comes in.
What is Coffee Cupping?
Cupping provides a methodical approach to evaluating and analysing coffee. The protocol offers a level of standardisation, ensuring coffee professionals can better decide which coffee to buy and sell.
During the coffee cupping process, the coffee is scored against a number of criteria. The qualities assessed include:
- Fragrance & Aroma
- Flavour
- Acidity
- Body
- Balance
- Uniformity
- Sweetness
- Cleanliness
- Aftertaste/Finish
What’s the Difference Between Coffee Cupping & Coffee Tasting?
Coffee cupping is a more formal, standardised way to assess a coffee’s taste and other characteristics. On the other hand, coffee tasting is a more casual format that doesn’t necessarily follow a particular protocol; it’s more about exploring different coffee flavours and experiences.
Why Do People Do Coffee Cupping?
Coffee cupping allows buyers and coffee experts to assess the quality of the coffee beans and ensure they are free from defects or align with the tasting notes they’re looking for. Coffee can vary significantly from farm to farm and region to region, so coffee cupping provides a way to formalise and assess these variations.
Along with detecting defects, coffee cupping can also be used more broadly to help describe a coffee’s flavours and attributes, which is useful when grading speciality coffee.
Because it is a standardised process with quantifiable results, coffee cupping also provides a good opportunity to compare different coffees in a meaningful way when tasting them side by side.
Who Does Coffee Cupping?
Coffee cupping is generally performed by experts within the industry, including green coffee buyers, quality control assessors, farmers, roasters, coffee shop and cafe franchise owners, baristas and Q graders who grade speciality coffee.
Essentially, coffee cupping is useful for anyone who wants to find out more about the taste and qualities of a particular coffee. If you want to refine your palate or compare different roasts, you can also try coffee cupping as a consumer.
Coffee Cupping Scores
The Specailty Coffee Association (SCA) has developed a scoring system, whereby certified Q graders can assign a number score to coffee based on the coffee cupping experience.
These coffee cupping scores span from 0-100, with coffee scoring 80+ being awarded the label of ‘speciality coffee’ and 60-80 being commercial coffee.
What is a Good Cupping Score For Coffee?
Anything with a score of 80 or over is considered speciality coffee. More specifically:
- 80-84.99 = Very Good
- 85-89.99 = Excellent
- 90-100 = Outstanding
The scores denote the overall quality of the coffee beans and its distinct characteristics.
How to Do Coffee Cupping
It’s important that several variables are kept consistent when tasting coffee to ensure that what you are assessing is the coffee itself. Controls include:
- Coffee grind size
- Roast
- Water temperature & quality
- Cup size & dimensions
- Clean spoons to prevent cross-contamination
- Storage
So long as you are properly prepared and able to control these variables, coffee cupping is relatively simple. If you wanted to try coffee cupping yourself, here’s how you’d go about it.
1. Set Up Equipment
Start by carefully gathering and setting up the right equipment. Quiet, well-lit spaces are the best setting to prevent distractions and ensure each coffee sample can be given the same objective evaluation.
The cups should all be the same size, volume and material to ensure consistency. Spoons should be rinsed and kept clean between tastes and samples to avoid any cross-contamination between the cups.
2. Understanding the Evaluation Form
The SCA cupping protocol and form are widely used; however, depending on your purposes, you may use a different system. Familiarise yourself with your chosen form and tasting system so you know what to look out for before diving in.
3. Prepare the Coffee
Grind your first coffee sample to a coarse grind and put it in a bowl/cup. Pour nearly boiling water over the grounds and leave to steep for 3-5 minutes.
Next, you’ll need to ‘break the crust’ by using a spoon to disturb the grounds without over-agitating them. This will provide good insight into the aroma of the coffee. Pay careful attention to the qualities of the coffee at every stage for a full evaluation.
Remove the grounds and foam from the surface of the coffee before taking up your cupping spoons for a taste.
4. Taste the Coffee
When it comes to tasting, typically you will use a cupping spoon (similar to soup spoons) to ‘slurp’ the coffee. This involves drawing the coffee to the roof of your mouth and letting it fall to the back of your mouth to help increase your perception of flavour and aroma.
Take note of the different flavours you can taste and whatever else you notice. Sample the coffee as many times as you like to build up a good list of observations. Make sure you rinse your spoon between each tasting.
Most people prefer to spit the coffee out between each tasting, as you’ll end up consuming a lot of caffeine if you’ve got lots of samples to compare.
When describing the coffee, think about which words best reflect what you're tasting. Many experts refer to the Sensory Lexicon, a tool to understand coffee flavours and to help find the right descriptor.
The lexicon highlights 110 flavours, aromas and textures that could be present in coffee to provide a reference point. Here, you’ll see notes like fruity, vegetative, earthy, floral, nutty and much more.
6. Repeat With Consistency
Repeat the process with consistency and careful consideration of the control variables. When grinding the coffee samples, make sure the grinder is completely clean before each new sample.
You should also ensure that the amount of coffee, water temperature and the steeping time are the same for each sample.
Use your own experience as a reference point and don’t be influenced by other tasters' opinions. Avoid discussing flavours and aromas with others until after all the coffee has been sampled to ensure your evaluations are your own. This can lead to more interesting discussions after the cupping as different tasters will notice different subtleties.
Even if you’re not a professional in the industry and just have a passion for coffee, cupping can be a great way to learn more about your favourite drinks and the differences between the options available to you!
Want to sample our favourite brews? Find out where your local Esquires store is to see what’s on offer.
