Cupping Coffee

Coffee Research Institute

Cupping is the technique used by cuppers to evaluate the flavor profile of a coffee. To understand the minor differences between coffee growing regions, it is important to cup coffees from around the world side by side. Cupping is also used to evaluate a coffee for defects or to create coffee blends.

Cupping Technique: Place 2 tablespoons of freshly roasted and freshly ground coffee in a 6-oz cup. Ideally one should use 55g of coffee per liter of water. When grinding, you should grind to a French press size. The coffee should be roasted light. In the industry we often stop the roast about 30 seconds into the first crack long before the start of the second crack. This allows us to fully evaluate the coffee for defects and for the sweetness and aroma that are burned off at darker roasts. The roast should be similar for all of the coffees evaluated.

While some filtered water is heating, smell the grounds and write down your observations. The smell of the grounds (before water is added) is referred to as fragrance. Hot water (near the boiling temperature) is then added to the cup. Smell each cup without disturbing it and write down observations of the aroma.

After 1-2 minutes break the crust of the coffee using a wide mouthed silver-plated spoon that has been pre-heated. Put your nose directly over the cup and push the coffee down. This is the most potent burst of coffee aroma you will have during cupping and is the best time to evaluate the aroma. As you break the crust stir the cup a little to make sure all the coffee is covered in water and to help the coffee sink to the bottom of the cup.

Rinse the spoon in hot water and move to the next sample. After evaluating the aroma of all of the samples, scoop out any grounds that continue to float. Due to the high density of the lightly roasted coffee most of the grounds will sink.

After the coffee has cooled enough (1-2 minutes more) take some coffee into the spoon and slurp the coffee strongly to aspirate it over the entire tongue. It is important to aspirate strongly since you are trying to cover the entire tongue at the same time. When cupping for defects minor fermentation is very potent for me at the way back of my tongue and into my throat. I believe this is because I aspirate the coffee so hard that the aspirated droplets allow me to use my nose as a tasting tool as well. Most of the flavor observed in a coffee relies on the presence of aromatic compounds. To test this simply plugs your nose while drinking coffee next time. It will taste like instant coffee due to its lack of aroma and the flavor will be boring.

Write down your observations of flavor, acidity, aftertaste, and body. Move to the next cup and try to compare the different cups. As the coffee in each cup cools, it is often possible to detect new flavors.

If you are cupping more than a couple cups of coffee, it is important that you spit out the coffee after evaluating the flavor. It is possible when cupping several cups to have too much caffeine, which can adversely alter your cupping ability.

The key to cupping is practice and humility. Many cuppers I meet are stubborn and opinionated. The best cuppers I know are humble and always eager to learn more. I have served on cupping juries with some of the best in the world and we do not always agree. Describe the coffee as you think it should be described, but also try to find the flavors that other people are able to find. People will try to impress you with some abstract descriptions of the coffee, but this is more of a romantic tribute to a coffee rather than a reality. Cupping should be fun and interesting, but not a contest of who has a better vocabulary. Despite the strict, scientific-like protocol to cupping, the method followed in the industry is quite varied and almost every good cupper has his or her own slight permutation. Cup under conditions you like, but try to stay close to the
standards in case you need to cup with other people. I like to cup when the coffee is lukewarm and when it is cold, and I do not like to smell the coffee as I break the crust since I find the aroma is somewhat overwhelming. Some people would scoff at these practices, but by using this methodology I am able to obtain consistent results that are in line with some very well respected cuppers.

Reprinted with kind permission of Coffee Research Institute

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