Have you ever wondered how your morning coffee goes from a humble green bean to the cup sitting in front of you? There is a lot that happens along the way, from cultivation and processing to roasting and brewing. One particularly important part of that journey is coffee cupping.
Cupping is one of the most useful ways of evaluating coffee. It allows roasters, producers and coffee enthusiasts to taste a coffee in a consistent way and get a better understanding of what is actually in the cup.
Whether you’re an experienced roaster or simply someone who enjoys trying different coffees at home, understanding cupping can give you a whole new appreciation for what you’re drinking.
Understanding Coffee Cupping
What is Cupping?
Coffee cupping is more than simply tasting coffee. It is a methodical approach used to evaluate and fine-tune the flavour profiles of different coffees.
Unlike everyday brewing methods such as pour-over or espresso, cupping follows a specific process designed to highlight the characteristics of the coffee itself. By keeping the preparation consistent, it becomes easier to compare different beans and identify their individual qualities.
It is a particularly useful tool for understanding how a coffee tastes, rather than simply deciding whether you like the finished brew.
The Process: Step-by-Step
1. Preparation
Start with freshly roasted coffee beans and grind them fairly coarse – coarser than you would for espresso but finer than a typical French press grind. A texture similar to sea salt is a useful reference.
For a consistent cupping session, use 8.25 g of coffee for every 150 ml of hot water. The water should be heated to around 93°C.
Keeping your measurements consistent is important because it means differences between coffees are more likely to come from the coffee itself rather than changes in preparation.
2. Brewing
Place the freshly ground coffee into a cupping vessel and pour the hot water directly over the grounds.
Allow the coffee to steep for several minutes. As it does, a layer or crust of coffee grounds will form across the surface.
This is where the coffee starts releasing many of the aromas that make cupping so interesting.
3. Breaking the Crust
After about four minutes, gently break the crust using a spoon.
As you do this, pay attention to the aroma rising from the coffee. This is an important part of the cupping process, as the movement of the grounds can release a concentrated burst of aroma.
Remove any foam or loose grounds floating on the surface before tasting.
4. Tasting
Let the coffee cool for around 10–15 minutes so that it reaches a more comfortable and useful tasting temperature.
Using a spoon, take a small amount of coffee and slurp it. It might feel a little strange if you’ve never done it before, but slurping helps spread the coffee across your palate while introducing air, making it easier to perceive its different characteristics.
As you taste, pay attention to qualities such as:
- Acidity
- Body
- Sweetness
- Flavour
- Aftertaste
You don’t need to identify a dozen complicated tasting notes straight away. Start by noticing what stands out to you and how the coffee changes as it cools.
Why Does Cupping Matter?
Cupping plays several important roles in the coffee world.
Flavour Profiling
Cupping allows roasters to closely assess the flavour profile of a coffee and make decisions about how it should be roasted and brewed.
The aromas and flavours identified during cupping can help guide decisions about roast levels and how a particular coffee is best presented in the cup.
Quality Control
Cupping is also an important part of quality control.
By regularly cupping batches of coffee, roasters can check for consistency and make sure the coffee meets the expected standard before it reaches customers.
This helps identify differences between batches and can highlight issues that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Educational and Enjoyable
You don’t have to work in a roastery to benefit from cupping.
For coffee enthusiasts, it is a hands-on way to learn more about flavour and develop a better understanding of what makes one coffee different from another. It can also be a social activity, giving friends or fellow coffee lovers a chance to taste several coffees together and compare what they notice.
There’s something quite satisfying about putting a few different coffees side by side and discovering just how different they can taste.
Making Coffee Cupping Accessible
Cupping might sound like something reserved for professional coffee labs and roasteries, but you can also make it a rewarding experience at home.
Here are a few ways to get started.
Quality Beans
Begin with good-quality, freshly roasted coffee beans.
The freshness and quality of the beans have a significant effect on the aromas and flavours you’ll experience, so starting with coffee you’re already interested in is a good idea.
Consistency in Brewing
Try to keep your measurements and timings as consistent as possible.
Using the same amount of coffee, the same amount of water and the same steeping time makes it much easier to compare coffees accurately.
Document and Compare
Keep notes during your cupping sessions.
Write down what you notice about the aroma, flavour, acidity, body and overall impression of each coffee. You might find that your first impressions change as the coffee cools.
Comparing your notes with other people can make the experience even more interesting. You may notice something completely different from the person tasting alongside you.
Experiment and Learn
Don’t be afraid to try different coffees and roast levels.
Every cupping session is an opportunity to learn more about your palate and discover flavours you might not have noticed before.
The more coffees you taste side by side, the easier it becomes to recognise differences between them.
Embrace the Art of Coffee Cupping
From the coffee plant all the way through to roasting and brewing, there are countless factors that influence what eventually ends up in your cup.
Cupping gives us a way to slow down and examine that journey.
For roasters, it is a valuable tool for evaluating coffee, maintaining quality and making decisions about flavour. For coffee enthusiasts, it offers a chance to explore the complexity of coffee and develop a better understanding of what makes each bean unique.
And perhaps most importantly, you don’t need to be a coffee professional to enjoy it.
Grab a few freshly roasted coffees, keep your measurements consistent and give your palate some time to explore. You may be surprised by just how much you can discover in a simple spoonful of coffee.
Start cupping and uncover the flavours hiding in every cup.