Coffee cupping is a technique used by coffee tasters to assess the quality and flavor of a coffee batch. It is a standardized method that entails carefully smelling and tasting brewed coffee to determine its qualities and identify any defects. This process is also known as the sensory evaluation of coffee.
Evaluations during coffee cupping enable us to understand the impact of various factors and processing conditions on the coffee's quality. Aromas and flavors in fresh and high-quality coffee can be distinguished, allowing for significant differences depending on origin.
What do coffee tasters look for during cupping?
- Fragrance: The smell of a dry coffee bean.
- Aroma: The smell of coffee when infused in hot water. This adds a more complex feel, with notes like fruity, citrusy, or smoky aromas.
- Acidity: This refers to the flavor note and the number of acidic elements in the coffee bean. Acidity provides qualities that produce a flavored drink that is not flat.
- Taste: The combined impression of all taste buds' sensations and retro-nasal aromas. This includes the coffee's intensity, quality, and complexity, resulting in flavors that can be sweet, sour, salty, umami, bitter, or a combination.
- Body: The sensation of the coffee's intensity in the cup. A full-bodied coffee will have a creamy or even syrupy flavor.
- Aftertaste: The sensation that the coffee flavor lingers on the palate after drinking. A longer, pleasant aftertaste scores higher.
- Balance: The complementation of flavor, aftertaste, acidity, and body.
Each property is rated for its intensity on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being negative and 6 and up being positive. The higher the score, the better the cup's quality.
Standard Procedure for Coffee Cupping
It is recommended to take three random samples from the same lot to determine the quality of the coffee beans. The selected samples must be roasted 24 hours before tasting and rested for at least 8 hours. The grind must be 70% to 65% and must pass through a #20 sieve.
Prepare your cups, which should be made of ceramic or tempered glass, with the proper proportion of 8.25 grams of coffee per 150 ml of water at a temperature of 93°C.
The tasting is repeated three times: with hot coffee, warm coffee, and cold coffee, allowing the true flavors and aromas to be distinguished. After adding hot water to the coffee, it must brew for a set amount of time, usually between three and five minutes. After brewing, the coffee is cooled for a few minutes before the taster breaks the crust that forms on the surface with a spoon to inhale the aroma and evaluate its fragrance.
The taster then scoops a small amount of coffee with the spoon and slurps it into their mouth, spraying it all over their palate to assess the flavor, body, acidity, and aftertaste. The taster may spit the coffee out after tasting it to avoid palate fatigue.
Coffee cupping is typically performed in a group setting, with multiple tasters evaluating the same coffee to reach an agreement on its quality and flavor.
At Regal Maroon, we cup every lot of coffee we purchase and receive. This activity helps us decide what coffee to bring in, ensure that what we are selling meets our quality standards, and allows us to taste different parts of the world from our office. Join us in one of our weekly cupping sessions to experience the rich flavors of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.