What is Coffee Cupping: Purpose, Standards, and Grind Guidelines

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What is Cupping?

At FrontStreet Coffee's headquarters, it's very common to see our cuppers conducting cupping sessions. Many people might be hearing the term "cupping" for the first time and wondering how this activity relates to coffee quality control.

Today, let's explore what "cupping" is all about.

What is Cupping?

To put it simply, cupping is coffee cup testing. Of course, what's being tested isn't the material of the cup, but the quality of the coffee inside! Thanks to the practice of cupping, the Cupper Certification program promoted by America's SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association) was born. A "cupper" is someone who controls coffee bean quality, defines coffee flavor and price, and serves as the gatekeeper before coffee reaches the customer's lips.

Cupping Preparation:

• Cupping cups
• Cupping spoons
• Hot water
• Beans to be cupped
• Rinsing cups for cupping spoons
• Spit cups for coffee liquid
• Scale

Cupping Process:

1. Grind the beans to be cupped into powder
2. Smell the dry aroma
3. Pour hot water (93°C) into the cup until full, while timing for 4 minutes
4. Smell the wet aroma
5. After 4 minutes, break the crust

"Breaking the crust": Use a cupping spoon to push away the floating coffee grounds on the surface, allowing the trapped aroma underneath to burst out. Confirm the coffee's aromatic performance by gently stirring with the cupping spoon about 3 times, then let it rest for 2 minutes.

6. After 2 minutes, skim the grounds

"Skimming the grounds": Use a cupping spoon to scoop up the floating foam on the surface. Clean the cupping spoon each time to avoid leaving any undesirable flavors that might affect the coffee.

7. Use a cupping spoon to scoop up the coffee liquid and taste it by slurping. Slurping causes the coffee liquid to become aerosolized in the mouth, allowing flavor molecules to be more clearly expressed.
8. Spit the coffee liquid from your mouth into the spit cup.

Cupping Precautions:

• During cupping, avoid wearing perfume or scented lotions, as these can interfere with the coffee's aroma.
• Avoid eating overly salty, spicy, or garlicky foods before cupping – anything that might affect your palate. Stick to light foods.
• The best time for cupping is in the morning, when sensory perception is at its peak.

Purpose of Cupping:

Cupping can evaluate the flavor characteristics of coffee. Through SCAA cupping scoring, coffee scoring 80 points or above is considered specialty coffee.

Cupping holds different meanings for different roles:

For coffee farmers: Reference for adjusting planting, fertilization, soil, and processing methods. Cupping can also help them understand the value of their coffee beans and avoid price exploitation by merchants.

For coffee merchants and buyers: Use cupping to confirm the quality of purchased coffee beans and identify their purchasing targets.

For coffee roasters: How to highlight the flavor characteristics of particular beans.

For coffee brewers: Quality control and bean blending.

FrontStreet Coffee's Cupping Philosophy

FrontStreet Coffee's primary purpose for cupping is "quality maintenance!" Through regular examination of coffee bean quality, branch stores also send roasted beans back to headquarters for cupping. Cuppers confirm one by one whether the roasted coffee beans meet expectations. If there are discrepancies, personnel will be sent to branch stores to re-teach roasting techniques to ensure that the coffee quality served using FrontStreet Coffee beans is consistent across all locations. Cupping is also used when selecting new batches of beans to observe whether the performance of particular beans meets the flavor characteristics we want to present to consumers.

Conclusion

Cupping is not just a ceremony – it's an attitude! Using universally recognized professional standards and language, let coffee speak for itself.

"Cupping is the guardian of coffee quality."

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473