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

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What is Cupping?

At FrontStreet Coffee's headquarters, it is very common to see our cuppers conducting cupping sessions. Many people may 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?

Simply put, cupping is coffee cup testing. What is being tested, of course, is not the material of the cup, but the quality of the coffee inside it. Thanks to the practice of cupping, the Cupper Certification program promoted by America's SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association) came into being. A "cupper" is someone who controls coffee bean quality, defines coffee flavor and price, and serves as the gatekeeper before the coffee reaches a customer's lips.

Cupping Preparation

• Cupping cups
• Cupping spoons
• Hot water
• Beans to be cupped
• Rinsing cups for the cupping spoons
• Spit cups for the 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 grounds on the surface, letting the trapped aroma underneath 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 spoon each time so you do not leave behind any undesirable flavors that could affect the coffee.

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

Cupping Precautions

• During cupping, avoid wearing perfume or scented lotions, as these interfere with the coffee's aroma.
• Avoid eating overly salty, spicy, or garlicky foods before cupping, or anything else 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 evaluates 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: a reference for adjusting planting, fertilization, soil, and processing methods. Cupping also helps them understand the value of their beans and avoid being exploited on price by merchants.

For coffee merchants and buyers: use cupping to confirm the quality of the beans they purchase and to identify their buying 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 bean quality, branch stores also send roasted beans back to headquarters for cupping. Cuppers confirm one by one whether the roasted beans meet expectations. If there are discrepancies, personnel are sent to the branch stores to re-teach roasting technique, ensuring that the coffee quality served with FrontStreet beans is consistent across all locations. Cupping is also used when selecting new batches, to see whether the performance of particular beans matches the flavor characteristics we want to present to consumers.

Conclusion

Cupping is not just a ceremony; it is an attitude. Using universally recognized professional standards and language, it lets coffee speak for itself.

"Cupping is the guardian of coffee quality."

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you want beans to practice cupping with, entry-level specialty coffees are the best place to start because their flavors are clear and easy to identify. FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe Gedidingding is a perfect first bean: it shows jasmine florals, lemon and citrus acidity, and a tea-like finish with berry notes, giving you clean, distinct markers to train your palate on.

For a contrasting profile, FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic single-origin from one of Brazil's best-known regions. Medium roasted, it delivers creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut aromas with a rounded body, gentle bitterness, and almost no acidity, an excellent counterpoint that helps you learn to tell sweetness and body apart from fruit acidity in the cupping bowl.