How to Become a Barista: Detailed Scoring Criteria for COE and SCAA Cupping Projects

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What Exactly is COE?

Just as the wine world has AOC classification, coffee has COE classification. We often hear about COE-level coffees, COE competition estates. Currently, specialty coffee competitions in various countries either adopt the CoE or SCAA model, with as many as 9 major coffee-producing countries using CoE cupping as their national competition format.

COE

COE is a competition model for specialty coffee, with the full name being Cup Of Excellence. It is a specialty coffee competition system jointly used by 10 major coffee-producing countries worldwide. The judging panel consists of international cuppers, and coffee farmers must participate in at least 5 cupping evaluations during the three-week competition period. The top 10 coffees advance to an additional round of competition. In addition to having their coffee quality recognized as excellent, the greatest benefit for coffee farmers selected as COE winners is the considerable auction proceeds they receive. Good auction returns enable coffee farmers to have more opportunities to improve quality, and also give consumers more chances to drink good coffee, creating a virtuous cycle.

COE Scoring Criteria

Aroma

This is the first item evaluated at the beginning of cupping, with a total of 3 aroma evaluation stages. The first stage is smelling the dry fragrance of the ground coffee in the cup at the start of cupping. The second is smelling the wet aroma on the surface after adding water. The third aroma is the break aroma smelled while breaking the crust. Aroma is an attractive element of coffee, with many sources including floral, berry, caramel, nutty, chocolate, spice notes, and more.

In COE cupping forms, aroma is only for reference and not included in the total score, but in the Flavor evaluation, aroma is included in the scoring.

Clean Cup

Cleanliness is a very important and essential condition for specialty coffee. Cleanliness means complete freedom from taints or faults. If coffee has rotten, earthy, medicinal/iodine, fermented sour, rubber, onion, astringent flavors and other unpleasant tastes and textures, it indicates insufficient cleanliness.

Sweetness

Sweetness not only represents that coffee cherries were harvested at optimal maturity without unripe beans mixed in, but also indicates excellent coffee quality. Only by selecting just-ripe coffee cherries for processing into green beans can better sweetness be obtained. There are many types of sweetness, such as sugarcane sweetness, caramel sweetness, etc., which can be noted during evaluation. If sweetness is accompanied by astringency or stays in the mouth for a very short time, the sweetness score generally won't exceed 6 points.

Acidity

Good acidity won't be like vinegar. Even when bright and lively, various acids can be detected, such as citrus, berry, or sweet lemon. There are also melon-like sweet acids or the crisp fruit acids of just-ripe apples. All these acids above are high-quality. Bad acids are like unripe fruit or vinegar. Some undesirable acids are like overripe or spoiled fruit, where fermented acids or rotten fruit acids can be detected.

Mouthfeel

The mouth tactile evaluation item is not about taste - it belongs to the substances and tactile sensations felt in the mouth. Oily sensation, viscosity, quality sensation, etc., all constitute mouthfeel. For example, between milk and water, the former has much higher tactile sensation. Between thick soup and clear broth, the former's thickness and texture are far higher than the latter.

Flavor

Slurping flavor includes various tastes and smells, even aromas felt in the nasal cavity and mouth tactile sensations - all belong to this evaluation item. During COE cupping, because 8 samples are often tested at once, the AROMA item cannot be immediately evaluated. Therefore, at the beginning, aroma is only marked as pleasant or unpleasant. But when it comes to slurping flavor, cuppers can include the aromas they perceive in the evaluation, including various flavors detected or tasted. It can be said that slurping flavor is an extremely important evaluation item and also a basis for describing the characteristics of cupped coffee samples.

Aftertaste

After slurping, various tastes, aromas, or tactile sensations that still remain in the mouth. Good flavors stay longer, for example, sweetness - after slurping and spitting out the coffee, if it still clearly remains in the mouth and even dissipates, the score will be high. Conversely, if there's no aftertaste, or it's short, the score will be low.

Balance

Refers to whether various evaluation items of the coffee are balanced. For example, although the acidity is bright, does it still transition to sweetness? Although the texture is viscous, is it not astringent? Are the various flavors of coffee harmonious?

Overall

Is the coffee overall excellent and attractive to you? Or is it average, or do you simply not like it? This evaluation item is the cupper's overall assessment and can also reflect their personal preferences.

What is Needed for Cupping?

The tools needed for cupping are very simple: grinder, scale, thermometer, cups, spoons. During cupping, the ratio of coffee beans to water is also regulated:

Water ratio: 8.25 grams of coffee beans with 150ml of water, water temperature should be 92.2 - 94.4°C;

Cupping cups: should be made of tempered glass or ceramic material;

Cupping capacity: between 207ml to 266ml;

Cup height: 3 to 3.5 inches;

Cup rim diameter: 76–89mm. All cups should be manufactured using the same volume, size, and material, and have lids.

Cupping spoons: should be made of anti-static metal material (mostly stainless steel), with each spoon holding 4-5ml.

COE Standards?

Total score of 69 or below belongs to slightly inferior commercial beans or industrial beans.

Total score between 70 to 74 points belongs to general commercial beans.

Total score between 75 to 79 points belongs to superior commercial beans, generally called high-end commercial beans.

Total score between 80 to 84 points belongs to specialty coffee.

Total score of 85 or above belongs to COE competition level, also Cup of Excellence winning coffee, currently recognized as the highest level in the international coffee world.

In COE scoring, dry fragrance and wet aroma are no longer included in the total score. Scoring for cleanliness is more strict, with aged bean flavors caused by storage affecting the cleanliness score. Sweetness will also create differences in scores because COE believes that high sweetness represents excellent altitude, cultivation, harvesting, and processing, so high sweetness should be rewarded. Body is changed to mouthfeel, where in addition to evaluating body, smoothness and astringency are also assessed. Flavor evaluation can reference the new flavor wheel for more precise evaluation.

Confirming the aroma and flavor of beans, using cupping to judge the flavor and texture of coffee, and identifying the quality level of a coffee is an extremely scientific method.

SCA

SCA coffee cupping has ten scoring items, among which the following 2 items are not in COE:

Fragrance/Aroma

Regarding aroma, it includes two parts: dry fragrance and wet aroma. The first impression and first item to be scored after grinding the beans is dry fragrance. The aroma of coffee flowers, roasted hazelnuts, and roasted almonds are all pleasant aromas. Adding water and the wet aroma that rushes up when breaking the crust gives more imagination - honey, lemon, and apricot fruits make one's mouth water.

Uniformity

This scoring is relatively simple - do the 5 cups of samples have different tastes? Which cup has flaws?

SCA coffee cupping forms start marking from 6 points, divided into four levels:

6 points is "Good"; 7 points is "Very Good"; 8 points is "Excellent"; 9 points is "Outstanding".

Additionally, each level is divided into four scoring levels, with scoring units of 0.25 points, so the four levels have a total of 16 scoring points.

How to Deduct Points When Defects are Found?

When defects are discovered, it's necessary to first determine whether they are minor taints or major faults.

Minor taints refer to unpleasant odors that, although obvious, are not so severe as to be difficult to swallow. They generally refer to defective odors in the dry fragrance and wet aroma of coffee grounds before drinking.

Major faults refer to offensive flavors that are severe enough to be obstructive. They generally refer to defects detected in the taste layer and nasal cavity retro-nasal olfaction after coffee enters the mouth. For minor taints, deduct 2 points per cup; for major faults, deduct 4 points per cup.

The formula is: Deduction = Number of defective cups × Defect intensity

The total score minus the defect column score is the final score. If it's above 80 points, it's specialty grade. From 80 to 100 points, it's divided into very good, excellent, and outstanding three levels.

Cupping Process

Taking [FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling] as an example, let's use the COE scoring form to do a cupping session~

Preparation Work

Clean water; cupping bowls; cupping spoons; COE recording form; coffee beans; thermometer; timer

Proceed with brewing and grinding various coffee beans (preferably within 24 hours of roasting)

Cupping Process

1. Grind the beans to be cupped (grind setting: BG: 3B)

2. Smell dry fragrance: control within 15 minutes

Add water, steep, following the ratio of 8.25 grams of grounds to 150ml of 94°C hot water in the cup, let the coffee steep for 4 minutes until a coffee crust forms;

Step 2: Start timing when adding water, after 2 minutes smell the wet aroma. Wet aroma is the intensity of aroma when brewing coffee. Some subtle, delicate differences, such as "floral" or "wine-like" characteristics, come from the wet aroma of brewed coffee;

Step 3: Break the crust, stir the surface of the cup three times with a spoon, skim off the foam and crust, then you can start scooping coffee with the spoon to taste;

Step 4: Slurping and tasting, use the cupping spoon to scoop out coffee floating grounds, slurp the coffee into your mouth, feel it in your mouth and spit out the coffee liquid, record your feelings on the cupping form, score according to the cupping form requirements, rinse your mouth, clean the cupping spoon, then taste the next coffee.

To determine the suitable roasting curve for [FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling], we prepared three different roasting levels:

Roasting curves: choose different drop temperatures, 201°C, 202°C, 204°C

Curve ① has milk chocolate and caramel aromas, with berry flavors and osmanthus fragrance detectable when slurping, also with some earthy and rubber sensations.

Curve ② smells of fragrant wood, spices, and straw aromas, with herbal and caramel flavors when slurping.

Curve ③ has spice, osmanthus, and herbal aromas, with preserved plum, almond, dried fruit, and caramel flavors when slurping. Whether in cleanliness, acidity, sweetness, or mouthfeel, all are somewhat better than curves ① and ②.

Through cupping, we can understand the inherent flavors of coffee itself

Notes:

Every time you switch to a different coffee sample, the cupping spoon must be thoroughly cleaned, then rinse your mouth with ice water to avoid flavor cross-contamination.

Following this method, cycle through tasting each coffee sample several times until the coffee samples reach room temperature. Note that before tasting each coffee, try to forget the previous sensations as much as possible to experience the next coffee sample with the purest perception.

During the coffee tasting process, you can spit out most of the coffee liquid. However, at least swallow a small portion to experience the aftertaste sensation of the coffee sample.

Related recommendations: Is pour-over coffee really delicious? Why does coffee smell more fragrant than it tastes?

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473