What's the Difference Between Specialty Coffee and Coffee Cupping: Steps and Considerations for Coffee Cupping

In the world of coffee, two chefs define this unique product called coffee: the roaster and the professional barista. With fire, the roasting machine transforms dry coffee beans into something completely different. The barista, with his knowledge and experience, "brews" the roasted beans, extracting aromas in pour-over coffee and creating the perfect coffee beverage.

First, anyone can become a good taster. Second, the perfect tool to improve our coffee tasting map is something called cupping. FrontStreet Coffee believes that many people have heard of wine tasting or tea tasting, but today we're going to talk about coffee tasting.

What is Coffee Cupping?

One of the conditions for producing specialty coffee is cupping. Cupping is an independent activity conducted worldwide to evaluate the quality of coffee beans. Similar to wine tasting, cupping evaluates coffee from different angles: visual analysis, aroma, texture, and taste.

Additionally, this method of coffee evaluation requires some tools, such as several sample roasters, grinders, special cups, electric kettles, water glasses, tasting spoons, and sometimes even colorimeters to determine the degree of roast.

In short, cupping is a way to truly understand a specific coffee. It ultimately provides a thorough feeling and understanding of coffee from bean to brewed cup.

As a barista or an avid coffee enthusiast, this is an experience worth noting and discussing in detail.

How Does Cupping Help?

Better tasting coffee, or better tasting anything, helps all of us understand what we consume daily.

Generally, this coffee evaluation method called cupping is conducted by roasters to determine the quality of coffee beans, and by coffee shop owners to select the best coffee beans. And, of course, by baristas to better experience coffee and improve its taste.

It can be a unique way to understand your knowledge of wine and coffee tasting. Additionally, it's the perfect way to pick your favorite beans.

So How Do You Cup Coffee?

As I mentioned earlier, it requires some tools. Having all of them is not mandatory. That's why I'll keep it simple, so I'll only give you the most basic tools you need.

Quick tip: You need at least 3 different coffees for cupping, or at least the same coffee roasted in 3 different ways.

Cupping Equipment:

• Cupping cups or glasses. Cupping vessels are recommended to be glass or ceramic. They should be between 207-266 ml and have matching lids.
• Ground coffee. This should be slightly coarser than what's typically used for paper filter drip brewing. All coffee used should be ground to the same size.
• Water at 93°C/200°F. Use clean, odorless water, but not distilled or softened water. The ideal TDS (total dissolved solids) is 125-175 ppm, but should not be below 100 ppm or above 250 ppm.
• Timer. It's very important that the coffee grounds don't brew for more than 5 minutes.
• Spoon. Some deep spoons will suffice.
• Warm water. This is really important. After each tasting, you must clean the spoon before the next tasting.
• Lids. Each cup needs a lid. You can use a small plate.

Cupping Preparation

On the table, arrange the cups with coffee grounds in a row. Don't forget to place a slip of paper in front of each cup describing the coffee you're using to better understand your preferences.

Then place the glass with hot water in the glass for cleaning, and then place the glass in the crust. Prepare the spoons and timer.

Pour the coffee grounds into the cups. Carefully pour in the water and set the timer for a 4-minute brew time. Place the lid on each cup.

After 4 minutes, break the crust and smell the top of the coffee. Try to remember this aroma to judge the coffee. Write down everything you notice.

Clean the crust and put it all in the designated glass. Now you can start the fun part, tasting.

Get a clean spoon. Take a spoonful and taste it. For the best experience, you need to draw some air into your mouth, through your tongue, while the coffee is on your tongue. You're kind of extracting notes from the coffee.

Yes, it's loud, but this is the best way to find the notes.

For a truly thorough analysis, you should taste the coffee at its peak (around 5 minutes) and at 10 and 15 minutes to see how it breaks down and how the notes change.

Be sure to take notes for each cup and rinse your mouth with cool fresh water between each cup to keep your palate clean.

How to Taste Coffee Flavors

First, variety and processing method are key: washed and naturally processed coffees have very different taste profiles.

Now let's look at some main criteria and the correct way to describe them.

Taste. This is used to assess the basic flavors that can be noticed by the tongue. It can be defined as sweet, salty, sharp, nutty, buttery, spicy, woody, fruity, winey, astringent, honey-like, malty, velvety, etc.

Body. This is judged based on the mouthfeel. It can be described as weak, watery, full-bodied, rich, etc.

Acidity aims to describe the effect of fruit acids during the tasting process. They are characterized by bright and versatile qualities. It can be acidic, fruity, citrusy, etc.

Flavor evaluates the range of aromas and their rhythmic interaction. This is done using the nose, which is why coffee is sniffed during cupping and spread throughout the mouth. It can be described as mild, intense, floral, earthy, roasted, smooth, creamy, sharp, ashy, smoky, medicinal, tobacco-like, fresh and lively, etc.

Aftertaste provides information about how long the coffee flavor remains in the mouth and whether the aftertaste is pleasant.

Balance defines the interaction between all criteria.

Most Common Positive Notes

Everyone can conclude what is good and what is unsatisfactory. But what are we looking for in a cup of coffee? Of course, fresh flavors and aromas.

Main notes and common notes found in cups: sweet, nutty, chocolatey, fruity, rich, fresh and smooth, and all good things. Each cup of coffee should overall be good.

However, mistakes happen from time to time. This is why cupping is done in the first place. Ensure that the coffee doesn't have bad flavors and tastes.

What You Should Avoid

There is a coffee flavor wheel developed by SCAA that you should look at correctly. For example, if we talk about acidity, there are different types of acidity such as winey acidity, hard acidity, or rich acidity. Winey acidity might be a good sign in a coffee cup, while sourness is not.

Another good example is sweetness. There are several ways to perceive this. It can be rich sweetness, crisp sweetness, cloying sweetness, etc. Of course, cloying sweetness is not a good sign in a cup, while crisp sweetness is.

In terms of aromas (which can be perceived through the nose), there are many ways to determine a cup of coffee. It can be enzymatic, including floral, fruity, herbal aromas, or dry distillation, including spicy, resinous, carbonized aromas, etc.

Of course, if a cup of coffee smells like flowers, this is a good sign, while smelling like charcoal is not.

In summary, when someone is doing coffee cupping, good coffee is easy to find. Flavors like pepper, sourness, pipe tobacco, spiciness, etc., should be avoided.

Meanwhile, notes like vanilla, walnut, apricot, tea rose, coffee flowers, etc., should be good signs. Only good coffee can produce such notes.

Important Notice :

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