What is coffee cupping?

Cupping is the standard protocol for evaluating coffee, used by buyers, roasters and competitions worldwide.

Why it exists

Brewing introduces variables. If you compare two coffees by making two pour-overs, you are also comparing two pours.

Cupping removes the brewing: every sample is ground the same, dosed the same, and steeped in the same way, so the only difference left is the coffee.

The protocol

8.25 g of coffee per 150 ml of water, ground medium-coarse, in identical bowls.

1. Smell the dry grounds.
2. Pour water at 93 °C over them, all at once. Wait four minutes.
3. Break the crust — push the floating layer back with a spoon and smell the released aromatics. This is the most informative moment.
4. Skim the foam off.
5. Once cool enough, slurp from a spoon, aerating hard, and evaluate.

Slurping

Aerosolising the coffee carries volatiles to the retronasal passage, which is where most of what we call taste happens. It is not showmanship.

Evaluate as it cools

Coffee changes dramatically between 70 °C and room temperature. Defects and sweetness both become clearer as it cools, so a cupping runs for 15 minutes or more.

Doing it at home

Two bowls, a scale, a kettle and a spoon. It is the cheapest way to learn what you actually like, and it makes side-by-side comparison honest.