Tasting protocol
A standardised method for comparing coffees side by side. It removes brewing variables so the coffee is the only difference.
Cupping is the industry’s standard tasting protocol. It exists to compare coffees, not to make a nice drink — and it is deliberately crude for that reason.
8.25 g of coarsely ground coffee per 150 ml of water, in identical bowls.
Smell the dry grounds. Pour water at 93 °C directly on, all at once. Let it steep four minutes while a crust forms.
Break the crust with a spoon, pushing it back and smelling deeply as the aromatics release. This is the moment cuppers care most about.
Skim off the foam and floating grounds. Wait until it cools to around 70 °C, then taste by slurping aggressively from a spoon — which aerates the coffee and sprays it across the whole palate.
Taste again as it cools. Coffees change enormously between 70 °C and room temperature, and the SCA protocol requires assessing across that range.
Filtering introduces a variable. Every cupping bowl is treated identically, so any difference is the coffee.
Genuinely useful when choosing between bags or dialling in a new coffee. Three bowls, identical treatment, side by side — you will notice differences a brewed comparison hides.
Q graders score aroma, flavour, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance and more, out of 100. Above 80 is specialty.
The equipment this actually requires — not a shopping list, the shortest route to doing it properly.
64 mm flat burr · filter only · single dose
64 mm flat burrs, near-zero retention and a footprint the size of a mug, built for filter and honest about not doing espresso. For pour-over it is the clearest grind you can buy at this price.
Best for: V60, Chemex, AeroPress and batch brewing, where clarity is the whole point.
≈ $345 / £275 / 300 €
2 kg × 0.1 g · flow rate · under-portafilter footprint
Fast enough for espresso, small enough for a drip tray, and it shows flow rate — which is the one number that tells you what your shot is doing while it is still happening.
Best for: Espresso, where 0.1 g and a fast refresh genuinely change what you can control.
≈ $60 / £50 / 55 €
