Cupping

What is ‘cupping’?

Cupping is an experiment to comparatively analyze a sample of roasted beans against another. It is most successful when done blindly, silently, and with a partner or small group. Once everyone is ready to share their thoughts, the conversation begins. For me, as a beginner, this is where the learning begins.  I find it so intriguing to hear that one coffee expressed an aroma of ‘raw sweet potato’ to one person, and ‘floral, sweet, roasted sugar’ to another.  It may seem like a simple set up, but the mind plays a very active role in pulling experiences from way back in our personal history to describe what we are getting from a coffee at that moment.  There is a specific vocabulary to use when doing a proper cupping, and developing your palate to identify all the nuances in coffee could be considered a lifetime goal.  There are 850 nuances to learn to identify in coffee’s aroma and flavors. (That’s more than red wine, and more than dark chocolate too!)

What is analyzed?

Qualities that are evaluated include: aroma, flavor, acidity, body and finish. Descriptions can get very specific, are best when sourced from a mental image, and are most descriptive when used with an analogy.  These are then ranked, and their cumulative score reveals the favorite coffee on the table. This practice began from a need to standardize what ‘quality’ meant in this industry.  Experienced cuppers can pick up defects such as water damage, old crop beans, sour beans, over ripe (or under-ripe) harvesting, and even if the crop was too fresh for consumption.  For competitions like the Cup of Excellence, winning is the goal, but cupping done more regularly is aimed at one specific goal: learning.  An example from a cupping we did this week:

‘The aroma was very clean, bright and had high notes of fresh citrus, like that of an orange.  It’s acidity was very present at the front of the experience, and died out before leaving my mouth – but it was a nice ride, with high peaks and low valleys.  The acidity reminded me of a slightly under-ripe tomato, which also came out in the body – which was savory, broth-y and a medium thickness.  There is a slightly smokey taste to it that’s present throughout the experience, which leads me to believe the roast profile teetered on being a med-dark.  It could have also been a ‘chaffy’ taste (which is a result of too little airflow in the roast) The finish was long, but left me with a tart ending, and slightly drying at the back of my tongue.’

The experience is completely subjective to each ‘cupper’.  Therefore, there are no wrong answers!

There is a formal way of doing this, that is explained in SCAA’s Cupping Protocols for cupping Specialty Coffee.  However, if you follow the general rules of using appropriate ratios of coffee to water for all the samples, this can be done more informally to get the same results.

How we do it:

1. Prepare three to five uniformly sized glass bowls each with 8.25 grams of whole beans – repeat for each coffee to be compared
2. Grind the sample cups – keeping them separated*
3. Label coffee –  place each coffee (with their 3-5 separate cups) at different locations on the table – label each group alphabetically or numerically to keep the experiment blind
4. Pour water - Have boiling water ready to fill each cup in one swoop – fill each cup with 150 ml of water, circling the table, quickly and smoothly.
5. ‘Breaking’ – With use of a timer – ‘break’ the layer of coffee grinds at the top of each cup at 3:30 minutes (Be sure to catch the aromas while doing this!)
6. Extract coffee grinds at 4 minutes – to prevent  over extraction (This is not practiced according to SCAA rules)
7. Slurp – or taste the coffee (slurping helps disperse flavor across your mouth – best when done quickly and loudly)**

**To those of you who know me well, this has been something I had to get used to!

Why do we cup?

Beyond the practice of developing our palate, there are many reasons why one would cup coffee rather than just brew up a sample and taste it individually. Doing a comparative analysis allows us to judge the varying degrees of each characteristic.  Two cups could have similarly bright acidities, but one could exude an orange-y note, while the other could give off a lemon-y one.  Subtle differences, maybe, but still telling of your experience.  I personally haven’t found a deep appreciation for lemon-y notes in my coffee, but a coffee that couples orange and chocolate notes would probably knock my socks off.

Roasters benefit greatly from developing strong cupping skills. As it was described in the ‘Roasting’ post, Craft Roasting is how we find a way to let a coffee exude only it’s best qualities.  When experimenting with roast profiles, comparing coffees discharged at varying temperatures can be very eye-opening.  A coffee’s characteristics becomes more ‘loud’ during a cupping.  Thus, every detail about that roast profile, and that crop can be analyzed.  After a few rounds, a skilled roaster will find that ‘sweet’ spot and define a profile for that coffee.

The more we cup, the more we learn! It helps with roasting, it helps with sourcing green beans, and it helps us explain our coffee offerings to customers.  The best part is, we can practice by doing more than just drinking coffee. Any and everything we consume can be applied. So get to eating and drinking new and weird things!  Plus: The more experience we have with different coffee from around the world, the closer we are to being able to say: ‘this coffee reminds me of a Guatemalan natural coffee from the Boquete region’. Oh, to be that well traveled.