Cupping is how the coffee industry tastes coffee. It's the standard we use on the roasting side to evaluate a new lot, check a roast, and compare one origin against another—all under the same conditions, so the only variable left is the coffee itself.
The good news is that it isn't precious. There's no fancy gear, no latte art, no barista skills required. A few cups, a spoon, hot water, and a timer. If you've ever wanted to know what people mean by "bright" or "balanced" or "stone fruit," this is the fastest way to find out.
Here's how we run a table.
What You'll Need
- Cups or bowls: Identical vessels, ideally 7–9 oz. Matching matters more than size.
- Whole bean coffee: 9 grams per cup. Two or three cups of each coffee if you want to catch inconsistency.
- A scale and a grinder: Grind fresh, right before you pour.
- A kettle: Water at 200°F.
- Cupping spoons: A deep soup spoon works fine.
- Rinse water and a spit cup: You'll taste a lot. You don't have to swallow it all.
- Score sheets and a pen: Even a scrap of paper. Writing it down is the whole point.
Step-by-Step
1. Set Up the Table
Weigh 9 grams of whole beans per cup and set them next to their empty cup. Line up your spoons, a container of rinse water, a spit cup, and your score sheets. Everything happens on a clock once you start pouring, so get it all in place first.
If you're tasting multiple coffees, keep the labels hidden. Blind is better.
2. Grind
Grind each coffee just before you pour it, a little coarser than drip—about the texture of coarse sand. Grind the same coffee twice if you're running two cups of it, and purge a few grams between different coffees so you don't carry flavor over.
3. Smell the Dry Grounds
Before any water touches it, put your nose in the cup and breathe in. This is the fragrance, and it's your first honest impression: sweet, floral, grassy, nutty, sharp. Write down whatever comes to mind, even if it sounds strange. It usually turns out to be right.
4. Pour
162 ml of water at 200°F, poured directly onto the grounds so everything gets saturated. Start your timer on the first pour. Pour every cup to the same level—consistency across the table is what makes the comparison meaningful.
A crust of grounds will float to the top and sit there. Leave it alone.
5. Break the Crust at 4:00
At four minutes, lean in so your nose is just above the cup and push the crust back three times with your spoon. The aroma releases all at once—this is the best smell in coffee, and it only happens once per cup. Don't rush past it.
6. Skim
Using two spoons, clear the foam and floating grounds off the surface and set them aside. You want a clean cup to taste from.
7. Let It Cool
Wait 8–10 minutes, until the coffee is around 160°F. Too hot and you'll scald your palate and taste nothing but heat. This is the patient part.
8. Slurp and Score
Load your spoon and slurp hard—it aerates the coffee and sprays it across your whole palate. It's supposed to be loud.
Score each cup on:
- Flavor: What does it actually taste like?
- Aftertaste: What's left after you swallow, and how long does it stay?
- Acidity: Bright and lively, or flat and dull? Acidity isn't sourness—it's structure.
- Body: How does it feel? Light and tea-like, or thick and syrupy?
- Balance: Do those pieces work together, or is one shouting over the rest?
Rinse your spoon in the water between every cup.
9. Taste It Again as It Cools
Come back as the coffee drops toward room temperature. Sweetness shows up here, and so do defects—ferment, staleness, papery or woody notes that were hidden under the heat. Some of the most useful notes on a score sheet get written in the last five minutes.
10. Reveal and Discuss
Now uncover the labels and talk. Compare notes with whoever's at the table. You'll be surprised how often people land on the same descriptor from completely different directions—and the disagreements are just as useful.
A Few Notes from Our Table
- 9 grams to 162 ml is roughly a 1:18 ratio. It's a little lean on purpose—it makes flaws easier to see.
- Keep everything else identical. Same water, same grind, same pour, same timing. Cupping only works because it removes variables.
- Don't chase the "right" answer. Your palate is a record of everything you've ever eaten. If a coffee tastes like your grandmother's plum jam, write down plum jam.
- Cup the same coffee more than once. Impressions shift week to week. That's you getting better, not the coffee changing.
Cupping a few coffees side by side will teach you more in an hour than reading about them for a month. Grab a couple of bags you've been curious about—Dawn Patrol next to Night Moves is a good place to start—line up the cups, and get your nose in there.
Grounds for living.