Cupping is one of the best ways to learn more about flavour, aroma, and to share that with other people. We cup every batch of coffee that we roast here at Sample to make sure it meets our quality standards, but it’s also a chance for us to talk about flavours.
We’ll each taste the coffee then compare notes and keep tasting to understand what we’re each picking up in the cup.
Here’s our step-by-step guide (or jump onto this guide’s Frequently Asked Questions):
Gear
• 6-8 identical ceramic cups, holding 160-200g of water, and preferably wider at the top
• 1 soup spoon for each taster (or 2 spoons if you’re tasting alone)
• Kettle or alternative source
• Grinderℹ︎
• Scales
• A bowl to collect wet grounds
• A tall glass to hold spoons
• Glass or mugs for spitting
Goods
• 20g of 3-4 different coffees
• Water ♨︎
ℹ︎: If you don’t have a grinder, that’s OK! You can always use pre-ground coffee, though we recommend freshly ground because it does elevate the flavour of each brew.
♨︎: In our recipes, we measure water in grams because we use scales, and it’s easy to achieve precision this way. However, if you don’t have scales, the conversion is easy: 1g=1mL.
Steps
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Check how much water each cup holds.
Place a cup on the scales and tare, then fill the water to check how much the cup holds. This will tell us how much coffee we’ll need in each cup. This guide is for 150ml cups, so adjust those amounts as you need.
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Prime the grinder by running 2g of the first coffee, then discard it.
This will remove any old stray grounds from the last coffee you used. We want to taste only the flavour in the coffee we’re cupping!
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Grind 2 x 9g batches of the first coffee on a medium-coarse setting.
Place each batch in separate cups, then take these to the benchtop/table where you’ll be running the cupping. Set both cups against each other, forming a clear pair. And don’t forget to label them referring to the coffee they have (a small post-it will do; you can hide it under the cups pair, face-down, for blind cupping).
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Take a moment to smell the dry grounds.
Make a note of any aromas or even feelings you notice. There’s no wrong answer, so write whatever you sense or think, even if it’s “coffee.” It’s also helpful to open your mouth while doing this, driving bigger aroma waves to your palate.
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Repeat steps 2–4 for each coffee.
Prime the grinder each time because you’re switching coffees, and space each pair of cups slightly apart, so it’s easy to discern each coffee’s grouping.
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Start a timer, and add 150g of hot water.
Heat water to approx 94° C and pour 150g (150ml) into each cup. Make sure each cup is at the same level. You’ll need quite a bit of water for this: for 3 coffees (6 cups) you’ll need at least 900g.
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Fill a glass or spare cup with the remaining hot water, and heat your spoons.
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After 4 minutes, break the crust.
You’ll notice a ‘crust’ on top of most cups after 4 minutes. Use the back of a spoon to break through the crust. This will release gases from brewing, so put your nose near the surface and inhale. Take note of any new aromas or feelings your notice.
Rinse the spoon in the glass of hot water, and keep working along the line of cups in the same way. You should try to move at roughly the same pace as you poured.
Don’t worry if there are still grounds left on the top of the cups; we’ll clean that up in the next step. If there are two people, you can do this step at the same time for the two cups of each coffee. -
Gently remove the remaining floating grounds’ crust.
Using one or two spoons in a circular motion, remove any remaining grounds floating on the surface of the cup. If there are not many, you can run the back of the spoon over the surface gently and it’ll collect most of them.
We use a scooping motion running the two spoons around the rim of the glass, but use any method you’re comfortable with. The key is to leave as much liquid as possible, and not to disturb the bottom of the glass. -
Exactly 15 minutes after the first pour, start tasting the cups.
The cups will have cooled, and this allows more flavours to be felt and tasted. Take a spoonful of each coffee and slurp quickly, even making a loud noise; the aim is to aerate the coffee so it coats your palate.
Rinse your spoon in the spare cup of water between every slurp. Spit each mouthful into a cup or jug between each cup, so you don’t get too wired. -
Take some notes about flavour.
Take notes of flavour for each pair of cups, or for an individual cup if you notice a difference between a pair (yes, this happens!).
Flavour noticing and description can be overwhelming, so it helps to focus on a different quality for each run: acidity, sweetness, bitterness, fruitiness… (see notes below for more). -
Repeat.
Once you’ve tasted all the cups, work your way around at least once more and you’ll probably notice differences that you missed the first time as your palate adjusts to the subtle changes between cups.
Flavour noticing and description can be overwhelming, so it helps to focus on a different quality for each run: acidity, sweetness, bitterness, fruitiness… (see notes below for more). -
Discuss and compare.
It’s best not to talk about what you taste until everyone’s tasted all the cups. Your brain is very open to suggestions around flavour, so someone saying “I’m getting raspberry” will likely prompt everyone else to pick up a similar flavour.
Notes & tips
Language and flavours.
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Flavor Wheel is a great resource for referencing flavours. It’s a useful visual prompt for identifying notes and aroma; work from the inside out to get more specific if you can.
The SCA also has documented cupping standards around the specifics of almost everything about cupping, if you want to nerd out on the details.
Focus on taste areas/qualities and compared them.
If you’re a beginner, it helps to focus on noticing/comparing a quality at a time between coffees, for example, acidity or sweetness. This video of James Hoffmann cupping coffee with a complete beginner gives such good insights on how to approach cupping!
