The importance of cupping in the world of specialty coffee

Cupping, or professional coffee tasting, is an essential practice in the world of specialty coffee. This standardized method enables the sensory characteristics of coffees to be objectively assessed, ensuring rigorous quality control throughout the production chain.

What is cupping?

Cupping is a tasting technique that involves analyzing a coffee's aromas, flavors, acidity, body and length in the mouth. This method is used by producers, importers, roasters and baristas to select the best batches, adjust roasting profiles and guarantee an optimal taste experience for consumers.

The cupping process

This process begins with sample preparation, where Whole Beans of coffee are ground to a specific particle size, then placed in bowls. Next,hot water, usually around 93°C, is poured over the ground Whole Beans . The Whole Beans infuse for around 4 minutes, forming a crust on the surface. After infusion, this crust is gently broken with a spoon to release the aromas, which are immediately sniffed to assess the first aromatic notes. Once the crust has been removed, the coffee is tasted by sucking up a small amount of liquid with a rounded spoon. This suction allows the coffee to be distributed evenly in the mouth, and all its nuances to be perceived. Tasters then note the coffee's different gustatory and aromatic characteristics.

The importance of cupping for professionals

Cupping is an essential part of any roaster's understanding of coffee. Let's take espresso as an example: it's crucial to understand that a cupping session often involves tasting more than five different coffees (and that's a minimum). Indeed, after only, say, five espressos, the palate would quickly become saturated. Infusing ground coffee preserves the sensitivity and precision of the palate. This process makes it better able to assess the quality of aromas with endurance.

Unlike extraction methods such as espresso or Filter, which can be affected by variations such as over-extraction or under-extraction, cupping offers a more stable and uniform evaluation. This is essential for rigorous quality control that can be understood by all those involved in the production chain.

It's important to distinguish cupping from traditional tasting in the world of specialty coffee. Cupping involves evaluating coffee in its ground form, with particles suspended in the cup. Traditional tasting, on the other hand, focuses on the coffee in its extracted form, with no residual Whole Beans. This distinction makes it possible to analyze coffee from different angles. It helps ensure optimum quality throughout the production chain.

A person cupping a specialty coffee using the Brazilian cupping method

A regulated, standardized process

Strict regulations

Cupping is often compared to wine tasting. It is a strictly regulated and standardized process in terms of Grind Type, ratios, extraction time and equipment used. This codification is essential, as it ensures uniform, understandable and universally accepted quality control. Cupping is an international notation system and a universal language in the world of coffee. It facilitates communication between the various players in the coffee industry, providing common references for the assessment of Whole Beans.

Compare to better evaluate

Comparison is a key element of cupping. It involves comparing coffees in different contexts (terroir, extraction method) to analyze contrasts in quality and organoleptic characteristics. For example, although certain terroirs are renowned, such as those in Burundi or Rwanda, a roaster cannot rely solely on origin to evaluate a coffee. The "Potato Taste Defect", perceptible only by taste, is a good example of this need for comparison. This disease affects coffee cherries and remains almost undetectable when Whole Beans are still green. However, it becomes perceptible after roasting, and is fully apparent in the taste once the Whole Beans have been ground and brewed.

Cupping is also a matter of educating the senses, a skill acquired through experience and practice. The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) encourages this expertise by certifying Q-Graders, professionals with recognized cupping skills. These experts are empowered to evaluate and rate the coffees they taste. Knowing how to cupping means being able to distinguish the subtleties between a coffee rated +75 and another rated +92. And it also means understanding the reasons for these differences in quality. At Tanat, this expertise is embodied by one of our co-founders Alexis Gagnaire, a certified Q-Grader, who personally supervises the cupping of all our coffees.

That's why cupping is essential for every roaster and enriches the whole industry, from barista to consumer.