How to Cup Coffee: A Step-by-Step Guide to Coffee Cupping

Cupping is the standard way to taste and compare coffee. Exporters, importers, roasters and competition judges use it to decide what a coffee is worth, and the 80-point line that defines "specialty" coffee is a cupping score (see specialty coffee). Learning how to cup coffee at home is also the best way to train your palate, because every coffee is brewed exactly the same way and the only variable left is the bean. This guide sets out the professional parameters, as described by the importer Royal Coffee from Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) standards, and a simplified version for home.

What cupping is and why it is done

In a cupping, coarsely ground coffee is steeped directly in hot water in a cup or glass, with no filter. After a few minutes the floating layer of grounds, the crust, is broken and skimmed off, and the coffee is tasted from a spoon as it cools. Because nothing is filtered and every cup is made the same way, cupping shows both the good qualities of a coffee and its defects. Several cups of each sample are usually prepared so that one bad bean in one cup can be spotted rather than hidden.

Cupping is used at every stage of the trade: a washing station checks lots, an exporter grades them, a buyer chooses between samples, and competitions such as the Cup of Excellence rank them for auction (see coffee auctions).

The standard cupping parameters

The ratio is a coffee-to-water ratio, not a cup size: if your cup holds more or less than 150 ml, scale the coffee to the water you actually pour. Royal Coffee also notes that grounds displace some water, so a full glass contains a little less water than its capacity.

How to cup coffee: step by step

1. Prepare and label. Set out the cups for each coffee, with labels underneath or a code so tasters do not know which coffee is which. Avoid strong perfume, food and smells in the room.
2. Weigh and grind. Weigh the whole beans for each cup, then grind each cup separately just before cupping, flushing the grinder with a few grams of the next coffee between samples.
3. Smell the dry grounds. Before adding water, smell each cup. This is the fragrance, and it is the first note on the form.
4. Pour and start the timer. Pour water just off the boil, about 200 °F, filling each cup to the top so the grounds are fully wetted, and start a timer.
5. Break the crust at about four minutes. Push the floating crust back gently with a spoon, nose close to the cup, and smell the burst of aroma. Rinse the spoon in clean hot water between cups.
6. Skim. Use two spoons to lift off the remaining foam and floating grounds without stirring up the bed of coffee at the bottom.
7. Wait, then slurp. Start tasting when the coffee has cooled to about 170 °F, usually 10 to 15 minutes after pouring. Slurp hard from the spoon so the coffee sprays across the palate; this aerates it and spreads it evenly.
8. Taste as it cools. Return to each cup several times. Flavors change as coffee cools, and defects often become more obvious when it is warm rather than hot.
9. Spit and record. Professionals spit to avoid too much caffeine. Note aroma, flavor, acidity, body, sweetness and aftertaste, and any cup that tastes different from the others of the same coffee.
10. Compare and discuss. Only after everyone has tasted, reveal the samples and talk through the notes. Group discussion is how cuppers calibrate with each other.

Scores and the new SCA cupping standards

For two decades the reference form was the SCAA cupping form first published in 2004, which scored coffee on a 100-point scale. Under that system, as Royal Coffee summarizes it, 80 points and above is specialty, 70 to 79.9 commercial grade, and 90 and above is sometimes called super specialty. In November 2024 the SCA formally adopted a replacement called the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), made up of three standards: SCA 102-2024 on sample preparation and tasting mechanics, 103-2024 on descriptive assessment and 104-2024 on affective assessment, according to Daily Coffee News. The CVA separates describing a coffee from judging how much the taster likes it, rather than collapsing both into one number. Many buyers still use the older form or private versions of it, so you will see both on sample sheets.

Cupping at home: a simpler version

You do not need a lab to cup. Two or three coffees, a kitchen scale, a kettle, a few identical mugs or glasses and two soup spoons are enough. Keep the ratio (for a 250 ml mug, about 13.75 g of coffee), grind each coffee the same, pour just-off-boil water and follow the steps above. Taste the coffees side by side rather than one after another; it is much easier to describe a coffee in comparison with another. A useful first session is the same coffee at two roast levels, or two origins processed differently, such as a washed and a natural coffee.

Cupping and Jamaica Blue Mountain

Jamaica Blue Mountain is graded and checked before export under the supervision of the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (see JACRA coffee certification and Blue Mountain coffee grades). At home, cupping is a fair way to compare a 100% Blue Mountain coffee with a blend or another origin: the method removes brewing as a variable, so differences in sweetness, acidity and bitterness come from the beans. Expect a mild, balanced cup rather than a loud one (see what Blue Mountain coffee tastes like), and use fresh coffee, stored well (see how to store coffee beans).

Disclosure: this site is published by Mamre Blue Coffee, a Jamaica Blue Mountain estate (see about us), so we rely on official and independent sources for the facts on this page.