Cupping: How to taste coffee at home like a pro
Coffee tasting, or cupping as it is known, plays an important role in the world of coffee. In the countries of origin (export countries), where the coffee is grown, this is how the quality of the product is verified. In importing countries, for us consumers, buyers use cupping to check whether the delivered quality meets the order specifications. Roasteries use cupping to define which beverage they want to roast the coffee for. And we at home can use it to find out if we like the coffee.
This article explains how you can cup coffee at home and provides context on the importance and use cases of cupping. What is a cupping?
What is a cupping?
A cupping is a method used for tasting green coffee. To do this, a coffee sample is roasted to a set standard, ground, and tasted by slurping the coffee. This standardized procedure makes it possible to evaluate and compare coffee objectively.
During this process, 10 different attributes are examined, each of which can reach a total of 10 points - for a total of 100 points. In addition to aroma and flavor, the acidity, body, aftertaste, balance, and overall impression are also evaluated. Sweetness, uniformity, and cleanliness round out the attributes to be assessed.
A new evaluation form will be introduced from October 2025. We have discussed and analyzed the Coffee Value Assessment, or CVA for short, in detail here.
Simple step-by-step cupping guide
Short and sweet, for at home or in the workplace, here is the A to Z of cupping. This is how you can taste like a pro with ease. Tip: Read through the entire guide once before you start.
Your preparation
Foreign odors impair sensory perception.
If you want to analyze coffee (or wine and beer) sensorially, ensure that there are no foreign odors in the room. After all, the scent of roses, linden blossoms, and jasmine should come from your coffee and not from your perfume.
What you need:
- 1x grinder
- 1x cupping spoon or tablespoon
- 1x cup or glass 200ml (if smaller or larger, maintain the brewing ratio)
- 1x cup or glass to clean the spoon (size does not matter)
- 1x kettle
- 200ml soft water (e.g., Volvic, Black Forest)
- 12g coffee (or brewing ratio 1:16.66 = 6g coffee per 100g water)
- Paper and pen
- Stopwatch
The A to Z of cupping - short and sweet
- Grind coffee polenta-fine (700-1000 microns)
- Smell the dry grounds
- Heat water to 93-96°C
- Start the stopwatch and pour water to the brim over the coffee, making sure to wet all the coffee
- Smell the crust
- Break the crust after 4 minutes
- Skim off floating particles without stirring up the sunken coffee
- Taste the coffee (see below)
- Record impressions - why do I recognize this coffee?
- Clean up: Do not put coffee grounds down the drain; pour them through a fine sieve and enjoy the rest. Use coffee grounds as fertilizer for plants.
Clean the spoon with water between each step.
The individual cupping steps explained in detail
Notes
In a cupping session, it is essential to record what you taste. This can be done using an official SCA score sheet, in a personal notebook, or a cupping app. The important thing is that your notes allow you to recognize the coffee again. On a professional level, this is done on an objective basis. At home, you are welcome to let your subjectivity flow in; after all, it is about whether you like the coffee or not. But even here, note what you particularly like about the coffee.
SCA Arabica Cupping Form
Number of cups
For a professional tasting, 5 cups of coffee are brewed individually. The coffee is weighed and ground for each cup separately. This allows potential errors or defects in the coffee to be detected and named. You look for the uniformity of the coffee. If only one cup were brewed, you wouldn't know if the supposed off-flavor is actually one, or if the whole coffee smells that way and might be of lower quality.
Brew Ratio
For 12g of coffee, we use 200ml of water. If you use a smaller or larger cup or glass, make sure to keep the brewing ratio the same. For 150ml of water, take 9g of coffee (1:16.6). By the way: our brew ratio does not correspond to the requirements and standards of the Specialty Coffee Association. They specify a ratio of 8.25g per 150ml, i.e., 1:18. We like to taste it a bit stronger because we find the attributes come through better that way, and our preferred brewing ratio for filter coffee is also 1:16.66.
Grinding
Grind your coffee polenta-fine (700-1000 microns). You can also wonderfully use your hand grinder for this. Clean the grinder with a few coffee beans to eliminate any residue in the grinder before you grind the 12g for the cup.
Dry grounds
Put the coffee grounds into your vessel. Smell the dry grounds and note your impressions. Which aromas can you detect?
Water
On our YouTube channel, we have published a detailed video on the perfect coffee water. We recommend a water hardness of 2-3 degrees of German hardness and a corresponding alkalinity of 1-2 degrees of German hardness. Not sure if your water is suitable? Here you can see how to test your water at home.
Heat the water to 93-96°C. Pour the water over the coffee grounds and start the stopwatch. Fill to the brim and make sure all the particles are wetted.
Smell the crust
Smell the crust as it forms. Do the impressions from your nose confirm themselves? Can you find other aromas?
Break the crust
After 4 minutes, slowly break the crust with your spoon by pushing the particles from front to back. Do not stir, just push back. Repeat this 3 times. When breaking, volatile aromas are released. These dissipate quickly, which is why the evaluation of the aroma must be carried out immediately.
Skimming
With your spoon, you can now skim off the particles floating on the surface. They influence the tactile sensation and are also bitter.
Slurping
After another 4-5 minutes, slurp the first sip. As with wine tasting, we also try to add air during cupping so that we can also perceive the retronasal aromas. This gives us the full bouquet and the entire flavor profile.
With the first sip, we analyze the flavor and get a first impression of the body and acidity. During the second slurp, we pay attention to the aftertaste, the balance, i.e., the harmony between the other attributes. With the third slurp, we pay attention to the consistency of the coffee (did it get better/worse/more intense as it cooled down?) and evaluate the overall impression.
Why do we taste coffee?
Cupping is the method used to analyze green coffee sensorially and to evaluate its potential as roasted coffee. Depending on the growing region, variety, harvest process, post-harvest process, and the producer's interest, the coffee tastes completely different. Different parties along the value chain therefore have different reasons to put the green coffee through its paces.
The producers
With cupping, producers check their work. Just as the winemaker checks their wines for quality again and again during maturation, so does the coffee producer - but only at the end of the entire process. At the end of a long journey from blossom to processing to green coffee, there is cupping - and it decides between top or flop. All the hard work on the coffee farm is reflected in a few cups and a single sip, showing the producers whether their effort will pay off. Based on the cupping and the sensory impression gained, the producer can now bring their coffee to market. And they already know for next year in which steps they might need to optimize or whether the adjustments made this year have already paid off.
Note: many coffee producers do not taste their coffee. Especially small producers have often never drunk their coffee the way it is tasted by the trader, roaster, or consumer. Access to education and equipment is missing. As a result, many coffee producers lack important prerequisites to know the value of their coffee and offer it accordingly on the market.
The traders
The traders or dealers deal with green coffee. They are the hub of the coffee industry, whether on a small or large scale. However, more and more roasteries and producers are trying to skip the middlemen and buy or sell their green coffees as directly as possible. However, that is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Anyone who buys green coffee is in many cases the intermediary between producers and roasteries. The interest in tasting lies in selling the buyers the desired flavor profile and quality. For modern traders, it has long since not just been about quality, but also about the sustainability aspects concerning people and animals that are linked to the production of coffee. Because coffee brings a lot of baggage from the past but also from the present.
The roasteries
With their profile, the roasteries lay the decisive foundation for whether their customers, in addition to their philosophy, also share their taste preferences and whether, depending on their personal requirements, they shop with them for exactly that reason. Based on cupping, the roastery decides which coffees they want to use for their end products and what the characteristics of the individual roasted coffees should be. If an elegant espresso with delicate acidity, notes of honey, caramel, and citrus fruits is desired, the team searches for a corresponding green coffee. Finding the green coffees that suit one both in terms of taste and ideals is probably one of the greater challenges of a modern roastery.
The consumers
In the best-case scenario, we drink coffee that blows our socks off. But how do you find out which coffee tastes best to you? Whether you prefer subtle aromas or funky flavors? Which post-harvest process convinces you the most? Which flavor profile you like to enjoy at what time? Whether you can even smell, taste, and feel a difference between the various varieties and countries? One thing in advance: yes, you will. Consumers can also find out which flavor profile is theirs through cupping.
Q-Grader - the licensed coffee taster
A Q-Grader is a person who has successfully passed 21 sensory tests and is thus awarded the 3-year license as a certified coffee taster. What is known to only a few of us is a respected profession in certain coffee-producing countries such as Honduras - with far more pay than, for example, a teacher. After the 3 years have expired, this license must be renewed. The license is obtained for Arabica or Robusta.
Further information on the Q-Grader, including a video by Michel and Philipp, can be found here. At Kaffeemacher, David, Michel, Benjamin, Philipp, and Nadja are trained as Q-Graders, with Benjamin and Nadja possessing both the Q-Grader Arabica and Robusta.
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More topics around sensory skills
Learn more about cupping and tasting: Sensory Course
Test kits for water hardness determination buy in CH
Test kits for water hardness determination buy in DE
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