Why do we cup?
Brazilian cupping is the most comprehensive method (it takes into account the physical and organoleptic characteristics of coffee) but at the same time the most difficult for describing the product. It is traditionally used in all countries worldwide and ensures excellent quality raw material, but it cannot replace espresso tasting if that is the final purpose of the roasted coffee.
"Those 25-30 millimeters of beverage cannot have the same aromas and flavors released through infusion (also due to different roasting profiles)." It must be said that this method is also subject to the taster's subjective variation.
So why do we do it? We do it to speak a common language!
Imagine having to talk about coffee with someone in Africa or Asia – all you need is hot water and coffee! Cupping was born from the need for professionals in the supply chain to speak the same language and understand the same parameters.
Cupping setup
- The ideal roast for cupping should be light, just after the First Crack (approximately an Agtron score of 55-60)
- The waiting time after roasting varies from 8 to 24 hours.
- As for grinding, it should be quite coarse (just coarser than for filter coffee).
- The water should be from the first boil so as not to alter its taste, at a temperature of 93 °C.
- Approximately 8 g of ground coffee should be used for 200cc of water.
Cupping phases
- Grinding: Depending on the size of the batch to be tested, prepare 5 to 10 infusions, grinding 8g of coffee coarsely into the appropriate cups. Smell the Fragrance; at this stage, it is possible to understand perfectly whether the sample has been over-roasted or if insufficient airflow was used. Defects in the green coffee (e.g., old harvest year, fermented coffee, or prematurely picked berries) can also emerge.
- Infusion: Pour the water from the first boil directly onto the ground coffee. Again, smell immediately; this is the ideal moment to evaluate the development of the coffee bean's roast. If it has salty or vegetal notes, the development was insufficient!
- Olfactory examination: Wait 4 minutes, and only then make 3 movements with the spoon from one point to its opposite in the cup, sniffing the infusion as you do so!
- Preparing the cup: Remove the crust on the surface and the foam.
- Tasting: Using the dedicated spoon, taste by strongly aspirating to best test all the organoleptic characteristics of the sample, choosing whether to swallow or expel the liquid. Drinking with a loud slurping sound is a badge of honor in cupping; only in this way can one improve retronasal olfaction (chemical stimulation of the olfactory epithelium when introducing food or drink into the oral cavity), speeding up and increasing the quantity of aromas perceived by the nose. (Remember that the tongue can only recognize the 5 basic tastes: bitter, sour, sweet, salty, and umami, while the nose can perceive 10,000 aromatic compounds, sometimes present in concentrations of just a few parts per billion. It is therefore the nose that provides us with most of the impressions in cupping.) Tasting coffee when it is hot provides most of the information, such as acidity, brightness, cleanliness, sweetness, and balance. Unfortunately, however, acidity acts like a fog, obscuring many defects in the green coffee and roasting. For this reason, it is good practice to re-taste the coffee when it is cold.
Small recommendations
Taste the coffees the day after they are roasted. Always approach the cup with humility and without prejudice; overconfidence always leads to mistakes. For this reason, blind cupping is always recommended (meaning tasters should not know which coffee they are tasting).Another fundamental rule is to treat all coffees equally: the same grinding setting, the same water, the same infusion time, and so on.
