5 ways to prepare for the Q Exam

The Q Combo Course & Exam is a beast, with 20 tests and 6 days of learning and exams. It’s a rigorous system that has proven to spit out highly qualified cuppers, and remains the gold standard for coffee evaluation in our industry. 

If you’re planning to take the Q Combo sometime soon, or you’re already registered for a course, I recommend you start practicing now. Here are 5 things you can do to prepare yourself for this epic test.

1. Cup as many different coffees as possible

The core of the Q Combo exam is cupping. There are four cupping exam tables: Milds, Africas, Asias, and Naturals. Each table has a wide variety of types and qualities of coffee. As a Q Grader, you’ll need to give accurate and honest evaluations of each individual sample. The best way to prepare for this? Taste every coffee you can find! Go to coffee shops, try new roasters, cup as much as you can. 

Each time coffee hits your palate, think about the flavors that are present, the descriptors you might use, and the attributes that are most striking to you. The wider the variety of coffees you taste, the more experienced your palate becomes. 

2. Use the SCA Cupping Form

Correct use of form is an essential part of cupping in the Q system. Get familiar with the form now! Start using it in your daily cuppings, practice taking legible notes and providing accurate scores. Cupping can involve a lot of juggling, as evaluators often have to hold a clipboard, spit cup, spoon, and pencil all while tasting their samples. Work on a system that works for you and practice it until you feel comfortable holding all your tools. 

The cupping form is a communication tool, meant to be understood by anyone you hand it to after completing your evaluation. But while at the cupping table, it is a tool for you. Figure out the best way for you to take notes and accurately capture your experience of each sample.

After the tasting portion is done, take a moment to review your cupping form to make sure EVERY PART OF THE FORM IS FILLED OUT. This means number scores for each attribute, tick marks or every horizontal and vertical scale, correct defect marking and calculation, total score and final score, as well as clear tasting and descriptive notes for each attribute. 

3. Practice Triangulations

The triangulation exam is designed to measure the student’s ability to successfully differentiate coffees by flavor. Some coffees taste very different, and some taste very similar. Practice triangles with varying levels of difficulty - start easy and make it more and more challenging for yourself. 

Find out what works best for your palate when discriminating between different coffees. Is there a particular attribute you’re more sensitive to? Can you remember a specific note from each coffee? Build this skill so that you can confidently identify the odd cup out in every set. 

4. Get familiar with the Le Nez du Cafe kit

This is another exam that can be easy to prepare for in advance. The kit itself is expensive, so I recommend finding a lab that will let you use their kit to practice on. 

The exam breaks the kit into 4 sections: Dry Distillation, Aromatic Taints, Enzymatic, and Sugar Browning. Practice using these denominations, and focus on recognizing and naming each scent.

Our sense of smell is a powerful tool, but one we don’t often use to it’s fullest extent - so go easy! When practicing with the kit, work with 3-5 aromas at a time, and practice for no more than 20 minutes. This will allow you to recover and retain more information, and continue building your library of scents successfully. 

5. Expand your palate by tasting as many flavors as possible

This might be the most fun - use preparation for the Q Exam as an excuse to taste all the weird things you can get your palate on! Practice describing different flavors, and talk to your friends, coworkers and family about their experience tasting the same things. Expand your vocabulary for descriptive notes and your palate’s capacity to identify them!

Prepping for the Q Exam can be a daunting process - let me help! Check out my upcoming courses or reach out for private training.