SCA Coffee cupping protocols: 5 tips
Today I’m going to give you 5 tips for becoming a successful coffee cupper.
Grind your coffee just before beginning your evaluation.
WHY? Coffee is full of volatile aromatic molecules. Grinding exposes these molecules to the air, allowing them to escape more quickly. These give that delicious punch of fragrance we can detect when coffee is first ground.To avoid sniffing stale coffee, we recommend grinding no more than 15 minutes before beginning your evaluation, and covering your cupping bowls as an extra measure to preserve freshness.
Use water at the correct temperature.
WHY? The name of the game here is consistency; we want extraction to happen at the same rate in all the cups we’re evaluating. The hotter the water, the faster it will remove solids from the coffee grounds, changing the rate of extraction. SCA protocol indicates that our water should be at 93 degrees celsius or 200F.
Break the crust at 4 minutes.
WHY? No matter what the Coffee Taster’s Handbook says, everyone I know breaks the crust at 4 minutes. This allows the grounds that have floated to the top to reincorporate into the coffee liquor, and gives us a chance to get another big hit of volatile aromatics that were trapped under that crust. Cleaning the scum off the top after breaking should be done in one swift movement without over-agitating the liquid.
Taste at different temperatures:
We want to taste the coffee when it’s hot, when it’s lukewarm, and when it’s cool.
WHY? Temperature and time are two major factors in extraction; not only will different elements be extracted into the brew over time, but our ability to taste them will also change with temperature. Hitting the cups multiple times - while avoiding over-cupping - allows evaluators to get the full picture.
Spit!
WHY? Caffeine is a drug! And our bodies can only handle so much of it. Caffeine will be absorbed through the palate, even if we spit. On long cupping days or when there are many many samples to work through, over-caffeination can impact our ability to evaluate accurately. Spit every time, empty your spit cup often, and never put your spit cup on the table!
