The purpose of the Cupping is to find fault with the coffee. Or. Picking on your skills?

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Cupping began in the United States around 1980 as a sampling process adopted by coffee companies to ensure the quality of coffee, a secret technology designed to identify major flaws and avoid buying unusable coffee.

But... what on earth is a cupping? (editor: can I eat that? I believe that when many people hear the coffee cup test, they will think of the foreign expert who will appear in the coffee advertisement, with a bunch of cups full of coffee in front of him, and his job is to drink all the coffee and grade it (it feels like a wine taster). But is that really the case? Is cupping a professional display or just a gimmick to attract customers? Today, the editor will take you to understand the meaning and purpose of "cupping".

First of all, let's take a look at the origin of cupping, which began in the United States in 1980 as a sampling technique adopted by coffee companies for coffee quality, designed to identify major flaws and avoid buying unusable coffee, which is a secret technology. But until now, cupping has developed from the investigation of coffee quality assurance in the past to the identification, development of formula beans, competitions and so on.

Cupping tables such as SCAA and COE are currently the most commonly used systems in the boutique coffee industry, and they are more or less the same. Nowadays, cupping has become one of the skills that must be learned in the coffee industry.

Everyone can become a coffee cup tester, do not think that it is difficult to understand and learn, in fact, as long as you drink more coffee and practice more, set up your own coffee flavor database in your head, you will be able to become a professional coffee cup tester! Success must be accumulated from experience. )

But there are a few things to know before becoming a coffee cup tester:

Standardized baking: the baking time is between 8-12 minutes, from the end to the second explosion, when the firepower is more average, this way can achieve medium-baked full-flavor baking, not too sour and too charred, carbonization will not be too dramatic. Then cool to room temperature and leave in a cool, dry place.

Standardized extraction:

Cups: use clean glass or ceramic cups and lids with uniform material specifications.

Water quality: clean and tasteless water.

Grinding degree: slightly fine or close to the thickness of French pressed coffee powder. Remember to use the ground coffee powder as soon as possible or the flavor will run away. (remember not more than half an hour at most)

Concentration: the ratio of grams of coffee beans to hot water is about 1pur18.18, that is, 11g of coffee powder is extracted with 200ml water.

Water temperature: the optimum water temperature for Meibei extraction is 93, and the water is evenly mixed with coffee and soaked. Soak time: 3-5 minutes, no need to stir.

Standardized evaluation: the cup test environment is quiet and clean.

Cup tester: there is a special cup tester.

Sipping: the action of sipping in a cup is exaggerated, which is to use a spoon to hold coffee and suck it into the mouth, which can improve the efficiency of taste and smell.

The six steps of Cupping:

Evaluation of dry incense and wet incense

Evaluation of taste spectrum, aftertaste, acidity and balance

Evaluation of sweetness, consistency, cleanliness and overall evaluation

Comprehensive score

Demerit points

Final score

International cup testing is complicated and daunting, but don't be afraid, as long as you master standardized baking, standardized extraction and standardized evaluation, you can conduct cupping at home or in a cafe. But if you do not meet the above three points, it will be difficult to call it cupping ~ remember ~

World Cup Tasters Championship is a coffee event that is somewhat the same as Cupping, and we can call it Tasting. The content of the competition is to test the contestants' professional skills, speed and accuracy in distinguishing the taste of coffee. During the competition, eight groups of coffee will be served at the same time, each with three cups, of which two cups are exactly the same. The purpose of the competition is to allow contestants to distinguish between different cups of coffee in the shortest possible time, so Cupping Tasting's competition does not require coffee beans, but tests people's ability to detect the flavor of coffee.

But some people regard Cupping Tasting as a myth and think that coffee cup testing can make coffee show more flavor, which is a bit misleading.

The main purpose of coffee cup testing is to let us know the nature of coffee flavor. The reason for using this method is that it can reduce the most errors caused by brewing / extraction. Not only can we compare whether the sample beans have the same flavor (three to five cups), flavor, and even know our favorite baking degree, grinding degree, and so on.

Some people think that the cup test should be a fixed baking degree, but looking back, if you or your guests like the baking degree is different from the cup test requirements, does it make sense for you to use the cup baking test? Therefore, if the cup test is not a competition for coffee beans and a competition for taste, it can actually be very free. In addition, he can also know your cooking skills, which also allows some friends who have misconceptions about the cup test to clarify.

The cup test flavor is definitely not the best flavor! If you just grind the coffee beans and pour water to cook and impregnate them, it tastes better than if you use all kinds of cooking equipment, then. Why do you spend so much time using these equipment? So, in fact, the cup test can not only detect the nature of coffee beans, but also be used as a test of your cooking skills.