What is SCAA coffee flavor wheel? How to use SACC standard cup test?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

What is the flavor wheel of SCAA coffee? How to use SCAA standard cup to test?

The innermost circle of the flavor wheel is the nine categories of taste, and then extended according to the detailed classification, a total of 36 flavors, their colors according to the intuitive color of the taste. In Taiwan, some flavors are less likely to appear in life, or are not as good as those described in the flavor wheel, so reference information is attached to each flavor on the flavor wheel. In addition, in order to train the side division of the cup's sense of smell, some companies have launched scent bottles to increase their familiarity with the taste.

The item of testing and scoring of incense bottle cup

There are 11 scoring items in the cup test, the full scores of the 1st to 10th items are all 10 points, and the 11th item is inverted. The following picture shows the SCAA Cup score table.

SCAA Cup score Table

1. Aroma (Fragrance,

It contains dry and wet aromas, which are scored according to intensity and quality. the taste of aroma is mainly based on your sense of smell. Smell and taste have their own advantages. Trained cup testers can not only taste the taste, but also feel the aroma of coffee through the sense of smell. The feeling of this aroma is quite subtle, such as "flower", "fruit" or even "wine", which can be tasted by smell.

two。 Flavor

Flavor shows the main characteristics of a cup of coffee, through the sense of smell left in the upper jaw aroma, and through the taste of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, sweet, to experience the feeling of coffee covering the taste buds. The scoring standard is to consider the intensity and quality of flavor and the combination of taste and aroma.

3. Yu Yun

Whether the pleasant flavor left in the throat after swallowing or spitting out the coffee is continued, enhanced or reduced. If the flavor is not good or the stay is not long, the score is on the low side.

4. Acidity

Acidity is judged by quality rather than strength, which is a different concept from Sour. Acidity represents a kind of natural refreshing acidity of food, such as lemon, willow and other fruits. Acid, on the other hand, refers to the sour taste after processing, such as vinegar, or even the sour taste of rotten and fermented food.

Why does coffee have acidity? This is a very normal phenomenon, because coffee beans are derived from coffee fruit, which itself is a kind of fruit, so it naturally contains sour coffee fruit. The acidity of good coffee should be refreshing and bright acidity, not irritating acidity. If the variety, process, roasting and brewing of coffee are properly regulated, you should be able to taste the natural acidity of coffee.

5. Thickness

Thickness is the tactile feeling of coffee in the mouth. Whether a cup of coffee has a good thickness depends on the combination of alcohol thickness, viscosity, quality, and so on. The most important thing is the content of oil in the coffee. If there is too much oil, it will make the coffee too thick and thick. On the contrary, if there is too little oil, it will make people feel like they are drinking water.

If you still think it's too abstract, you can imagine the difference between drinking water and drinking milk. Water has almost no thickness, you can only feel the liquid flowing into your mouth, but when you drink milk, you will have a thick feeling, which is called thickness.

6. Balance degree

Balance is a comprehensive expression of aroma, flavor, acidity and thickness. the lack of a certain aroma or a strong flavor will affect the score.

7. Sweetness

Sweetness refers to pleasant and full sweetness, or other special sweetness, the opposite of sweetness is not bitter, but sour (Sour), astringent (Astringency), "Green" flavor. Most people have only a bitter impression of black coffee, so how can it be sweet? Because coffee beans contain carbohydrates, coffee releases sweetness. Of course, the sweetness of coffee cannot be compared with that of soda mixed with sugar.

8. Cleanliness

Cleanliness refers to the aftertaste from the beginning of inhaling coffee to the feeling after swallowing, which does not interfere with the negative taste, that is, the transparency of a cup of coffee. As long as there is a taste and smell that non-coffee should have, it will lower the score.

9. Consistency

Whether the characteristics of 5 cups of coffee brewed with the same beans in the same group are the same.

10. Overall evaluation

The overall evaluation is the subjective score of the cup tester. If a cup of coffee performs well in some aspects, the overall evaluation score may be low because other items are not up to standard. On the contrary, if a cup of coffee performs average in each item, but meets the cup tester's expectations, you will get a high score.

11. Defect

The defect is the smell of coffee, or unpleasant taste, divided into olfactory defects (Taint) and taste defects (Fault), deducting 2 points and 4 points respectively.

Sweetness, cleanliness and consistency are the basic points, with a total of 30 points, plus 10 points for each of the seven items except defects, out of 100 points.

Coffee can be tested at home (part two)

The cup test must be carried out by people, of course, it is difficult to completely evade the will of people. Today's cup testing method may be questioned, but there is no doubt about the goal of pursuing good coffee. You can also try a simple cup test at home, follow the cup test steps, brew 2 or 3 cups of coffee, compare the flavor wheel, and experience the new feeling that coffee brings to you.