What is the coffee cup test | what is needed for the coffee cup test | how should the cup test be scored?

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When you go to a cafe, you sometimes see them drinking with a small spoon. What are they doing? This is actually a cup test! The flavor descriptions we see when we buy coffee beans are determined by cup testing.

Before coffee beans are sent to all parts of the world, they will be tested by the coffee farmers 'association or refining factory of the origin, that is, the aroma and taste of the beans will be confirmed by the test, and the flavor and taste of the coffee will be judged by the cup test, and the quality of a coffee will be identified.

Green coffee beans are sent around the world before they are cup-tested by the coffee farmers association or refining factory where they are produced, that is, they are tested to confirm the aroma and taste of the beans, and then sorted again before being shipped.

What does the cup test require?

The tools required for the cup test are simple: grinder, scale, thermometer, cup, spoon, cup. The ratio of coffee beans to water is also specified:

Water ratio: 8.25 grams of coffee beans with 150ml of water, the water temperature should be 92.2 - 94.4°C;

Cup measuring cup: tempered glass or ceramic material should be used,

Cup capacity: between 207ml and 266ml,

Cup height: 3 to 3.5 inches

Cup diameter: 76 - 89 mm. All cups should be of the same volume, size and material, with lids.

Spoon for cup testing: use antistatic metal material (mostly stainless steel), and the capacity of each spoon can be 4-5ml.

Coffee Cupping, Chinese translation coffee cup test, is a very magical and simple coffee sensory evaluation method. The quality of coffee is judged by taste, which is called "coffee cup test". When sipping, make sure the coffee flows back and forth in your mouth, making full use of your taste and smell to feel the flavor characteristics of coffee. It transforms subjective, person-specific sensory experiences into quantitative data with practical value to guide people's practical decisions about buying, selling, and sharing experiences.

aroma

Aroma consists of two parts, dry fragrance and wet fragrance. The first image and the first item to be scored after grinding beans are dry aromas. Coffee flowers, roasted hazelnuts and roasted almonds are all pleasant aromas. Water injection, broken shell wet fragrance gives people more fantasy, honey, lemon, apricot fruit makes people salivate if thirsty.

sipping flavor

Flavor is the first item perceived and scored when the coffee drops to 71℃ and begins to sip, including various flavors and olfactory sensations; the cup tester can include the perceived flavor in the scoring item, including various flavors measured or drunk. It can be said that sipping flavor is a very important scoring item, and it is also a basis for telling the characteristics of cup coffee samples. The more the better the flavor scores will be higher.

Yu Yun

After sipping, the taste or aroma or touch still stays in the mouth. If the good flavor stays for a long time, such as sweet feeling, after sipping and spitting out coffee, it still stays clearly in the mouth or even spreads, then the score of this item will be high. On the contrary, if there is no aftertaste or very short, the score will be low.

sour

Good acids are not like vinegar, which is bright and lively, but can also detect a variety of acids such as citrus, berries or sweet lemons, as well as sweet acids such as honeydew melon or crisp fruit acids of fresh apples. These acids are good; bad acids are like unripe fruit or acetic acid, and some bad acids are like overripe fruit or rotten fruit, when fermented acids or rotten acids can be detected. The better the acid, the higher the score.

mellow

The scoring item is not taste measurement, which belongs to the substance and touch felt by the mouth, grease feeling, viscosity, quality feeling, etc. all constitute the body; for example, milk and water, the former has a much higher touch, thick soup and clear soup, the former has a much higher consistency and touch than the latter.

equilibrium degree

Is the coffee graded evenly, e.g. acid is bright but still sweet? Sticky but not astringent? Are the coffee flavors harmonious? If so, the score will be high.

sweetness

Not only represents the coffee fruit harvest in the best maturity period, no adulteration of immature beans, but also represents the excellent quality of coffee, only the selection of just ripe coffee fruit to process into raw beans, in order to get better sweetness, sweet varieties are also many, such as sugar cane sweet, caramel sweet and so on, these are the evaluation can be noted. Coffee usually has sweetness in it, so this item will be given a high score as long as the sweetness is perceived.

overall evaluation

Coffee overall is excellent, does it appeal to you, is it average, or do you not like her at all?

This rating item is an overall assessment of the testee and can also reflect his personal preferences. Without the cup tester's hard work to test each cup of coffee, there will be no harvest of coffee farmers, there will be no good drink in the cup, in order to find a better coffee to drink is the true meaning of cup testing.

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