Technical Identification of Coffee: introduction of the Source, significance and main points of Coffee Cup Test

There is no better way to understand and explore the unique taste of coffee than a cup test. it can help you find out the differences between different coffees and figure out the characteristics of each coffee. Sometimes, after the cup tester becomes adept at focusing on the taste and taste of the coffee, you can see the nature of the coffee through its appearance.

When comparing coffees from the same region, all the processes of cup testing and tasting become very important in order to identify which coffees are really of high quality. Evaluate and compare several different kinds of coffee at the same level. Because the differences between coffees are very subtle, observe the characteristics of these coffees (flavor, mellow, freshness.) It is easily affected by different coffee extraction methods (utensils). Because of the elimination of these variables, carefully prepared cup tests can taste the most basic inherent characteristics of coffee. The measurement of water and coffee powder must be accurate, in order to prevent taste, the coffee grinder must be thoroughly cleaned, and the injected hot water must be highly consistent. Time is also a factor: once the coffee powder is soaked, the brewing process begins, and a lot of chemical and flavor changes will take place in the next 20 minutes.

How to carry out scientific cup testing (Cupping)?

Bake your own beans at home or even buy all kinds of single beans and plan to put them together. The cup test allows you to learn to evaluate and classify coffee, making you better at blending. You can find the differences between different coffee samples from the comparison, as well as your views and thoughts on several kinds of coffee. For many cup testers, taking a cup test with others can broaden your horizons and help you catch subtle signs of taste that you may miss-your tester partner points out something you haven't found, and you may find it when you taste it again. Generally speaking, the reason you take a cup test at home is because you love coffee and the adventurous feeling of trying and discovering something new.

If your goal is to really compare the differences between different coffees, it is recommended that you be prepared to make a great effort in the first place. A real coffee World Cup test may give you an idea you've never had before. Many professional cup reviewers like to use silver-plated spoons specially designed for cup testing, because the shape of the spoon can help "sip" as quickly as lightning, and the silver plating on the surface of the spoon can absolutely minimize any potential factors that change the flavor of coffee, steel and other materials may bring other subtle flavors.

Preparation of instruments for cup testing:

Eight porcelain cups or glasses of equal volume: theoretically, the contents of the cup accumulate between 5 and 7 ounces. The "Rocks" style glasses perform quite well.

Kettle: or hot kettle. The minimum capacity of the kettle should be 64 ounces.

Bean grinder: the coarse scale grinder has an obvious advantage here, because it is very important for different coffees to maintain a consistent grinding fineness.

2 pint glass container: the water in the container is used to clean the cup spoon during the cup test.

4 cup spoons: the more depressions in the spoon, the better.

Accurate pound scale: in order to accurately measure the weight of coffee. Or a certain amount of measuring spoon is fine.

Cup test table: it is not necessary to do a cup test at home, but the cup test form will be more perfect and more concise to help you evaluate coffee. When you discuss coffee with your cup tester, the cup test table provides you with a way to bring back the discussion notes.

4 empty coffee mugs: the cup test involves a lot of loud slurping, tongue tutting, and even sloshing,slurping,spitting.

Clear and focused thinking: this is very important.

Sample plates: these plates are used to hold sample beans from each type of coffee after baking, and the other plate is used to hold unbaked raw beans.

Professional cup reviewers will choose four or more coffees from the same region to do cup tests in order to compare their differences-they want to find the best varieties from the same specific producing area. Therefore, they will simultaneously evaluate and compare 4, 8, 12, or more coffee samples. There are also times when cup reviewers compare several types of coffee (or famous coffee) that come from different regions but taste similar. Coffee is a crop, so they change according to season, year, and even packaging. At home, the choice is entirely in your hands-if you like, you can choose four completely different kinds of coffee, or some coffee from the same region or country. Manufacturers that accept online orders for raw beans, such as SweetMarias, Coffee Bean Corral, Coffee Wholesalers, and others, usually have 2pens, 3pens, or more coffees from the same region. Maybe you want to choose several famous coffee cups and test them for yourself to see if they really live up to the name. Once you have chosen your own coffee, try to make sure that the coffee is roasted at the same roasting level and at the same roasting level. If you bake beans at home, this is simple-just bake the raw beans under the same conditions and bake them at the same time (1-2 days before cup testing). If you are buying baked beans, look for a small bakery near you, tell them you want to do a cup test at home, and ask them to sell you beans that are baked on the same day.

We need to record our feelings in the process (although for the first time, we only recommend that you discuss it with your friends after the cup test). It is used to record the cup test and record the opinions of the partners on the cup test form. There is only one cup for each type of coffee to test, and you will also notice that in the following steps, we recommend that you use two test cups for each type of coffee to compare the differences in different situations of the same type of coffee. Two test cups for each type of coffee can help you better evaluate coffee.

The main steps of cup testing:

Put the weighed beans into the cup and distinguish what is in each cup. Some cup testers are used to marking the variety of coffee on the bottom of the cup. Don't look through and memorize their corresponding names until you're ready to check what each cup is (usually at the end of the cup test). As explained above, each type of coffee is evaluated with two cups and choose the ratio of coffee to water you usually like. Try it! If you need a starting point, in professional cup tests, we usually use 12g coffee powder and 6.5 ounces of boiling water.

At this point, turn on the hot kettle, and when the water boils, all your preparations are ready (for example, when steps 3 and 4 are complete). If possible, use fresh, filtered water. Grind the beans in each cup separately and thoroughly clean the powder bin of the grinder before grinding each cup of beans. Pour the beans in the cup into a bean grinder and grind the ground coffee powder back into its original cup.

After grinding, reset the things on the table (the grinding process is as fast as possible so that the coffee is not stale). You can choose as many cups as you like (blind, which means the tester doesn't know the name of the coffee he or she is testing beforehand). This is the meaning of the label at the bottom of the cup. Of course, you can also test the cup when each type of coffee is known (put the label of the beans on the back of each cup). Most cup testers prefer a "blind test" (Blind), which protects their consciousness and feelings from other influences.

Many cup reviewers use the time to wait for the water to boil to smell the difference between the dry aroma of each coffee powder and evaluate it. For beginners, this is an optional step to do before pouring into boiling water.

When the water is boiling, remove the kettle from the heat source (or turn it off) and wait 25 seconds before injecting the boiling water into the cup. In the professional field, the ideal injection temperature is 202 degrees Fahrenheit; now, your water temperature is exactly close to that temperature. Inject hot water in the order in which you grind it-first grind the coffee powder and pour it into hot water first. Slowly inject hot water according to a certain method to make sure that all coffee powder is fully infiltrated-try to avoid dry coffee powder on the surface. Remember not to forget the amount of water you need. You can do an experiment before you officially start the cup test: measure 6.5 ounces of water beforehand, pour it into a cup containing 12 grams of coffee powder, and remember the water level. When you really start the cup test, just inject hot water into the same water level.

When you start injecting hot water, record the time, look at the clock or press the start button of the timer. Wait 3-4 minutes (4 minutes for most professional cup reviewers), let the coffee powder fully infiltrate and precipitate, and then you can begin to evaluate the coffee.

Your face is close to the cup. In 4 minutes, coffee and water interact with each other, showing a thick "shell" formed by coffee powder on the cup surface. Put your face close to the cup, break the coffee powder shell with your cup spoon, and inhale the aroma emitted by the "broken shell". The usual action is that when you are about to start "breaking the shell", put your cup spoon and your face horizontally, close to the "cup lip", dip the cup spoon under the shell, and then drag it to the back of the cup. Inhale those aromas!

If you are doing a cup test alone, you can do this for each cup of coffee. If other people take part in the cup test, please give everyone at least one chance to break the shell. Approach the cup to evaluate the aroma of each kind of coffee. This action should be done faster, but make sure that every cup of coffee is "broken".

When the "broken shell" ceremony is over, the coffee powder left on the cup noodles will be skimmed off. The traditional practice of professional cup testers is to dip two spoons into the back position of the cup noodles, drag gently along both sides of the cup walls, then converge in front of the cup noodles, take out the coffee powder up, and spoon the liquid as little as possible.

Keep a clear head! A whole spoonful of coffee liquid is inhaled into your mouth to sip. The purpose of slurping is to let the coffee liquid surround every part of your tongue, and the purpose of inhaling is to give full play to all the aroma elements. One trick is to spray coffee liquid into your nose when it passes through your tongue, and the aroma will enter your nose.

Always clean the spoon in a pint container before tasting different coffees. The purpose of this is to prevent flavor between different coffees.

Move around the table and taste each cup of coffee the way in front of you.

During the cup test, you can spit out the coffee liquid you have already sipped, but in order to appreciate the sweetness and aftertaste of coffee, you also need to swallow some coffee liquid. Until all cup testers have completed their tests, most people are used to keeping silent. When the cup test is over, you can discuss, argue, argue with your partner about the characteristics of these coffees and compare which ones are good. Write down the similarities and differences you discuss, or you can try to describe the same quality coffee in different categories and descriptions.

A good cup tester must be able to focus firmly and clearly on the task at hand. Taste is a very short-lived feeling, and a variety of subtle aromas may pass through your upper jaw at the same time. Identifying and describing aromas that are meaningful to you in some way is a challenge to your ability and attention. Tasting is a very personal taste experience and memory, you can use your previous taste experience to understand and evaluate a new taste. Sometimes, a diligent cup tester will collect some useful adjectives that can be used to compare and compare the taste of coffee. Some key words that define the characteristics of coffee can be very useful when comparing coffee.

Acidity: this word can be used to describe the lovely brightness and sharpness of coffee. Acidity is usually expressed in the form of some fruit and floral aromas, which can be strong or mild, round or sharp, elegant or rough, or tend to be between them. Generally speaking, it is best to evaluate the acidity of coffee when it is slightly cool or slightly hot. By comparing coffee from Sumatra and Kenya, it is easy to understand what acidity is.

Mellow: sometimes referred to as "taste". Mellowness refers to the texture of coffee in the mouth, or the feeling of weight, which is difficult for beginners to distinguish. Mellowness is usually reminiscent of the thickness and consistency of coffee, which embodies the physical properties of coffee. Compared with coffee from Sulawesi and Mexico, the concept of mellowness is easy to understand.

Sweetness: one of the most important elements in coffee. Sweetness is usually used to define "very good" and "good". Even, many strong sour coffee will improve the balance and finish because of its good sweetness.

Yu Yun: (or Huigan, aftertaste) is very important in evaluating the overall quality of coffee, it will stay for a while after the coffee liquid is swallowed. Like a good story, a great cup of coffee needs a perfect ending. The perfect return means that after the coffee is swallowed, the coffee is clear, sweet, refreshing and stays in the mouth for 10-15 minutes with aroma. A perfect Huigan will clearly reflect the main flavor of coffee.

Source: coffee No. 5