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Two kinds of "Cup Test" Competition: "God Dou" Competition and "God Man" Competition

Published: 2026-04-23 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/23, Mr. Ben Bicknell in the competition (photo: http://www.fivesenses.com.au/blog/2009/02/01/ben-australian-cupping-champion) as coffee is heating up in China, we are more and more likely to hear the word coffee cup test and see the coffee cup test scene more and more times. But when you hear about the coffee cup test contest, do you know that it is coming

Mr. Ben Bicknell is in the competition (photo: http://www.fivesenses.com.au/blog/2009/02/01/ben-australian-cupping-champion)

With the heating up of coffee in China, we are more and more likely to hear the word "cup test" of coffee and see the scene of "cup test" of coffee more and more times. But when you hear the "coffee cup test contest", do you know exactly what it refers to? What's the game?

There are generally two kinds of coffee cup test competitions, which are popularly called the "God Dou Competition" and the "God Man Competition". The former measures the quality characteristics of "beans", such as the taste, flavor and taste of beans, while the latter measures "people". People's sense of taste, smell and other sensory recognition and judgment ability.

Coffee cup testing refers to the evaluation and scoring of the quality indicators of coffee beans by professional cup testers in accordance with recognized cup testing rules and procedures. At present, the recognized cup-side rules and procedures are formulated by the "American Fine Coffee Association" (Specialty Coffee Association of Amrica-SCAA) and "extraordinary Cup" (or "Cup of Exellence-COE"), and the world's most important coffee cup test competition is also held by the two families every year, that is, the "magic bean contest". The organizers hand over the raw coffee beans received by professional roasters to the specified roasting degree and then keep them in a seal. Within a specified period of time, a group of professional cup testers will blindly test them (each type of bean is only numbered, so the cup tester does not know where it is from or what kind of beans it comes from). After making 5 cups of coffee from each bean According to the cup testing rules, this group of testers fogged the whole tongue by smelling and sucking the coffee liquid and went straight to the palate to experience the personality characteristics of each type of coffee. The dry aroma, wet fragrance, richness, taste, aftertaste, balance and other aspects of each coffee were scored by 7: 10, and the scores of each tester were weighted and averaged, that is, the score of each coffee bean was obtained. These two coffee raw bean cup test competitions are very hot and fierce in recent years, and the coffee beans with high marks are priced higher or even sky-high at auction and become "god" beans, and Geisha is a typical representative of them.

Another kind of coffee cup test contest, the so-called "god-man contest" is relatively simple, with more entertainment and participation. The organizers prepared eight groups (3 cups per group) for 24 cups of coffee. Two of the three cups in each group were the same while one cup was different from the other two cups. The contestant picked out a different cup of coffee from the three cups in each group by smelling and sucking. The one who used less time won. Each group of three cups of coffee is put together in a triangle, so it is also called the triangular cup test (and, of course, other triangles). This kind of competition compares the contestants' abilities of smell, taste, memory and judgment, which seems simple, but in fact it is not easy. For example, many contestants find that they often forget what the first cup is when they drink the third cup, and this competition is timed. The international competition of this competition is World Cup Tasting Championship, and the legend is Mr. Ben Bicknell, then the quality control manager of Five Senses' Coffee Company in 2009. In the 2009 Australian Coffee Cup Test Competition, he correctly singled out all the different cups of eight groups of coffee in 1 minute and 29 seconds, thus setting a record (I do not know if there is a new record in recent years) to become a "god man".

It is reported that the "God-Man Competition" will be held at the Shanghai FHC Exhibition in 2013.

Coffee on the stage of the "God Man" competition (some competitions form a triangle around three tables)

(responsible Editor: coffee Sound)

FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。