How do you ensure consistency in cupping coffee?

Cupping is the term used to describe the method of evaluating the characteristics of coffee performed by experts and coffee enthusiasts. The purpose of sensory evaluation is to check for defects and evaluate coffee quality. Cupping is often used as a way to compare and contrast different types of coffee. Cupping results will contribute to influencing green coffee valuation, directly impacting farmers' income. Therefore, ensuring consistency in cupping is extremely important.

Cupping is also used in the process of developing a roast profile that highlights the bean's potential for each type of coffee. If the cupping process is not consistent, it will be very difficult for the producer to establish the right roast profile, affecting product quality and user experience.

Additionally, ensuring consistency in cupping can help improve the coffee tasters's skills. From there, they can notice subtle changes or identify different flavor notes in the new coffee, making the results more objective and comprehensive.

Ensuring consistency in cupping helps build consistent roast profiles while increasing the taster's skills

Cupping involves using the senses to evaluate the aroma, flavor, and some overall sensations of roasted coffee after grinding and extraction. The steps are quite simple, but some variables can impact the consistency of the results specifically:

Water minerality

Water is the main ingredient used in the cupping process. Each type of water will usually have a different mineral composition and hardness. This difference affects the coffee extraction process. Therefore, in all cupping sessions, it is necessary to use consistent, clean, quality water sources and types (TDS of 125–175 ppm) to ensure consistency in the extraction and evaluation process.

Water temperature

The temperature of the water will affect the reaction processes and activities of compounds and chemicals dissolved in coffee. Therefore, the temperature of the water when added to coffee to extract flavors should be synchronized. According to the SCA, the water should be around 200°F/93°C at the time it is poured into the coffee grounds. Additionally, temperature can be affected by exposure to air. You should fill the cup with water as quickly as possible and minimize the time between cups.

Attributes of roasted coffee

Coffee roasts are generally classified into three levels: light, medium, and dark. Each roast level and grain will have different characteristics, degassing times, and different reactions. Experts recommend that roasting levels, degas time, sample storage conditions, etc should be similar to ensure the most consistent main results when evaluating the potential of green coffee beans.

Controlling water quality, temperature, coffee type, grind size, etc. can improve the consistency of coffee cupping results

Grind size

Consider rephrasing to "Grind size influences extraction strength due to the varying surface area of the coffee with the water. According to SCA standards, coffee samples must be kept in whole bean form and ground for 15 minutes before cupping. The grind size should be slightly coarser than what is typically used for the pour-over method. Specifically, the particle size should ensure that 70–75% can pass through a size 20 sieve according to US Standards. However, adhering to a uniform grind size for all cups is relatively difficult. Therefore, SCA recommends preparing at least five cups from each sample to assess sample homogeneity. In addition, you should clean the grinder after each roasting to avoid mixing flavors between nuts.

Taster

Each person will have different experiences and levels of understanding about coffee. Meanwhile, cupping results are almost based on judgments from each individual's sensory process, so they tend to be subjective. To achieve the highest consistency in the cupping process, the Cup of Excellence Organization has certain standards for the team participating in cupping coffee. In particular, coffee tasters need to have experience in cupping, regularly participate in cupping and must pass the organization's experience testing rounds. Experienced people will help make better adjustments and give objective opinions, making the results more effective and consistent.

Some other variables in the process

During the cupping process of many samples, there will be differences in time, how to repeat the evaluation process of each sample as well as factors from the external environment. To limit these deviations you can:

- Synchronize the cupping protocol;

- Carefully remove the top layer of residue without pressing the spoon into the cup to limit the extraction;

- Rinse the spoon with clean water and dry the edge of the spoon after each taste test to minimize flavor overlap between samples.

The cupping process needs to be synchronized for all samples

Cupping is an important part of the journey of bringing coffee from the origin to the end user. Ensuring consistency in cupping allows for an accurate assessment of the quality and effort of the creator while ensuring the best possible coffee experience for end users. Accompany XLIII Coffee to enjoy specialty coffee beans!

Reference source from perfectdailygrind.

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