The Art of Cupping Coffee: 12 Steps

Jan 13

Have you ever heard of “cupping” coffee?

Coffee cupping is similar to wine tasting. In fact, there are quite a few similarities between the two beverages. Both coffee and wine offer a diverse array of flavors. Just as the taste and quality of wine depends on the region, soil and climate where the grapes are grown, coffee varies greatly depending on the types of beans and where they are from.

When tasting wine, it is common practice to swirl the glass around while you smell and taste the different aromas and tasting notes. When cupping coffee, we smell the beans dry, wet, and then we slurp!

Let’s start from the very beginning and learn how to do a coffee cupping in 12 steps:

Step 1: Put some smooth Ethiopian Jazz music over the cafe speakers to set the mood.

Step 2: Choose four of Breck Coffee Roasters rotating coffees.

Step 3: Grind course 10 grams of each and place in plain cups in a row labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, leaving each cup nondescript as to their country of origin, farm, or roast type. These cups are meant to remain a mystery until we smell and sip them each, trying to uncover their subtle flavors while still remaining unbiased.

Step 4: Heat 800 mls water (200 mls per cup) to 200 degrees at altitude (210 at sea level).

With your pen, paper, and tasting wheel (that you can find here) handy, let the cupping begin:

Step 5: Smell each cup of grounds and scribble down notes on what you are smelling.

Step 6: Use a tea gooseneck kettle to wet the grinds with a soft swirl and 200 mls water each.

Step 7: Let soak for 4 minutes.

Step 8: After 4 minutes, gently break the crust by pressing the back of the spoon down into the cup. Stir gently as the grinds fall from the top crust, rinsing your spoon in between each of the four cups.

Step 9: Wait another 4 minutes.

Step 10: Scrape the oil from the top of all four cups and stir.

Now we slurp.

Step 11: Dip your spoon into each coffee, and just like you’re sipping through a straw, slurp from the spoon quickly so your entire palate gets a coat of coffee.

Step 12: Repeat the slurp for all four coffees, taking notes on what you taste in each cup. Rinse your spoon in between each taste so as not to cross-contaminate.

Cupping coffee is both an art and a science investigation into what you’re really tasting in your cup. Just like wine connoisseurs swirl their glasses, observing, smelling and sipping while looking for unique differences in the wines, we are equally obsessed with our coffee.

Please join us at Cuppa Joe in Breckenridge every Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. and let’s cup together!

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BCR Staff