Please sign up for the course before starting the lesson.
- Choose the coffees you want to cup. We recommend you cup no more than twelve samples at one time.
- Sampling more than twelve cups is feasible if you are performing ‘go / no-go’ checks for production roasting.
- Assemble a sufficient number of cupping bowls with a capacity between 150–200 ml.
- Cupping bowls should be dry, odourless, and at room temperature.
- Prepare between 2–6 bowls of each sample you wish to cup.
- One cup per sample is sufficient only if you are conducting a roast assessment.
- Cup on a brew ratio of 55 g/L (grams per litre).
- We recommend 10 g of coffee per sample, plus enough to purge the grinder before you begin to grind the coffee for each bowl.
- Label the samples such that you are unaware of the identity of each after you have ground them and randomised their order.
- We recommend you use a label that can remain with each sample but be kept upside down (and out of sight) as you grind and arrange the samples on the cupping table.
- Purge your grinder with a few beans taken from the sample you are about to grind for.
- Grind your coffee on a setting that brings your best coffees to approximately 1.4% total dissolved solids after 8 minutes. (Refer to the BH Refractometry Protocols.)
- Every bowl should be checked with a scale to ensure it is accurate to within ∓1 g.
- Position the samples around your cupping table, keeping them arranged in order.
- Start a timer and begin to add hot water (just after a rolling boil) to each cup, weighing the water precisely for each bowl ∓2 g.
- Hot water should be odourless, have a pH between 7.0–7.4, and have a level of buffer no higher than 70 ppm.
- Aim to fill bowls quickly but without making a mess.
