How to Cup at Home

Cupping is the easiest and best way to understand coffee on a sensory level, hands down.

The Cherry Love box is designed to be enjoyed however you wish, but I do recommend you try cupping all four coffees side by side at least once while you fill out your activity book. It’s much easier to get to know coffees and detect their unique attributes when you have other coffees to compare it to.

Cupping removes a lot of variables in the brewing process that could impact extraction. It’s designed to be easy so that the process can be replicated all over the world, without the fanciest equipment available. So, it’s likely that you already have everything you need to cup at home!

Note: Proper water is, of course, an important consideration when cupping or brewing coffees for evaluation. This is why I've included a packet of Third Wave Water in your box!

 

Here is a shortened version of the cupping instructions, for easy reference in the future.

1. Prepare: Gather multiple cups for coffee, rinsing water, spitting, a coffee grinder, a scale, a spoon, a boiling method, and a towel.
2. Dose Coffees: Use a 1:18 coffee-to-water ratio (e.g., 12g coffee to 216g water) per cup.
3. Set Table: Arrange towel and rinse cups as per guide.
4. Heat Water: Heat to 205°F (96°C) or boil and slightly cool.
5. Grind Coffees: Grind to medium coarseness directly into dosed cups.
6. Fragrance: Smell the dry grounds before adding hot water.
7. Aroma: Add hot water, smell the wet grounds, and wait 4 minutes.
8. Break: Gently break the crust formed on top with a spoon, rinse spoon between cups.
9. Skim: Remove foam from the top with a spoon, using spit cup for foam, rinse spoon between uses.
10. Wait to Cool: Let coffees cool for about 10 minutes.
11. Cup: Slurp coffee from the spoon to taste.
12. Notes: Record tasting notes, don't overthink, have fun!
13. Re-visit: Re-taste and adjust notes as coffees cool.

 

Below you'll find a deeper dive with a bit more guidance, for the first few times!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A few cups for coffee (they do not need to be the same size)
• A few cups for rinsing water (we call these wells)
• A cup for spitting
• A coffee grinder
• A scale that measures in grams (ideally down to 0.1g accuracy)
• A spoon (it does not need to be a cupping spoon, but a soup-like spoon is great)
• A way to boil water (you do not need a temperature-controlled kettle!)
• A towel for spills

Have these things?? Perfect, let’s get started.

Step 1: Dose your coffees

The ratio recommended for cupping is 1:18. So, if you dose 12 grams of coffee in your cups, you’ll be pouring 216g of water. This is a decent recipe to stick to if your cups are not the same size. Dose the whole bean coffees into one cup per coffee (for this type of tasting, one cup is all you need). Make sure you keep the coffee bag next to their cup so you don’t get the coffees mixed up.

 Step 2: Heat your water

If you have a temperature-controlled kettle, set it to 205°F/96°C. If not, no worries, boil your water. If you can give it a chance to cool slightly, great, but generally in this case it’s better to use water that’s too hot than too cold.  200°F/93.33°C is the ideal temp you're aiming for when you pour.

Step 3: Grind your coffees

Grind each coffee back into the cup you dosed it in. The grind size you’ll want to aim for is similar to a pour-over grind, medium coarseness.

Step 4: Fragrance

It’s time to start evaluating! Take a nice big smell of those dry grounds before you add your hot water to the cups. This is just a first impression, so don’t overthink this part too much.

Step 5: Aroma

When you’re ready, add your hot water to your cups. Set a timer to let the coffee extract for four minutes. While you wait, smell the wet grounds and get another impression of the coffee.

Step 6: Break

Then, at four minutes, use your spoon to “break” the crust that has formed at the top with gentle rowing motions, being careful not to agitate the grounds on the bottom of the cup. Do this the same way for all four coffees, and rinse your spoon in between cups.

Step 7: Skim

Now, take one or two spoons to “scrape” away the foam that has formed on top of the cups. Use your spit cup to collect the foam, and rinse your spoon in between cups.

Step 8: Wait to cool

Wait for the coffees to cool, around 10 minutes since pouring the coffees is when you can check your cups to see if the coffees are cool enough to start tasting.