Which Cupping Scores Separate Barista Levels in COE and SCAA?
Cupping is the core skill behind professional barista levels. The two main systems are COE, short for Cup of Excellence, and the SCAA model. COE is a specialty coffee competition used by ten core producing countries, judged by international cuppers over at least five rounds in a three-week schedule, with top-ten coffees going through an extra round.
Scoring covers aroma, cleanliness, sweetness, acidity, mouthfeel, flavor, aftertaste and balance, along with the tools, coffee-to-water ratio and procedure for each session. The guide compares three roasting curves of Front Street Golden Mandheling to show how the same bean scores differently and what COE competition level actually means.
To become a professional barista, cupping is an essential core skill you can't avoid. This article systematically sorts out the scoring standards of the two major cupping systems, COE and SCAA, analyzing scoring points and deduction rules one by one, from aroma, cleanliness, sweetness, acidity, mouthfeel, flavor, aftertaste to balance. It also explains in detail the tools needed for cupping, the coffee-to-water ratio, and the operating procedure, and uses [Front Street Golden Mandheling] as an example to compare the cupping performance of three roasting curves. Whether you are a coffee enthusiast or a professional, you can master the scientific method of evaluating coffee quality and understand what COE competition level truly means.
COE, what exactly is COE?
In the wine industry there is a classification like AOC, and in the coffee field the corresponding benchmark is COE. We often hear that a certain bean is COE grade, or comes from a COE competition estate. At present, specialty coffee competitions in various producing regions around the world either adopt the CoE system or follow the SCAA model, and as many as nine major coffee-producing countries use CoE cupping as the judging standard for their national competitions.
COE
COE is essentially a competition mechanism for specialty coffee, whose full name is Cup Of Excellence, adopted jointly by ten core coffee-producing countries around the world and used for specialty coffee evaluation. The jury is composed of international cuppers, and participating coffee farmers must go through at least five rounds of cupping evaluation within a three-week competition schedule. Coffees ranking in the top ten also undergo an additional round. Estates that make it onto the COE winners list not only gain authoritative recognition for their coffee quality, but more importantly can obtain considerable returns in the auction. With abundant auction proceeds, coffee farmers have more resources to improve quality, and consumers thereby have more opportunities to drink good coffee, forming a positive cycle for the entire industry chain.
COE scoring items
Aroma – This is the first aspect evaluated after cupping begins. Aroma evaluation is divided into three stages: the first stage is smelling the dry grounds from the cup at the very start of cupping; the second stage is smelling the wet aroma from the surface after pouring water; the third stage is the crust-breaking aroma smelled while breaking the crust. Aroma is one of the most fascinating elements of coffee, with extremely rich sources, covering floral notes, berry notes, caramel notes, nuts, chocolate, spices, and more.
In the COE cupping form, aroma is only recorded for reference and is not included in the total score, but under the Flavor scoring item, aroma is counted in the score.
Clean cup
Cleanliness is an extremely critical and indispensable condition for specialty coffee. So-called clean means complete freedom from taints or faults. If coffee shows undesirable flavors and tactile sensations such as rancidity, earthy notes, medicinal-iodine notes, fermented acidity, rubber, onion, or astringency, it indicates that cleanliness does not meet the standard.
Sweetness
Sweetness not only means that the coffee cherries were harvested at their optimal ripe stage and that no unripe beans were mixed in, but also represents outstanding coffee quality. Only carefully selected, just-ripened coffee cherries processed into green beans can achieve ideal sweetness. The types of sweetness are also quite diverse, such as sugarcane sweetness and caramel sweetness, all of which can be noted in the evaluation. If the sweetness carries astringency, or if the sweetness stays in the mouth for too short a time, the sweetness score will not exceed 6 points.
Acidity
Good acidity is not as sharp as vinegar. Even if bright and lively, it can reveal diverse acids such as citrus, berry, or sweet lemon, as well as melon-like sweet acidity, or the crisp fruit acidity of just-ripened apples. All of these belong to high-quality acidity. Bad acidity is like unripe fruit or acetic acid; some undesirable acids resemble overripe fruit or spoiled fruit, in which case fermented acidity or rotten-fruit acidity can be detected.
Mouth feel
The mouthfeel item is not about measuring taste, but about the substances and tactile sensations felt in the mouth. Oiliness, viscosity, and body together constitute mouthfeel. For example, compared with water, milk has a much higher tactile feel; compared with clear soup, thick soup has far greater viscosity and tactile feel.
Flavor
Slurping flavor covers various tastes and smells, and even the aroma perceived in the nasal cavity and the mouthfeel in the mouth all belong to this scoring item. In COE cupping, eight samples are often evaluated at once, which makes it impossible to evaluate the AROMA item in real time, so the aroma at the beginning is only marked as pleasant or unpleasant. But when it comes to the slurping flavor item, cuppers can include the aromas they perceive in the score, including all kinds of tastes smelled or tasted. It can be said that slurping flavor is an extremely important scoring item, and it is also a basis for describing the characteristics of the cupped coffee sample.
Aftertaste
After slurping, the various tastes, aromas, or tactile sensations that still remain in the mouth. Good flavors linger for a long time. For example, if sweetness remains clearly in the mouth and even spreads after slurping and spitting out the coffee, then the score will be high; conversely, if there is no aftertaste or the aftertaste is brief, the score will be low.
Balance
It refers to whether the various scoring items of the coffee are balanced. For example, although the acidity is bright, does it still turn sweet? Although the mouthfeel is viscous, is it not astringent? Are the various flavors of the coffee harmonious?
Overall
Is the coffee excellent overall and appealing to you? Or is it just average, or do you simply not like it? This scoring item is the cupper's overall assessment and can also reflect personal preference.
What is needed for cupping?
The tools needed for cupping are very simple: a grinder, a scale, a thermometer, cups, and spoons. During cupping, the ratio of coffee beans to water is also specified:
Water ratio: 8.25 grams of coffee beans with 150ml of water, water temperature should be 92.2 - 94.4°C;
Cupping cups: tempered glass or ceramic material should be used,
Cupping capacity: between 207ml and 266ml,
Cup height: 3 to 3.5 inches
Cup rim diameter: 76–89mm. All cups should be made of the same volume, size, and material, with lids.
Cupping spoon: use an antistatic metal material (mostly stainless steel), and each spoon should hold 4-5ml.
What are the COE standard classifications?
A total score of 69 points or below belongs to slightly poor commercial beans or industrial-use beans.
A total score between 70 and 74 points belongs to ordinary commercial beans.
A total score between 75 and 79 points belongs to relatively good commercial beans, generally called high-grade commercial beans.
A total score between 80 and 84 points belongs to specialty coffee.
A total score of 85 points or above belongs to COE competition level, and is also the winning coffee of the Cup of Excellence. It is currently recognized by the international coffee community as the highest-level category.
In COE scoring, dry aroma and wet aroma are no longer included in the total score, and cleanliness is scored more strictly. Old-bean flavors caused by storage will affect the cleanliness score; sweetness will also widen score differences, because COE believes that high sweetness represents excellent altitude, cultivation, harvesting, and processing of the coffee, so high sweetness should be rewarded; body is changed to mouthfeel, and mouthfeel evaluates not only body but also whether it is smooth and whether it is astringent. Flavor evaluation can refer to the new flavor wheel for more precise assessment.
Confirming the aroma and taste of the beans, judging the flavor and mouthfeel of coffee through cupping, and identifying the quality level of a coffee is a very scientific method.
SCA
SCA coffee cupping has ten scoring items, of which the following 2 are not found in COE:
Fragrance/Aroma: Aroma includes two parts, dry aroma and wet aroma. The first impression after grinding the beans and the first item that needs to be scored is the dry aroma. The fragrance of coffee flowers, roasted hazelnuts, and roasted almonds are all pleasant aromas. After pouring water and breaking the crust, the wet aroma rushing toward you gives more fantasies, and honey, lemon, and apricot fruit make your mouth water.
Uniformity: This score is relatively simple. Do the 5 sample cups have different tastes? Which cup has defects?
The SCA coffee cupping form starts marking from 6 points and is divided into four levels in total:
6 points is "good"; 7 points is "very good"; 8 points is "excellent"; 9 points is "outstanding".
In addition, each level is further divided into four scoring grades, with a scoring unit of 0.25 points, so the four levels have a total of 16 scoring points.
If defects are found, how are points deducted?
When a defect is found, it is first necessary to determine whether it is a minor taint or a major fault.
A minor taint refers to an unpleasant smell that, although obvious, is not severe enough to make the coffee hard to swallow. It generally refers to defect odors in the dry aroma and wet aroma of coffee grounds before drinking.
A major fault refers to an off-flavor severe enough to be unpalatable. It generally refers to defect flavors detected after the coffee enters the mouth, through taste and retronasal smell, at the taste level and in the retronasal nasal passages. If it is a minor taint, deduct 2 points per cup; if it is a major fault, deduct 4 points per cup.
The formula is: deduction = number of defective cups × defect intensity
The total score minus the score in the defect column is the final score. If it is higher than 80 points, it is specialty grade. From 80 to 100 points, it is divided into three levels: very good, excellent, and outstanding.
Cupping procedure
Taking [Front Street Golden Mandheling] as an example, let's do a cupping using the COE scoring form~
Preparation work
Clean water; cupping bowls; cupping spoons; COE record form; coffee beans; thermometer; timer
Brew and grind each coffee bean (preferably within 24 hours after the beans are roasted)
Cupping procedure
1. Grind the beans to be cupped into powder (grind size: BG : 3B)
2. Smell the dry aroma: control within 15 minutes
Pour water and soak. According to the ratio of 8.25 grams of powder to 150 milliliters of 94-degree hot water in the cup, let the coffee soak for 4 minutes until a crust of coffee grounds forms;
Step two: start timing when pouring water, and smell the wet aroma after 2 minutes. Wet aroma (Aroma) is the intensity of smell when brewing coffee. Some subtle, delicate differences, such as the characteristics of "floral" or "winey," come from the wet aroma of brewed coffee;
Step three: break the crust. Use a spoon to stir three times on the surface of the cup, skim off the foam and crust, and then you can begin scooping the coffee with a spoon to taste;
Step four: taste by slurping. Use a cupping spoon to remove the coffee grounds, slurp the coffee into your mouth, feel it in the mouth, then spit out the coffee liquid, record your impressions on the cupping form, score according to the requirements of the cupping form, rinse your mouth, rinse the cupping spoon, and then taste the next coffee.
In order to determine the roasting curve suitable for [Front Street Golden Mandheling], we prepared three different roast levels:
Roasting curves: choose different drop temperatures, 201°C, 202°C, 204°C
Line ① has aromas of milk chocolate and caramel. When slurping, you can feel berry flavors and osmanthus aroma, along with some earthy and rubbery sensations.
Line ② smells of fragrant wood, spices, and straw, and when slurped has herbal and caramel flavors.
Line ③ has aromas of spices, osmanthus, and herbs, and when slurped has flavors of preserved plum, almond, dried fruit, and caramel. Whether in cleanliness, acidity, sweetness, or mouthfeel, it is somewhat better than Lines ① and ②.
Through cupping, we can recognize the flavor of coffee itself
Note:
Each time you switch to a different coffee sample, the cupping spoon must be cleaned thoroughly, and then rinse your mouth with ice water to avoid affecting each other's taste.
In the same way, repeat several times to taste each cup of coffee sample until the temperature of the coffee sample drops to room temperature. Note that before tasting each coffee, you should forget the previous impression as much as possible, so as to experience the next coffee sample with the purest sensation.
During the process of tasting coffee, you may spit out most of the coffee liquid. However, at least swallow a small portion so as to experience the sweet aftertaste of the coffee sample.
Related recommendation: Is pour-over coffee really that good? Why does coffee smell better than it tastes?
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
