Who decides the flavor of specialty coffee?

Specialty coffee flavor is judged by trained, certified cuppers who follow a standardized procedure. Working in teams, they score dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, uniformity, balance, cleanliness, sweetness, and overall impression. Scores are given per attribute, and the total determines whether a lot qualifies as specialty coffee.

The method, called cupping, fixes grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and water temperature so that comparisons hold across samples. Under the SCAA scoring system, each attribute carries a value, and the range from 6 to 10 separates ordinary coffee from higher grades. Cupping scores are a useful reference, though the coffee aroma and taste a drinker personally enjoys still matter most.

The same cup of coffee—some people taste plum acidity and whisky aroma, while others just find it sweet and easy-drinking. So who gets to decide what the flavor really is? The quality assessment of specialty coffee relies on a team of professionally trained and certified cuppers who, following a globally standardized procedure, score each item one by one: dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, uniformity, balance, cleanliness, sweetness, and more. This article breaks down the complete cupping procedure in detail, from grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and water temperature to breaking the crust, skimming, and slurping—and explains the specific meaning of scores from 6 to 10 under the SCAA scoring system, helping coffee lovers understand the reference value and limitations of cupping scores, and find the coffee flavor that truly suits them.

"What do you think of this cup of coffee?"

Someone new to coffee might say, "It's a bit sweet and sour, pretty aromatic~"

While a veteran who's been drinking coffee for years would describe it like this: "This cup has a plum-like acidity, a whisky-like aroma, and layers of berry, mango, and citrus acidity, with a hint of chocolate-like sweetness at the finish. As the temperature drops, the whisky character becomes more pronounced."

Wait... is this really the same cup of coffee? Why is the gap between what two people taste so huge? And when it comes to those subtle flavor differences, whose perception should be the standard? Don't worry—let's take it slow and talk it through~

Who judges the flavor of specialty coffee?

Coffee flavor evaluation relies on a group of professionally trained and certified "cuppers." Multiple cuppers follow a systematic procedure to assess and score a coffee's flavor, mouthfeel, balance, aftertaste, and more. This procedure is called "cupping."

The core purpose of cupping is to standardize the evaluation of coffee's aroma and mouthfeel as much as possible. Specifically, cuppers trained in professional olfactory and gustatory skills follow internationally standardized procedures to evaluate item by item the coffee's "dry fragrance," "wet aroma," "flavor," "aftertaste," "acidity," "body," "uniformity," "balance," "cleanliness," "sweetness," and "overall."

Under the scoring system of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), cuppers give each of these items a score between 6 and 10, with a minimum increment of 0.25. A score of 6 to 6.75 is barely passing; 7 to 7.75 is good; 8 to 8.75 is very excellent; and 9 to 10 is top-tier. Generally speaking, a score of 8 to 8.75 already indicates a coffee of quite outstanding quality.

To become a certified cupper, one must undergo professional training and examination. Not only must one's sense of smell and taste be keen, but one must also be able to translate sensations into specific scores. These scores serve as a common international language among cuppers, used to describe the intensity and layers of flavor.

How exactly is specialty coffee cupping performed?

1. Grinding the coffee beans

The first step is to grind the roasted coffee beans to be evaluated into powder. The particles must be neither too coarse nor too fine—the coffee grounds need to have a 70% to 75% pass rate through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve (0.85mm). This particle size range is internationally recognized as the grind consistency with the best extraction efficiency.

At this point, the cupper begins to smell the dry fragrance of the coffee grounds and records the types of aroma detected—such as lychee, wine, osmanthus, and so on. Writing something like "coffee aroma" simply won't do.

Ground coffee

Smelling the dry fragrance

2. Pouring water

After smelling the dry fragrance, hot water is poured into each cup of coffee grounds. The water temperature is controlled at 94°C, poured to the brim, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:18.18, and the grounds are left to steep for 4 minutes.

Huh? Why not use pour-over? Isn't pour-over the most common extraction method for specialty coffee?

The reason is that pour-over involves too many variables that directly affect the coffee's taste, and pour-over technique is not within the scope of what cupping assesses. So a method is needed that can fully extract coffee's multi-layered flavors while being simple enough to avoid interference from human technique—namely, direct steeping in hot water.

3. Breaking the crust and wet aroma

Some cuppers smell the wet aroma shortly after pouring water, while others wait until 4 minutes later when the grounds begin to sink and the "crust is broken," and some do both. This is mainly because aroma is affected by both temperature and the degree to which the coffee has been extracted by the water.

Breaking the crust to smell the wet aroma

4. Skimming

"Skimming" means using a spoon to remove the coffee grounds, foam, and other material still floating on the surface of the cupping bowl. It is usually done with practiced skill using two spoons.

Skimming

After that, tasting can begin.

5. Slurping

The way a cupper drinks may be very different from what you'd imagine. They scoop up a spoonful and then forcefully slurp the coffee into their mouth—"whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!"—the kind of drinking that would definitely get a kid scolded by their parents if they drank soup that way! The reason for drinking this way is that it rapidly atomizes the coffee in the mouth, maximizing the contact area between the coffee and the taste buds, allowing for the fullest perception of the most flavor layers.

6. Cupping score

Common flavors in specialty coffee include nuts, caramel, various fruit notes, creamy notes, wine-like notes, and more. Cuppers also evaluate the layers and quality of acidity—the "acidity" item. Although some people aren't used to drinking coffee that's on the acidic side, in the context of specialty coffee, acidity is an important dimension worth savoring.

"Body" refers to the tactile sensation brought by the oils extracted from specialty coffee. Rich oils make the mouthfeel smooth and velvety, while insufficient oils make it feel more watery. But oil quality matters too—gentle, mellow, and aromatic without being greasy is what counts as superior.

Items like uniformity, balance, and cleanliness fall into a more professional realm of consideration, further removed from the average enthusiast, so we won't go into detail here. Simply put, uniformity refers to whether there are flavor differences between the sample cups, and whether any cup shows defects; balance refers to whether the various scoring items are in harmony—for example, though the acidity is bright, can it transform into sweetness? Though the body is viscous, is it astringent? Are the various flavors harmonious and unified? And cleanliness is an indispensable condition for specialty coffee—that is, complete freedom from taints or faults. If the coffee shows unpleasant flavors or tactile sensations such as rotten, earthy, medicinal-iodine, fermented sour, rubbery, oniony, or astringent notes, it means the cleanliness is not up to standard.

Finally: Is a specialty coffee with a high cupping score necessarily good-tasting?

The flavor evaluation of specialty coffee is a conclusion reached by a group of cuppers through independent assessment, comparison, and discussion. Indeed, many coffee lovers may not be able to taste all the flavors and mouthfeels—partly because their sense of smell and taste have not yet been fully developed, and partly because it relates to the coffee's roasting, grinding, and brewing technique. In addition, professional cuppers, having drunk coffee frequently over a long period, may to some degree become "out of touch with the general public" in terms of taste preferences and acceptance of various flavors. So the editor suggests everyone try more coffees—finding the beans you like is what really matters, and there's no need to obsess over cupping scores. After all, no matter how high a coffee's cupping score is, if it doesn't suit your taste, it's all for nothing~

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.