Cupping

Balance Properties – SCA Cupping Form​​​​​​​​​ – This article is part of a group of posts that explain the ten sensory attributes of the SCA Cupping Form (or SCA Arabica Cupping Form) based on knowledge from the book Sensory Science. In cupping, Balance refers to the relationship between the four previous types of attributes: Flavor, Aftertaste, Acidity, and Body. Ideally, these four attributes are present at a harmonious level. If a particular attribute is severely or noticeably missing or dominant, coffee will be considered "unbalanced." However, …

Sweetness Attributes - SCA Cupping Form​​​​​​​​​ - This article is part of a group of posts that explain the ten sensory attributes of the SCA Cupping Form (or SCA Arabica Cupping Form) based on knowledge from the book Sensory Science. In terms of sensory science, Sweetness or "sweetness" in coffee is not an "objective" attribute but the product of a complex impression caused by aroma, not by any dissolved sugar. Therefore, in cupping, Sweetness is very firmly defined by the SCA as the …

Clean cup Properties - SCA Cupping Form - This article is part of a group of posts that explain the ten sensory attributes of the SCA Cupping Form (or SCA Arabica Cupping Form) based on knowledge from the book Sensory Science. In Cupping, Clean Cup is defined as "no flavor other than coffee," so Clean Cup is designed to identify contaminants in coffee, usually caused by non-coffee ingredients or biological contamination (mold, bacteria, etc.) in poorly processed coffee. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="2000"] Clean …

Uniformity Attributes - SCA Cupping Form​​​​​​​​​ - This article is part of a group of posts that explain the ten sensory attributes of the SCA Cupping Form (or SCA Arabica Cupping Form) based on knowledge from the book Sensory Science. In Cupping, the Uniformity attribute is defined as "uniformity between cups in the same coffee sample," or in other words, the uniformity of the coffee beans in the batch. Since according to the SCA's cupping standard, assessing the uniformity of five coffee cups …

Overall and Defect Attributes - SCA Cupping Form - This article is part of a group of posts that explain the 10 sensory attributes of the SCA Cupping Form (or SCA Arabica Cupping Form) based on knowledge from the book Sensory Science. Overall The Overall (or "overall") category is where cupper can leave their overall impression of coffee quality. This is the only property that must sum up the properties of all previous properties. Therefore its score will likely be equivalent to the …