Cupping

Tasting and scoring sessions

Cupping sessions

Coffee Score Cups Flavors Updated

New session

Scores

Why the scale starts at 6

The 6–10 range is a specialty-grading convention: anything below specialty grade simply isn't scored, so 6 is the floor of the scale, not "zero". Score in quarter-point steps and leave an attribute unscored (—) rather than guessing — an unscored attribute contributes nothing, which is honest; a guessed 7.5 pollutes every comparison you make later. The tick rows count cups, not quality: five clean cups out of five is full marks even if the coffee is merely good.

Defects

Flavors

Tag what you can point at

A tag is only useful if you could defend it to another taster with the cup in front of you. Two or three confident descriptors beat a dozen hopeful ones — the list is capped at 32, but a session that needs 10 is already suspect.

Notes

Notes outlive scores

Numbers compare roasts; sentences explain them. Write what you'd want to read before roasting this coffee again — texture, where it fell apart as it cooled, what you'd change.

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