Cupping: Tasting and Analyzing

Crafted by: Brandon Bir, Coffee Sourcing and Education at Crimson Cup

Over the last few months we have been talking a lot about cupping coffees at Crimson Cup.  So what the heck is cupping? Well, the short answer is: cupping is the tasting and analyzing of coffee; the long answer is: Cupping starts with samples of coffee.

Crimson Cup consistently receives new samples of coffee from around the world on a weekly basis.  We also take samples from coffees we have in inventory to ensure the quality is consistent between bags.  The new samples are roasted and sent to the cupping lab.  The coffee is brewed in small cups and aroma, taste, body, acidity, and other components of the coffee are recorded and scored.  These scores are then tallied up at the end of the cupping session to help measure the quality of the coffee. If it scores low, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a bad coffee, it just means that it isn’t for us. If it scores high enough, you might just see it on the website for purchase.

And that, is how we define cupping at Crimson Cup.