What coffee cupping is
Coffee cupping is the standard way the coffee trade tastes and judges coffee. Ground coffee is steeped in open cups, smelled dry and wet, then slurped hard from a spoon so it sprays across the tongue. Tasters note body, sweetness, acidity, flavor and aftertaste, and buyers use the results to decide what to buy and what to pay.
Anyone can cup. Professionals licensed to score coffee to a shared standard are called Q Graders, and their scores let buyers in different countries mean the same thing by a number. In the United States, cupping became standard industry practice in the late 19th century, when Hills Brothers Coffee of San Francisco made it routine.
How a cupping works, step by step
- Roast small samples and grind them just before tasting. Traditional cupping tables sit next to a sample roaster and a grinder for this reason.
- Smell the dry grounds in each cup. That smell is the fragrance.
- Pour hot water straight onto the grounds and let them steep. No filter, no plunger.
- A crust of grounds forms on top. Break it with the spoon, lean in and smell the aroma that rushes out, then skim the grounds away.
- As the coffee cools, slurp it loudly from a spoon so it is aerated and spread across the tongue. Professionals spit into a spittoon so they can taste many cups in a row.
- Taste again as it cools further, since flavors shift with temperature, and record what you find.
Every cup in a session is made the same way, so any difference between cups comes from the coffee. The Specialty Coffee Association publishes the exact preparation in its standard SCA-102, Sample Preparation and Tasting Mechanics.
What cuppers score
Cuppers measure the body (texture in the mouth), sweetness, acidity, flavor and aftertaste, and they flag defects. The Specialty Coffee Association's current system, the Coffee Value Assessment, splits the job into four parts:
- Physical: the green coffee itself, its color, defects, moisture and size.
- Descriptive: the sensory attributes, recorded in standard language.
- Affective: the taster's impression of quality, tied to personal or market preference.
- Extrinsic: what adds value beyond the cup, such as certifications, traceability and processing.
For the words themselves, tasters lean on World Coffee Research's Sensory Lexicon, which names 110 flavor, aroma and texture attributes found in coffee.
Cupping vs brewing a cup at home
| Cupping | Pour over at home | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Judge and compare coffees | Enjoy one coffee |
| Filter | None; grounds steep in the cup | Paper or metal |
| How many coffees | Several side by side | One |
| How you drink it | Slurped from a spoon; professionals spit | Sipped |
| Result | Notes and a score | A mug of coffee |
Cupping in Massachusetts
Cupping is part of the daily work at the roasters we list, as they describe it on their own sites (read September 27, 2026):
- Broadsheet in Cambridge cups every batch on every roast day and competes in national roasting and cupping competitions.
- Barrington in Lee: both founders still cup new crops themselves, along with unloading green coffee and roasting.
- Atomic in Peabody says its buying team includes three licensed Q Graders.
- George Howell's Acton roastery is where the team roasts and cups. George Howell's late 1990s work on farmer economics led to the Cup of Excellence, a competition and auction for top coffees that started in 1999.
- Equal Exchange in West Bridgewater lists cupping among the roles it hires for.
- Fazenda in Dedham tastes coffees with each wholesale account to find the right fit.
Want to try it? Acoustic Java in Worcester holds a free tasting open to everyone every Friday at 10 a.m. and teaches Specialty Coffee Association classes at its roastery campus. George Howell's Godfrey Hotel cafe in Downtown Crossing hosts weekly public classes, and Atomic runs tours and tastings in Peabody. Tasting beside the person who roasted the coffee is something only a local roaster can offer. More on why that matters.
Cupping at home with the club
A two-bag box is a small cupping set: two roasters, and two styles if you choose, side by side. Brew both the same way, taste them against each other, then rate each bag. Your ratings steer the next bag, the same way a buyer's scores steer a purchase. Each bag arrives with our packing slip, which gives the roaster's own tasting notes to check your palate against. Build a two-bag box, $16.99 a bag, first bag free (you pay $7.99 shipping).
Related terms and sources
Related: coffee acidity, Q Grader, aftertaste, sensory lexicon, Cup of Excellence.
Read September 27, 2026:
- Wikipedia, Coffee cupping: definition, attributes, Q Graders, Hills Brothers, equipment
- Specialty Coffee Association, Coffee Value Assessment
- Specialty Coffee Association, Coffee Standards: SCA-102 to SCA-105
- World Coffee Research, Sensory Lexicon