More from Umeko on Cupping Coffee

What is cupping? It’s a way to evaluate coffee quality. Cupping is favored by coffee professionals because it’s an easy way to taste multiple coffees at once. But anyone can do it!

If you’d like to cup at home, you just need one or more coffees, a cupping spoon, and a few uniform-size cups in the 6- to 8-oz range.

Add 12 grams of ground coffee to each cup and pour hot water directly onto the grounds, filling the cup all the way to the top. An aromatic crust of coffee grounds will form on the surface. After four minutes, break the crusts with a cupping spoon. Then use the cupping spoon to dip into the coffee, which you slurp from the spoon.

It sounds totally weird but - well, yes it is totally weird. But fun! If you have never cupped before, I recommend checking out an online article or video tutorial - luckily there are tons! Just do a google search for "how to cup coffee".

Photo and text provided by Umeko Motoyoshi