How to Cup Coffee at Home:
SCA Protocol Simplified

Why Cup at Home?

Cupping — the systematic evaluation of brewed coffee using standardised protocol — is how the specialty coffee industry assesses quality. It's how Q-Graders score green coffee, how roasters evaluate their work, and how buyers make sourcing decisions. But you don't need a professional cupping lab to do it meaningfully. A few bowls, a kettle, a scale, and a grinder are enough to develop a real evaluation practice at home or in a small roastery.

What You Need

The SCA cupping protocol is designed to be replicable with accessible equipment. Here's what you need for a basic cupping session:

The SCA Protocol, Simplified

Step 1 — Weigh and grind. Use 8.25g of coffee per 150ml of water. Grind medium-coarse — slightly coarser than pour-over, finer than French press. Grind directly into the cupping bowl and cover immediately to retain aromatics.

Step 2 — Evaluate fragrance. Before adding water, smell the dry ground coffee. What do you notice? Floral, fruit, chocolate, earthy, cereal, spice? This is your first data point. Note it.

Step 3 — Add water. Heat water to 93°C (just off the boil, or use a thermometer). Pour directly onto the grounds, filling to the 150ml level. Start your timer. Don't stir — let the crust form undisturbed.

Step 4 — Evaluate aroma. At the 3-4 minute mark, lean in and smell the wet crust before breaking it. This is your aroma evaluation — often the most intense aromatic moment in the cup.

Step 5 — Break the crust. At 4 minutes, use your spoon to break the crust by pushing it gently through the surface three times, from front to back. Smell intensely as you do — the break releases a concentrated burst of volatile aromatics.

Step 6 — Skim. Use two spoons to skim the floating grounds and foam from the surface. You should be left with a clear liquid surface.

Step 7 — Cup. Wait until the coffee has cooled to approximately 70°C (8–10 minutes from pouring, depending on room temperature). Use your spoon to take a small amount of liquid, then slurp it sharply — the slurp aerosolises the coffee across your palate and maximises flavour perception. Evaluate acidity, body, and flavour notes.

Step 8 — Cup again as it cools. Repeat at 55°C and again as it approaches room temperature. Many coffees change dramatically as they cool — a flat, underwhelming cup at 70°C can reveal remarkable complexity at 50°C.

What to Taste For

Acidity: Is it present? Is it pleasant (citrus, stone fruit, berry) or harsh (vinegar, sharpness)? High acidity is a quality indicator in well-grown specialty coffee — the key is whether it's bright and clean or aggressive and unpleasant.

Body: The tactile weight of the liquid in your mouth. Light (like water), medium (like whole milk), or heavy (like cream). Neither is better — match to intended use.

Flavour: Specific tasting notes. Use whatever language is natural to you — "lemon," "chocolate," "peach," "tobacco" — rather than trying to apply tasting notes you've read elsewhere. Your own associations are more useful to you than borrowed vocabulary.

Aftertaste: How long does the flavour linger, and is it pleasant? A long, clean finish is a mark of quality regardless of origin.

Uniformity and clean cup: Do all the bowls of the same coffee taste the same? Is there anything off, fermented, musty, or chemically strange? Off-notes are defect indicators.

Building a Practice Over Time

Consistency matters more than perfection. Cup the same coffee multiple times. Cup it at different temperatures. Compare roast degrees of the same green. Taste alongside a friend and compare notes — disagreement is productive and teaches you about the subjectivity of sensory evaluation. Keep a log of everything you cup, including date, preparation, and what you noticed. After six months, you will have a genuinely useful calibration reference.