Views: 363 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2021-03-03 Origin: Site
When you walk into a coffee shop, you may see a group of people around a table making "su-su" sounds from time to time. This is actually doing a coffee cup test.
It is understood that the coffee cups we commonly use mainly include pottery coffee cups, cafe latte glasses, porcelain coffee mugs, coffee cups with lid and so on.
Coffee cup testing originated from the coffee bean trade. In the 1820s, in order to ensure the quality of each batch of coffee beans, Hills Brother Coffee in the United States began to perform cupping tests on imported coffee before shipment and during pickup to ensure uniform quality of green beans. At that time, cupping was a quality control program in coffee roasting plants to find out whether the coffee beans had major defects.
Nowadays, the coffee cup test has gone from looking for flaws in the past to the present appraisal, evaluation and even competition. In 1982, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) was founded, setting off a wave of specialty coffee. In 1985, Ted Lingle, then chairman of the SCAA, published books such as the "Coffee Cup Tester's Handbook" and unified standards to give basic guidelines for cupping.
In 1999, George Howell held the first "Cupof Excellence" Specialty Coffee Evaluation Competition in Brazil. The competition was conducted in the form of coffee cup testing, which promoted the improvement of the coffee cup testing system.
Coffee samples. Generally, the best time for coffee cup measurement is within 8-24 hours after the coffee is roasted.
Cupping bowl. The generally used cup measuring bowl is a ceramic bowl with a capacity of 200ml, which will be marked with 150ml and 200ml scale lines.
Water quality. According to SCAA standards, the TDS of water is about 150 ppm. Too low TDS will easily cause over-extraction, too high will affect the taste and easy under-extraction.
Grinding degree. According to SCAA's cupping standards, the grinding degree is controlled to a standard sieve (0.85 mm) of No. 20 with a pass rate of 70%-75%.
Proportion. The general cup ratio is 11 grams of coffee powder and 200 milliliters of hot water, which is 1: 18.18. The extracted concentration in this way is exactly in the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%.
The water temperature is 94°C. The soaking time is 4 minutes.
The two most commonly used cupping systems in the coffee industry are SCA and COE. The two systems are roughly the same, and each has its own characteristics in details. The following takes the COE cupping system as an example to introduce the basic process.
1. Weigh coffee beans. Each sample needs to prepare 4 cup measuring bowls to ensure the consistency of the sample.
2. Grind coffee powder with a manual coffee grinder or an electric coffee grinder. The dry fragrance is confirmed within 15 minutes after grinding. You can pick up the bowl with your hands and put your nose up to smell it.
3. Prepare hot water at 94°C, enter the cup and measure the bowl one by one, and start timing. Then confirm whether all the coffee powder is soaked in hot water.
4. Within 4 minutes after pouring the hot water, you can smell the wet aroma of the coffee and confirm it.
5. After 4 minutes, take the cup measuring spoon and move it back and forth 3 times on the powder layer to break the coffee scum.
6. Use a cup measuring spoon to remove all the coffee scum remaining on the coffee surface. This process is called scum removal.
7. You can taste the flavor after 3 minutes after the dregs. Generally, first scoop up the coffee liquid with a cup measuring spoon, observe the color of the coffee liquid, smell the wet aroma of the coffee, suck to atomize the coffee liquid and vaporize the odor molecules, and then use the back of the nasal cavity to feel its flavor.
8. The tasting time is until the coffee is cooled after removing the slag. If the temperature is too high, the sensory ability will decrease slightly, and the flavor will be more accurate after the temperature drops. Finally fill in the cupping form.
From the manor to the roasting factory to the coffee shop, cupping will be conducted to provide consumers with quality inspections. The high-quality coffee beans are ground into powder, and then put into the drip coffee maker, espresso coffee machine or automatic coffee machine. Finally, we will taste the excellent coffee taste.
If you personally prefer coffee, why not keep a home espresso machine? As a consumer, you can also do a simple cupping test at home, maybe there will be a different coffee experience.
