The Cupping Method of Coffee Tasting
Coffee tasting, or cupping as it is called, has to be done the same way every time to ensure that the difference in the taste of coffee beans is not due to outside factors like amount of coffee and water temperature.
The cupping method works in the following way.
Choose the beans that you want to taste.
Take a quarter ounce of coarse ground roasted coffee.
Heat 5 ounces of water to just below the boiling point.
Pour the water over the coffee in a circular motion.
Dip a spoon into the cup (with your nose close to the cup) so that it breaks the top layer of that coffee grinds that floated to the top.
Take approximately half a spoonful of the liquid from the cup.
Quaff it with a loud slurping noise. The noise is made so that you can mix the liquid with the air, spraying it directly over your tongue.
Savor, swish once, and the spit out the liquid.
Using this method, the tongue is able to discriminate among the many subtle flavors of coffee. Different parts of the tongue detect different flavors.
The back of the tongue discerns the bitterness.
The sides of the tongue discern the staleness.
The tip of the tongue discerns specific flavors.
