Tasting of coffee or cupping with your machine

Coffee Tasting Wheel

The traditional way to do cupping of coffee, is relatively complicated (you can read about the process here: Coffee Cupping guide).

Recently I have been tasting by using a few of my machines, so that I get a more accurate taste to what I can expect when I drink the coffee.

The process of checking the coffee beans, is still the same, purer Arabicas have a more oval shape then the cross pollinated and grafted varieties (that where normally mixed with Robusta influenced plants). So you still inspect the bean as per normal, I like inspecting after the coffee has been roasted since you get a good idea of how the green been roasts as a group of beans. The more uniform the shape and colour the better.

The I brew a cup using either my dosing grinder and semi-commercial coffee machine or my Jura bean-to-cup machine, and look at the crema, after 10 seconds. if it is still quite deep and reforms easily then the coffee still is fresh, and the oils are good.

The using my nose only I smell the coffee, and try and see what smell I can identify, once I have a distinct smell that I can almost name, or name I take a look at the outer part of the Tasting Wheel and then work in. Some time I get a combination of smells from different part of the wheel, I try and see which one is stronger, and note both.

I then taste the coffee, letting it roll around my mouth to detect bitter, sour, sweet and the feel (in the middle of the tongue). I note those down. A coffee that feels heavy in the mouth is more bodied.

Try this with your machine and tell me how it goes.