There are many ways to extract coffee, and the coffee produced by each extraction method will have the style of that method. Therefore, an objective method with as little human intervention as possible is needed to evaluate the flavor or quality of coffee. This method is cupping.Cupping is a kind of immersion extraction. There is no artificial intervention in the extraction process, which can maximize the flavor of the coffee itself. Coffee cupping has many functions. For example, the origin and green bean merchants use cupping to test the quality of green coffee beans. Roasters use cupping to test the quality of their roasts.
Some green bean competitions also use cupping to taste the flavor of coffee beans and distinguish between high and low. The flavor label description attached to the coffee bean packaging is also recorded in the form of cupping.
So what is the use of coffee cupping for consumers? Front Street believes that cupping is a process recognized by the coffee industry for tasting coffee. Consumers can taste the flavor of the coffee beans themselves by using cupping. On the one hand, they can recognize this bean as a brewing solution, and on the other hand, they can also accumulate flavor memory (after all, the taste of the brewed coffee may be wrong, but the taste of the cupped coffee must be standard).
The process of learning coffee cupping is also very simple. Front Street will introduce it to you here.
Coffee beans:Generally, cupping of coffee beans needs to be done after 8 hours of roasting time.
Ratio:Generally, it is 11g coffee powder plus 200ml water. The size of the cupping bowl is 200ml. You can also use an ordinary bowl or wide-mouth cup with a capacity slightly larger than 200ml.
Grinding degree:The pass rate of No. 20 standard sieve is 70-75%.
Water temperature:94 degrees Celsius
Water quality:TDS75-250ppm
Grind the weighed coffee beans and put them into a cupping bowl. After the coffee is ground, the aroma substances will evaporate faster. This is the first step in our cupping test, smelling the dry aroma. Generally, in order to prevent the aroma from disappearing, the step of smelling the dry aroma will be accepted within 10 minutes.
After confirming the dry aroma, you can pour water into the bowl. The water temperature measured in the cup is 94 degrees Celsius, and the water volume is 200ml. If it is a professional cupping bowl, the water filling height will just reach the edge of the bowl. Start timing from the moment the water is filled and soak for 4 minutes. During this time you can smell the wet aroma of coffee.
After 4 minutes is up, use a cupping spoon to gently push the surface of the cupping bowl 3 times to turn the coffee grounds originally floating on the surface into golden foam. This step is called "breaking the dregs". When the dregs are broken, the aroma will also be released. You can put your nose close to smell the aroma when the dregs are broken.
Slag breaking and slag fishing are carried out continuously. After the slag breaking is completed, the slag fishing step will be carried out immediately. The method is also very simple, just use two cupping spoons to scoop out the foam residue floating on the surface. It should be noted that the spoon should be passed through clean water after each extraction, and then the water should be soaked up with paper towels before the next extraction operation is performed to avoid contamination of the coffee sample.
After removing the residue, wait for 1 minute before tasting. Coffee tasting is generally done by sipping. First scoop up the coffee liquid with a cupping spoon, observe the color of the coffee liquid, smell the wet aroma of the coffee, suck the coffee liquid to atomize the coffee liquid and vaporize the odor molecules, and then use the back of the nasal cavity to feel its flavor. Likewise, the spoon you use to scoop coffee needs to be cleaned and drained.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
