Bean Evaluation vs Production Cupping – Those two types of cupping are very different from each other when considered from a professional perspective. ⠀
Bean evaluation cupping should be purely and simply about the green material. The first difficulty comes with roasting the sample, which should be done precisely and consciously. Remember that the optimal roast degree is, to a large extent, modulated by the cultural or subjective factors – knowing your customers’ needs and demands is crucial for choosing the proper roast duration and color.⠀
Don’t discard any defects or all sorts of irregular, “ugly”-looking beans while dosing. The sample should be as random as possible. Always evaluate more than one cup (SCA standard is five) to check uniformity. Cup blind or double-blind and avoid biases or influences of any kind. Use the scale to make sure all extractions are super close to each other.⠀⠀
Production cupping should actually be about everything but the green bean. You already know the material, its characteristics and the current condition. This kind of evaluation ought to be about your roasting and potential changes in the roast profile or color. ⠀⠀
The ideal system is to triangulate when roast profiling. If you can’t tell the difference in such setup, will your customers be able to? ⠀
Nothing wrong with disposing of spotted quakers or other defects that may disrupt your cup result. Also prepare more than one cup of each batch and use the scale. Generally speaking – try to reduce all possible variables that are not about your decisions when operating a roasting machine.⠀
Our Roasting Tips are brought to you by Piotr Jeżewski (88 Graines Q Grader & Sourcing Director)
