Describing coffee aromas and flavors precisely starts with a structured sensory system, not a rare palate. The SCA Flavor Wheel, staged aroma evaluation, and the SCAA cupping form give you a repeatable method to move from “I like this” to “bright malic acidity, dark chocolate, and a silky medium body.”
How to Describe Coffee Aromas and Flavors With Precision and Confidence Read More »
The SCAA cupping form functions as a supply-chain communication protocol that translates sensory experience into data any producer, importer, or roaster can interpret identically. Understanding how its 100-point scale, defect deductions, and category architecture work together is what separates a defensible score from an expensive opinion.
Coffee cupping strips away brewing variables so you taste the bean itself. This guide walks through every step – from grinding ratios and water temperature to the diagnostic slurp and blind scoring protocol – using the same sensory framework professionals use to evaluate origin and roast quality.
How to Perform Coffee Cupping at Home: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide Read More »
The history of coffee cupping runs deeper than the San Francisco brokers who get the credit. From Yemen’s merchant trade routes to Clarence E. Bickford’s cup tests, Ted Lingle’s handbook, and the SCA’s 100-point scale, this is the story of how taste became a market mechanism – and whose taste got to count.
The SCAA cupping protocol, the industry’s evaluation standard since 2004, was officially replaced by the SCA Coffee Value Assessment in 2024. The new CVA system separates descriptive intensity from affective liking scores, eliminating the halo effect bias that compromised the legacy single-form approach used by Q-graders and green-coffee buyers worldwide.
Coffee cupping is the standardized sensory evaluation method the specialty coffee industry uses to score, compare, and communicate quality across the entire supply chain. From Q Graders in origin countries to roasters in Berlin, the SCA protocol turns subjective taste into measurable data – and you can run it in your own kitchen.
Malaysia specialty coffee reaches a new milestone as Nas Jaafar wins the 2026 World Brewers Cup—raising expectations for a fast-rising competition scene.
Malaysia specialty coffee hits World Brewers Cup peak Read More »
Kenya coffee exports gain a premium foothold in Italy at over $9.50/kg, but how far can one Trieste shipment carry its wider European ambitions?
Brazil coffee harvest delays and a stronger real pushed arabica up 16.2% in a day, even as forecasts signal big surpluses. Will volatility follow surplus?
Brazil Coffee Harvest Delays Drive 2026 Price Shock Read More »
Soluble coffee EUDR inclusion closes a major regulatory gap but raises new traceability burdens for EU coffee trade. How will robusta-heavy supply chains adapt?
World Coffee Championships’ shift from Taiwan to Chinese Taipei has triggered a traceability and identity dispute. Will records—and names—be restored?
USTR’s coffee tariff exemption shields key Brazilian instant coffee exports and a supply the US says it can’t easily replace. Will a 12.5% duty still loom?
