How to organize a home cupping with friends?
Organising a home cupping requires no professional equipment: a scale, a kettle, tablespoons, identical cups or bowls, and two to six different coffees are enough. The simplified protocol involves preparing 10 g of coarsely ground coffee per 150 ml of water at 93 °C, steeping for 4 minutes, breaking the crust, skimming, and blind tasting with a simple scoring sheet.
A successful home cupping rests on a few simple logistical principles. First principle: simultaneous comparison. The point of cupping is tasting several coffees side by side under identical conditions, not one after the other hours apart. Prepare all cups at the same time — same water, same temperature, same steep time — so the comparison is valid.
Second principle: standardised equipment. Use identical bowls or cups (150-200 ml capacity), a precise kitchen scale (accurate to the gram), and a gooseneck kettle with temperature control if possible. Grind is the most important variable: too fine (espresso grind) saturates the cup and creates false defects; too coarse under-extracts. For a first session, a French press grind or slightly finer works well.
Third principle: relative blinding. Cover the labels or arrange cups in random order to avoid the influence of brand or price. Give each participant a simple score sheet with: aroma (1-5), acidity (1-5), body (1-5), sweetness (1-5), finish (1-5), overall impression (1-10). This is enough to structure the discussion without intimidating newcomers.
Fourth principle: contrasting coffee selection. Choose clearly different profiles so the differences are perceptible to non-experts: a chocolaty Brazilian natural, an acidic and floral African washed, and a balanced Colombian, for instance. Avoid comparing two similar Ethiopian washeds in a first session — the nuances are too fine for untrained palates.
A practical detail often overlooked: rinse between cups with lukewarm water (not cold) to neutralise the palate. Professionals spit to avoid caffeine build-up, but for a social session, swallowing is perfectly fine.