E28 · Tasting & standards
How to Evaluate a Great Cup of Coffee
How professional cuppers score coffee, what aroma, flavour, aftertaste, acidity and body mean, and how to taste coffee more carefully at home.
- Coffee knowledge
- About VINACANOFI
- Updated 21 Oct 2026
"Delicious" is personal. But the coffee trade still needs a shared way to compare samples: is the aroma clear, is the flavour balanced, does the aftertaste linger? That shared method is called cupping — tasting coffee by a standard procedure.
What is cupping?
Cupping is a standardised tasting procedure. Samples are lightly roasted the same way, ground to the same size, brewed at the same ratio and water temperature, then tasted by several people at once. Because everything else is equal, the remaining differences come mainly from the beans themselves.
Professional tasters are called Q Graders, trained and certified by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI). The most common forms are:
- the SCA form (Specialty Coffee Association) for Arabica;
- the Fine Robusta form (CQI/UCDA) for Robusta.
The main criteria
| Criterion | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fragrance / Aroma | The smell of the dry grounds and of the coffee just after hot water is added |
| Flavour | The overall taste and aroma while the coffee is in your mouth |
| Aftertaste | What remains after swallowing — long and pleasant, or short and harsh |
| Acidity | A bright, fresh, fruit-like tang — not sourness from defects. The Robusta form scores the salt/acid balance |
| Body / Mouthfeel | How thick, smooth or thin the coffee feels |
| Balance | Whether the tastes work together without one dominating |
| Bitter/Sweet | Robusta form only: whether the bitterness comes with a pleasant sweetness |
| Overall | The taster's overall judgement |
Forms also cover uniformity between cups and clean cup (no off-flavours).
What the scores mean
The maximum is 100. A widely used grading:
| Score | Grade |
|---|---|
| Below 80 | Commercial grade |
| 80 – 84.99 | Very Good |
| 85 – 89.99 | Excellent |
| 90 and above | Outstanding |
For Arabica, coffee from 80 points is called specialty coffee. For Robusta, the equivalent level is Fine Robusta.
Tasting coffee at home
You don't need a lab to taste coffee more carefully. Try these five steps with a black coffee (no milk or sugar):
- Smell before you sip. Breathe in the freshly ground coffee, then the freshly brewed cup. What does it remind you of — chocolate, nuts, caramel, fruit, smoke?
- Take a small sip and hold it for a few seconds. Notice the main taste: bitter, sweet, sour or slightly salty.
- Feel the body. Is the coffee thick and smooth like milk, or thin like water?
- Wait for the aftertaste. After swallowing, is what remains pleasant and lasting, or harsh and astringent?
- Taste again as it cools. Good coffee usually stays pleasant as it cools; poor coffee tends to reveal sour, astringent or burnt notes.
Brewing two coffees side by side and comparing them is the fastest way to learn. After a few tries you will know whether you prefer bold and bitter, or bright and aromatic.
Great coffee comes from beans, roasting and brewing
A cupping score shows the potential of the beans. The cup you drink also depends on the roaster, storage, freshness and brewing. Our article Coffee industry standards and certifications continues with bean grading and food safety certifications.
Frequently asked questions
Is a cupping score the score of the pack I buy?
Not exactly. Cupping usually scores a green coffee sample from a specific lot, lightly roasted to a standard. The finished product also depends on roasting, blending, storage and brewing.
Does bitter coffee mean bad coffee?
No. Bitterness is a natural part of coffee, especially Robusta and dark roasts. Coffee is bad when the bitterness is harsh, burnt or astringent, or leaves an unpleasant finish.
Why do experts slurp coffee loudly?
A strong slurp sprays the coffee across the whole mouth and carries aroma up to the nose from behind, so the full flavour comes through.
