Taos Roasters - Cupping

Cupping is a complex procedure Taos Roasters uses to evaluate the flavor profile of a coffee. This entails smelling, tasting and sampling each bag of coffee that we offer.

Cupping is also used to evaluate a coffee for defects or to create coffee blends.

To understand the minor differences between coffee growing regions, it is important to cup coffees from around the world side-by-side.

MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS

While a coffee taster evaluates a coffee, these are the major characteristics being paid attention to:

Acidity The sensation of dryness in the back and under the edges of your mouth. This is a desirable quality and not to be confused with sour (which is considered a bad quality of coffee). Acidity creates a lively, bright taste which without it, the coffee would taste flat.

Aroma Without aroma, we could only taste sweet, sour, bitter and salty. This is where we get the subtle differences such as floral, nutty or fruity.

Strong Body The way the coffee feels in your mouth, its viscosity or heaviness. The best way to describe it is the comparison to how whole milk feels in your mouth compared to water. If you are unsure as to the level of body in the different coffees, add an equal amount of milk to each one and the one with the heavier body will retain more of its flavor when diluted.

FLAVOR

This is the overall perception of acidity, aroma and strong body, the three characteristics described above. Flavor can be rich (full bodied), complex (multi-flavored), or balanced (no one characteristic over powers the other). The following are the terms used to describe coffee-flavor:

DESIRABLE

UNDESIRABLE

Bright or dry	highly acidic leaving a dry aftertaste
Caramelly	caramel like or syrupy
Chocolaty	aftertaste similar to unsweetened chocolate or vanilla
Earthy	a soil-like quality (sometimes unfavorable)
Fragrant	an aroma ranging from floral to nutty to spicy, etc.
Fruity	having a citrus or berry scent
Mellow	a smooth taste lacking acidity but not flat
Nutty	similar to roasted nuts
Spicy	an exotic aroma of various spices
Sweet	a lack of harshness
Wild	a gamey flavor rarely, but sometimes considered favorable
Winy	aftertaste resembling a mature wine

Bitter	aftertaste perceived on the back of the tongue
Bland	neutral in flavor
Carbony	burnt charcoal flavors
Earthy	a musty, soily-like quality
Flat	lacking aroma, acidity, and aftertaste
Grassy	aroma and taste of grass
Harsh	a caustic, raspy quality
Muddy	thick and flat
Musty	slightly stuffy smell (sometimes desirable in aged coffees)
Rubbery	a smell of burnt rubber
Sour	a tart flavor such as unripe fruit
Turpeny	a flavor resembling turpentine
Watery	a lack of body
Wild	a gamey flavor

TASTING THE ROASTS

As coffee is roasted, it goes from a sharper, more acidic taste, to a smoother more full bodied taste, and finally to a full bodied taste. Here is a breakdown of the typical roasts followed by a description of the flavor characteristics.

Cinnamon or Light Roast	(Light brown and dry surface): a bright, acidic, toasted grain taste.
Medium High or Regular Roast	(Milk chocolate brown with a dry surface): acidic and bright but lacks the grain taste.
Full City or High Roast	(Darker brown with a satin appearance): Slight bittersweet tang with less acidity.
French, Italian or Espresso	(Dark chocolate with patches of oil): Very little acidity and noticeably bittersweet.
Dark French or Heavy Roast	(Almost black and very oily): Almost no acidity and very bittersweet.