Coffee tasting

Coffee tasting (also called coffee cupping) is done to determine the characteristics of a particular coffee blend. A coffee taster judges coffee based on appearance, aroma, body, and flavour by first smelling and then tasting the coffee. He or she will taste the coffee at various temperatures to discover all the complexities of the blend or bean.

Though coffee cupping is a professional practice, you don’t have to be a coffee connoisseur to try coffee tasting.  Any coffee lover could find this activity interesting and enriching. Think of it as a little like a wine tasting where, with practice, you come to recognise different aromas and flavours. Once you get the feel for coffee tasting, you'll never look at your coffee the same way again. You'll be able to appreciate the difference between the good, the bad and the different, and you’ll know what it means to truly enjoy the great cup of coffee that you prefer.

Did you know that a good, clean coffee aroma is the mark of a truly good coffee? Instinctively, you probably already did. But what is aroma anyway?

Aroma and flavour can be hard to separate. Aroma is mostly perceived through our sense of smell and allows the taster to distinguish different flavours of a coffee. When tasters talk about a balanced flavour, they mean that a coffee has the satisfying presence of aroma and flavour where no one characteristic is more powerful than another.

Some common coffee aroma characteristics are:

• Intense (total intensity of all types of aroma)
• Coffeeness
• Winey (juicy and fruity)

• Clean (meaning absence of grassy, rubbery, mouldy and other off-tastes that signify lower quality coffee)

• Roasty
• Cooked (left on stove too long, stewed or even burnt)

• Caramel (due to caramelised sugar)
• Nutty

Think you’re up to the challenge of a coffee tasting session? The following tips will help you master the art of coffee cupping!

What you need:
To start the tasting session, bring water to a short boil. Do not use filtered water, as artificially softened water can affect taste. Also, in mixing and tasting the coffee, use only a silver spoon so that an off-taste doesn’t affect the cupping process. Serve your coffee in a mug or bowl. And you might want to have paper on hand to note your findings.

What to do:
First note the appearance of the coffee and then the aroma. Then, once it has cooled to a comfortable drinking temperature, take one spoonful of coffee, pucker your lips and forcefully sip it. This procedure is called "aspirating" or "slurping" and it helps enhance the taste experience - think of what your mum told you not to do with your soup! By slurping the coffee you ensure that the taste buds all over your tongue experience the coffee taste more or less at the same time. This allows your tongue to better identify the coffee’s taste and aroma which combines to give the overall flavour. Another reason to slurp? It’s just more fun!

NESCAFÉ teams conduct daily cupping sessions of up to 150 cups per coffee tasting session because it’s important to us that our consumers always have the best-tasting and great quality coffee.

Our teams of Master Tasters base their evaluations on the NESCAFÉ standard of aroma and taste for each blend. Each detail in the production helps them achieve the perfect cup of NESCAFÉ.