Coffee Cupping Sheet & Timer
Taste two to six coffees side by side, blind, and find out which one you actually prefer. The sheet times each pour and crust break, walks you through hot, warm, and cool rounds, and reveals the coffees only after your notes are in. Prefer paper? Print a blank form.
How to use the cupping sheet
- Set the table. Identical cups, the same dose in each, every coffee ground into its own cup. With shuffle on, write the letters on the cup bottoms first.
- Pour on cue. The timer calls each pour, then each cup's crust break at its own 4:00, then the skim.
- Taste three times. Hot, warm, and cool. Each round asks which cup is sweetest, most acidic, heaviest, cleanest, longest in the finish, and your favorite.
- Reveal. Lift the cups, enter the letters, and see which coffee was which, ranked by what you liked.
Start each round with the comparisons. Those calls are quicker to make than naming flavors, and they are what a side-by-side tasting is for. Add notes per cup when something stands out: start with the family (fruity, citrus, floral) and only pick a specific note if you are sure. The tasting notes explorer has the full vocabulary. For grind settings on the Fellow Ode Gen 2 and Baratza Encore, and why cupping beats brewing for comparison, read how to cup coffee at home.
Pick coffees that differ
A first cupping goes better with obvious contrast. Try a washed Ethiopia, a natural or anaerobic Ethiopia, and a washed Colombia or Guatemala. Three washed coffees from one region make a frustrating first session. Our guides to processing methods and resting coffee explain why process and days off roast change the cup.
Keep your cuppings
A browser tab forgets. The BeanBench app runs the same cupping with your coffee library: it keeps every session, compares your notes with the roaster's after the reveal, and takes you from your favorite to a brew recipe. Get the app.
Frequently asked questions
What is coffee cupping?
Cupping is a standard way to taste several coffees side by side. Each coffee gets the same dose, grind, water, and steep time in its own cup, so the differences you taste come from the coffee rather than your brewing. You break the crust at 4:00, skim, and taste with a spoon as the cups cool.
What do I need to cup coffee at home?
Two to six coffees, one identical cup or glass per coffee (about 200 mL), a scale, a grinder, a kettle with filtered water, and two soup spoons. A cup of hot water for rinsing the spoon between cups helps. You do not need special cupping bowls or a cupping spoon.
How do I cup coffee blind by myself?
Write a letter on the bottom of each cup, put each coffee in its lettered cup, then shuffle the cups and line them up. Taste and take notes by position, left to right. When you are done, lift each cup, enter the letter underneath, and the sheet matches your notes to the coffees.
When do you break the crust when cupping?
At 4:00 after that cup was poured. Push the spoon through the floating grounds, stir about three times, and smell the aroma that comes up. Rinse the spoon before the next cup. If you poured the cups 20 seconds apart, break them 20 seconds apart too.
Why does the timer stagger the pours?
Every cup should steep for the same four minutes before its crust break. If you pour four cups 20 seconds apart, the last one went in a minute after the first, so each cup gets its own break time counted from its own pour.
Why taste three times?
Coffee changes as it cools. Sweetness, body, and flaws often show most clearly in the cool round, and a coffee you liked hot can fall apart at room temperature. The SCA protocol tastes as the cups cool past roughly 70, 55, and 38 °C; the sheet prompts by elapsed time instead of claiming a temperature.
What ratio should I use for cupping?
9 g of coffee per 160 g of water (1:17.8) is close to the SCA's 8.25 g per 150 mL. 10 g per 160 g (1:16) is stronger and can make differences easier to spot. Pick one and keep it the same for every cup. Grind medium-coarse, a step coarser than you would for paper filter.
Is this the SCA cupping form?
No. The SCA's current Coffee Value Assessment uses separate descriptive and affective forms built for trained cuppers. This sheet keeps the same split in a simpler shape: it records which cup is sweetest, most acidic, or your favorite, what you taste in each cup, and how much you enjoy it. It does not produce a 100-point score, because a home score has nothing to calibrate against.
Can I print a blank cupping form?
Yes. Set the number of coffees, then use Print a blank form. You get one page with a row per cup for hot, warm, and cool notes, an enjoyment rating, and a grid for the side-by-side picks.
Does this tool send my notes anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser and the session is saved in local storage on this device, so a refresh mid-session picks up where you left off.