The SCA Cupping Protocol, Step by Step

The SCA cupping protocol is the Specialty Coffee Association's standardized method for evaluating coffee. It calls for 8.25g of coffee ground coarsely into a 150–250ml cup, water at 93°C (200°F) poured directly over the grounds, a four-minute steep, a three-stir crust break performed while smelling, foam skimming, and slurp-tasting at three temperatures as the cup cools. The protocol is the basis for every score on the SCA's 100-point form and the procedure used at most blind coffee competitions worldwide.

If you want to evaluate coffee the way professional Q graders, coffee buyers, and competition judges do, this is the procedure. Below is every step in order, with the specific numbers, what to do, and why each step exists.

Equipment and Setup

Per the SCA's published cupping protocol:

• Cupping bowls or glasses: 207ml or 266ml capacity, tempered glass or ceramic, identical in size, with a top rim diameter of 76–89mm
• Spoons: silver or stainless steel, 4–5ml volume, deep round bowl
• Water: 125–175 ppm total dissolved solids
• Grinder: burr type, purged between samples
• Scale: 0.1g resolution
• Kettle: capable of holding 93°C ± 1°C
• Timer

Cups must be at room temperature. Cold cups lower the brew temperature; warm cups distort the steep.

Sample Roast Standards

The protocol calls for a light-to-medium roast, completed within 24 hours of cupping and rested for at least 8 hours. On the Agtron scale, that's 55–60 whole bean. This is intentionally lighter than most consumer roasts because lighter roasts reveal more origin character.

For home cuppers, you can't usually roast to spec. Use coffees that are 24 hours to 14 days off roast and from a similar roast-date range. Pre-ground coffee, blends, and very dark roasts will not produce reliable results.

Step 1: Weigh and Grind

Weigh 8.25g of coffee per 150ml of water — a 1:18.18 ratio. Scale up to 11g per 200ml or 13.75g per 250ml. Use 0.1g precision.

Grind immediately before pouring. Aroma compounds start escaping ground coffee within minutes; a coffee ground 20 minutes before cupping has already lost a meaningful portion of what you're trying to evaluate.

Grind setting: coarse — comparable to coarse French press, around 1mm particles. The SCA spec is 70–75% passing through a US #20 sieve (about 850µm). Use a coarse setting and stay consistent across samples.

Purge the grinder with 5–10g of the next sample before the actual dose to prevent cross-contamination.

Step 2: Fragrance Evaluation (Dry)

Within 15 minutes of grinding, evaluate the dry fragrance. Hold the cup under your nose and inhale. Note what you smell — floral, fruity, herbal, chocolaty, nutty, caramelly, spicy. Some coffees smell dramatically different dry vs wet; both readings are data.

Step 3: Pour at 93°C

Boil water, then wait 30 seconds off the boil or use a temperature-controlled kettle at 93°C (200°F), tolerance ±1°C.

Pour directly onto the grounds. Fill every cup to the same point — the ratio is what matters. Start your timer at the first pour. Pour all cups in rapid succession when possible; if you sequence them individually, track time per cup consistently.

Step 4: Steep for Four Minutes

The water hits the grounds, hot extraction begins, and the grounds float to the surface forming a crust. The crust traps aromatic compounds and the cup steeps undisturbed below it.

Do not stir. Do not touch the cup. Let the four minutes pass exactly. The protocol specifies this duration because:

• It's long enough to extract sufficient solubles for evaluation
• It's short enough to avoid over-extracting bitter compounds
• It's universally repeatable, regardless of brewer geometry

A common home-cupping mistake is breaking the crust early. Don't. Four minutes is fixed.

Step 5: Break the Crust (Wet Aroma)

At exactly four minutes, perform the crust break. Hold a cupping spoon, push gently into the crust at the cup rim, and stir three times in a single back-and-forth motion. Keep your nose 4–6cm above the cup as you stir.

This is the most informative single moment of the cupping. The instant you break the crust, an intense burst of aroma releases — the volatile compounds that were trapped under the crust escape upward. This is the wet aroma evaluation.

Note what you smell. Floral. Fruity. Stone fruit. Berry. Citrus. Caramel. Chocolate. Roasted nuts. Earthy. Fermented. Whatever is there, articulate it.

After three stirs in a cup, rinse the spoon in a separate water bowl before moving to the next cup. Carry-over between cups corrupts the wet aroma reading.

Step 6: Skim the Foam

After breaking and aroma evaluation, the crust collapses but foam and floating grounds remain on the surface. Skim them off using two spoons — one in each hand, drawing them across the surface from opposite directions, lifting the foam off. Discard.

This takes practice. The first attempts will either leave too much foam (gritty slurp) or remove too much liquid (changed ratio). Aim for a clean liquid surface with most of the floating debris removed.

Step 7: Wait for the Right Temperature

Sensory perception changes with temperature. The form requires three passes:

• ~70°C: the "is this acceptable?" pass. Acidity is most prominent.
• ~55°C: the working temperature. Most flavor and aftertaste evaluation happens here. Sweetness emerges.
• ~38°C: the revealing pass. Defects (papery, baggy, woody, fermented) show up most clearly. Body and aftertaste are at their most diagnostic.

Without a thermometer, time it: first pass 8–10 minutes after the crust break, second 5–8 minutes later, third once cups are clearly cool (20–25 minutes after skimming).

Step 8: Slurp and Score

Take a deep spoon, fill it with liquid (not grounds), bring it to your mouth, and inhale sharply as you sip. The slurp aerates the coffee across your palate. It releases volatile compounds into your retro-nasal pathway, which is where most of what we perceive as "flavor" actually happens (taste buds detect only sweet/sour/salty/bitter/umami; everything else is olfactory).

Note what you taste at each temperature. The SCA form scores ten attributes:

• Fragrance/Aroma
• Flavor
• Aftertaste
• Acidity
• Body
• Balance
• Uniformity (consistency across the two cups of the same sample)
• Clean cup (absence of defects)
• Sweetness
• Overall (your holistic impression)

Each attribute scores 0–10 in 0.25 increments. Total possible is 100. Specialty grade is 80+. Cuppers commonly note specific descriptors using the SCA/WCR sensory lexicon flavor wheel for shared vocabulary.

Step 9: Defect Detection

Each coffee gets two cups for defect detection — not redundancy. Processing defects (ferment, mold, baggy notes) often show in one cup but not the other because defective beans are unevenly distributed in the sample.

If one cup tastes off and the other clean, the coffee has uniformity issues. The defects themselves are covered in common off-flavours in coffee.

Using the Protocol at Home

The SCA protocol is the gold standard but overbuilt for casual evaluation. A simplified version — one cup per coffee, consistent dose and temperature, four-minute steep, slurp at two temperatures — gives 80% of the diagnostic power with a fraction of the setup. The full walkthrough is in how to taste coffee like a judge and the practical setup in how to set up a home coffee cupping.

You don't need to score on the 100-point form to benefit. Run the protocol with three coffees you already own, write 2–3 specific descriptors per cup, and rank them blind. After a few sessions you'll catch yourself saying "dried apricot at the second pass, papery as it cools" instead of "I dunno, it's coffee." That precision is the point.

Brewing Well Is Half the Equation

The other half is what's in the bag — and that's where most home setups quietly cap themselves. Podium Coffee Club ships coffee from the roasters at the top of the US specialty scene: competition winners, judged blind by other professionals on a procedure very close to the one above, sent within 24 hours of roasting.

When you're ready to upgrade the beans: Podium Gold is $24.50/month, Podium Platinum is $29.50/month — both 300g whole bean. Read our take on the best coffee subscriptions for the wider category context.

FAQ

How long does an SCA cupping take?

About 45–60 minutes from grinding to final evaluation for a five-coffee session. The four-minute steep, the wait-to-cool intervals, and three tasting passes per cup are the time sinks. Setup adds another 15 minutes.

What temperature water does the SCA protocol use?

93°C (200°F), with a tolerance of ±1°C, at the moment of pouring. Boil water and either let it rest off the boil for 30 seconds or use a kettle with temperature control. Boiling water over-extracts; cooler water masks defects.

Why does the protocol use a 1:18 ratio?

Because cupping prioritizes clarity over concentration. A weaker ratio than typical filter brewing (often 1:16) makes acidity, aromatic compounds, and defects easier to perceive. Concentrated brews can mask subtle differences; cupping doses are deliberately diagnostic, not optimized for drinking pleasure.

Do I have to use 207ml or 266ml cups?

For scoring against the published form, yes — the SCA grading panels use those sizes. For practical home cupping, any consistent cup size in the 200–250ml range will give you reliable comparisons as long as the ratio holds. The protocol is about ratio and procedure, not the cup itself.

What's the difference between the SCA protocol and the Q grader exam?

The SCA cupping protocol is the procedure. The Q grader exam is a 22-test certification administered by the Coffee Quality Institute that verifies a cupper can apply the protocol consistently to identify origins, defects, and qualities at a professional level. The procedure is the same; Q certification is verification of skill.