The first time you join a cupping table, it feels like stepping into a quiet ritual—rows of coffee bowls, the aroma of fresh grinds, the clink of spoons, and a chorus of purposeful slurps. At The Bean Embassy in Siem Reap, we host cupping sessions not as performances, but as opportunities to learn, listen, and connect. Because cupping is where coffee speaks—and where you begin to understand its many voices.
Cupping is the global standard for tasting coffee. It allows us to evaluate different beans side by side, with a focus on sensory clarity and comparative experience. In our training, students learn how to slurp with intention, describe flavors with confidence, and deepen their palate through repetition and reflection.
It’s not about using fancy words—it’s about being present, curious, and willing to let coffee reveal itself.
What Is Cupping?
A Universal Tasting Method
Cupping is the method professionals around the world use to evaluate coffee. From roasters selecting green coffee to baristas developing their sensory skills, cupping is the most consistent and unbiased way to compare different coffees under the same conditions.
Unlike brewing through filters or espresso machines, cupping uses immersion brewing without filtration. The ground coffee sits directly in hot water, allowing tasters to experience the coffee’s full range of flavors, textures, and aromas—without interference from equipment.
Why We Cup
At The Bean Embassy, we cup to:
- Evaluate roast development
- Compare origins and processes
- Train sensory awareness
- Build a common vocabulary
- Connect over shared flavor experiences
More than anything, cupping creates a space for learning—where the focus is not on serving, but on sensing.
The Cupping Process Step by Step
Preparing the Table
Each cupping session starts with careful setup. We prepare multiple coffees using identical parameters so the only variable is the coffee itself—not the method, grind size, or ratio.
Standard cupping setup includes:
- 12g of medium-coarse ground coffee
- 200ml of hot water (93–96°C)
- Identical cupping bowls
- Cupping spoons
- A kettle, timer, and scales
The goal is uniformity. Every bowl gets the same amount of coffee, water, and rest time so tasters can compare apples to apples (or in this case—florals to citrus to honey to earth).
Step 1: Smelling the Dry Grounds
Before pouring water, we take a moment to smell the freshly ground coffee. This first dry aroma gives insight into the bean’s character and roast.
Ask yourself:
- Is it sweet, fruity, herbal, or nutty?
- Is it sharp or soft?
- Does anything stand out?
This step sets your expectations for the flavors to come.
Step 2: Adding Water and the Wet Aroma
Once water is poured, the coffee forms a crust on the surface. As it brews, the wet aroma intensifies—this is one of the most important sensory moments in cupping.
At 4 minutes, we perform the crust break:
- Gently push the crust with a spoon while leaning in to smell.
- Inhale deeply. This is where notes like floral, citrus, honey, or earthy emerge most clearly.
You may even get hit with unexpected aromas—savory tomato, toasted cereal, ripe stone fruit.
Let the coffee surprise you.
Step 3: Cleaning the Surface
After the crust is broken, use two spoons to skim the foam and floating grounds from the top of the bowl. This clears the surface for clean slurping and ensures the brew continues to cool evenly.
Step 4: Tasting the Coffee
Once the coffee cools slightly—usually around 8–12 minutes after pouring—it’s time to taste.
- Dip your spoon into the bowl and slurp the coffee with force.
- Slurping aerates the liquid across your tongue and palate, enhancing the aroma and helping you perceive flavor more clearly.
Take your time. Swirl the coffee in your mouth. Notice the sweetness, acidity, body, and aftertaste. Let it linger.
Then move to the next bowl and repeat. Compare. Contrast. Begin to describe what you’re sensing.
Building a Tasting Vocabulary
It’s Okay Not to Sound Like a Sommelier
One of the biggest fears new tasters have is “not knowing the right words.” At The Bean Embassy, we remind students: there’s no right word—just honest observation.
Start with basic descriptions:
- Is it fruity, nutty, earthy, or floral?
- Is the acidity bright like lemon, or soft like apple?
- Is the sweetness like sugar, honey, or caramel?
- Is the texture silky, creamy, dry, or gritty?
As you gain confidence, move toward more specific references:
- Floral: jasmine, lavender, chamomile
- Fruity: orange, apricot, blackberry, passion fruit
- Sweet: brown sugar, maple, cane sugar
- Earthy: tobacco, forest floor, wet leaves
- Nutty/roasty: almond, hazelnut, cocoa nib, toast
We use the SCA Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel as a visual guide—but we also encourage personal expression. What matters most is that you learn to connect what you taste to how you describe it.
Comparative Tasting: The Real Learning
The magic of cupping happens in the contrast. Tasting one coffee on its own is useful—but tasting it beside four others? That’s where learning accelerates.
You might taste a washed Ethiopian with bright florals next to a honey-processed Thai coffee with tropical fruit and a nutty finish. Suddenly, flavor becomes three-dimensional—and your palate starts picking up details it missed before.
At The Bean Embassy, we often cup:
- Different roast levels of the same coffee
- Same origin, different processes
- Multiple regions from Southeast Asia and beyond
- Experimental vs. traditional processing methods
The more you compare, the more your sensory memory sharpens—and your vocabulary becomes richer.
Learning to Taste, Not Judge
Cupping Is Exploration, Not Scoring
We don’t cup to prove which coffee is best. We cup to understand. That’s why we invite curiosity, not critique. Some coffees will be sweet and floral. Others will be earthy and deep. All of them have something to say—if we’re willing to listen.
Over time, you’ll learn to recognize what you enjoy—and what customers might enjoy. But we always come back to respecting the coffee. Every bowl represents a journey—from farm to roastery to table. Cupping gives us a chance to honor that story with attention and appreciation.
Cupping in Community
One of the most beautiful aspects of cupping is that it brings people together. Around the table, we share thoughts, trade notes, and build our collective understanding of flavor.
We encourage our students to speak up and share—even if they’re unsure. Sometimes, what one person calls “apple” another calls “white grape”—and both are right. By listening to each other, we expand our own reference points.
And as you cup more often, you’ll start to build your own flavor memory: That citrus note reminds me of that Kenyan coffee from last month… That silky mouthfeel feels like the Guatemalan we cupped last week…
That’s how a palate grows—not just through taste, but through conversation.
The Bean Embassy Approach to Cupping
At The Bean Embassy, cupping is part of every learning journey. Whether we’re evaluating roast profiles, exploring origins, or training new baristas, we treat cupping as a practice of presence.
We teach you to:
- Taste with intention
- Describe without fear
- Ask curious questions
- Respect what you taste—even if it’s not your favorite
Because every cupping is a chance to slow down, connect with coffee, and build your sensory foundation.