A Q Grader is a certified coffee taster trained to the Specialty Coffee Association's sensory standards. Certification requires passing 22 exams over 6 days. There are roughly 7,000 active Q Graders worldwide. Their cupping scores set the prices that producers receive.

Can I attend a public cupping?

Yes. Many specialty roasters host public cuppings weekly or monthly, often free. They're an excellent way to taste range and develop palate. Roasters lists upcoming cuppings under Events in major cities.

What does an 86-point coffee taste like?

An 86-point coffee — squarely in the specialty range — typically has clean cup, balanced acidity, distinctive origin character, sweetness, and no defects. You'll often notice specific flavour notes (red berries, bergamot, chocolate, white peach) that wouldn't come through in commodity coffee.

What is Coffee Cupping?

The basic ritual

A cupping is, at its simplest, a structured tasting. Ground coffee is placed in a small bowl. Hot water (just off boil) is poured over it. The grounds form a crust on top, which is broken with a spoon at a precise time (often 4 minutes) and the coffee is sniffed deeply. After cooling, the coffee is slurped from the spoon — aggressively, to spray it across the palate — and evaluated.

This is how every serious specialty roaster decides which lots to buy, every Q Grader scores producer samples, and every barista learns to read flavour. It looks slightly absurd from the outside; the practice is deadly serious.

The SCA protocol

The Specialty Coffee Association has standardised cupping into a precise protocol:

8.25g of coffee per cup, ground at medium-coarse
150ml of water, just off boil (~93°C)
4 minutes of steeping before breaking the crust
5 cups per sample to test uniformity
Tasted three times as the coffee cools: hot, warm, room temperature

The tasters score on ten attributes — fragrance/aroma, flavour, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, sweetness, clean cup, uniformity, and overall — on a 6–10 scale per attribute. Total is the SCA cupping score.

The 80-point line

The SCA defines specialty coffee as any green that scores 80 or more on the 100-point scale. The grades cluster as follows:

90+ — extraordinary, "Outstanding" tier (very rare, often Gesha or competition lots)
85–89.99 — "Excellent" (most premium specialty coffee)
80–84.99 — "Very Good" (entry-level specialty)
Below 80 — commodity grade, not specialty

A producer's price is largely determined by this score. A single point can be the difference between $3/lb and $8/lb FOB.

What you can actually taste

In a cupping, you're trying to identify and describe four main things:

Fragrance and aroma — the smell of the dry grounds and wet crust. Fruit, flowers, spice, chocolate, nuts.
Acidity — not sourness, but brightness. Citrus, tart fruit, juicy snap.
Body — how the coffee feels in the mouth. Thin, silky, syrupy, creamy.
Sweetness, balance, finish — how the elements fit together and what lingers.

Origin character is what makes cupping fun. An Ethiopian washed Yirgacheffe tastes like bergamot and white peach. A Brazilian natural like chocolate and walnut. A Kenyan AA like blackcurrant. These aren't marketing claims — they're real flavour notes that emerge from variety, terroir, and processing.

Q Graders: the certified palates

A Q Grader is a coffee taster certified by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) — the SCA's certification body for cuppers. Becoming Q Grader–certified requires passing 22 separate exams over 6 days: olfactory tests, palate tests, cupping protocol tests, organic acid identification, grading green coffee for defects.

There are roughly 7,000 active Q Graders worldwide as of 2026, with concentrations in producing countries (Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia) and consuming hubs (USA, Japan, South Korea). Their scores determine producer prices.

Public cuppings: where to go

Many specialty roasters host public cuppings — sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes free. Going to a few is the fastest way to develop palate and learn what specialty coffee actually tastes like.

Roasters lists upcoming cuppings under Events in major cities. Look in:

London — Square Mile, Workshop Coffee, Notes
Copenhagen — Coffee Collective hosts publicly
Berlin — Bonanza, The Barn, Five Elephant
Melbourne — Market Lane, Seven Seeds, Patricia
Portland — Heart, Stumptown, Coava
Lisbon — Fabrica, The Folks

What to expect on your first one

You'll taste 4–8 different coffees side by side
You'll feel slightly silly slurping loudly from a spoon
You won't taste much detail the first time. That's normal.
By the third or fourth cupping, you'll start identifying real differences
Bring a notebook. Writing what you taste sharpens what you taste.

How Roasters helps

Most of the high-quality cafés on Roasters can tell you exact cupping scores for their beans, often printed on the bag or available on request. Use the app to find them.

Download Roasters to find specialty cafés hosting cuppings near you.