Specialty Cupping Score

Category: science

A standardized 100-point metric established by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) to grade the quality of green coffee beans.

Cupping scores are determined by certified "Q Graders" through a rigorous, blind sensory analysis evaluating fragrance, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, and uniformity. Coffee scoring 80 points or above is officially classified as "Specialty Coffee," while crops scoring below 80 are categorized as commercial or exchange-grade commodity coffee, which trades strictly on global futures market prices.

Common Examples

• The green buyer secured the Ethiopian lot after its cupping score hit an exceptional eighty-seven points on the sensory evaluation table.
• We mapped historical cupping score data against regional rainfall records inside our analytics database to predict yield value drops.