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Permalink Reply by Jacob Casella on January 17, 2013 at 7:54am

Check your cupping technique from A to Z- coffee to water ratio, grind setting, water quality & temp, timing, avoiding agitation, proper cracking & skimming.

It may be that you just prefer filtered coffee--cupping will leave in fines and oils that paper removes.  However, I personally find cupping to be kind of "as good as coffee can get", so I'm surprised you would find a filter or an aeropress drastically superior.

For what purpose are you cupping?  I like cupping and I think it's very educational, but I think for a lot of purposes well-controlled "normal brewing" is a fine way to explore a coffee.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Eckert on January 17, 2013 at 11:59am

Are you cupping and brewing beans from the same batch of coffee?

In general, beans roasted for cupping are roasted on the lighter end of the scale in an effort to evaluate the merits of a bean, not the roast.  Production roasting can be done to highlight some aspects while muting other aspects of a coffee.  Production roasting is likely to increase the role of the following (compared to a lighter cupping roast): flavors from the caramelization of sugars, the browning of amino acids (maillard reaction), and possibly the burning of the woody structure of the bean. 

Keith

Venia Coffee

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Permalink Reply by in2bean on January 17, 2013 at 2:13pm

Thanks for your replies

Yes the beans are from the same batch but they are not all lightly roasted beans. Perhaps the contrast in the roast levels is throwing me off. A darker roasted bean often just tastes of carbon at the cupping table to me and a poor comparison to the fantastic range of flavours of a lighter roasted bean. When it comes to enjoying a drink however, I will often find the lighter roasts too sour and then IM surprised that I enjoy drinking a darker roast. Perhaps it is my brewing methods, Im not really consistent in measuring and timing when I brew. Should a good coffee be good however it is brewed or do you think certain coffees that suit specific brew methods?

Yes, definitely think I need to pay more attention to my cupping protocol too.

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