Coffee Cupping
How we taste every lot
Cupping is the ritual roasters everywhere use to taste coffee honestly, side by side. This is what it is, and how we use it to decide what earns a place on our shelf.
The ritual
What cupping is
Coffee is ground coarse, steeped in hot water in an open bowl, no filter, no machine. After four minutes you break the crust of grounds with a spoon and breathe in; then you clear the foam, wait for the coffee to cool, and slurp it loudly from the spoon so it sprays across the whole palate.
Each coffee is scored against a 100 point scale: aroma, flavor, acidity, body, sweetness, balance, and finish. It is the same ritual at the farm, at the import lab, and at our roastery, which is exactly why it works. Everyone is tasting the same way.
Our table
How Spiritus cups
Every lot we consider is cupped before we buy it, and cupped again when it lands in Lombard. We roast a small sample, rest it, and taste it blind, so the score belongs to the coffee, not the story on the bag. Only then does a coffee earn its place on the shelf, and we keep cupping through the season to make sure it stays true.
The quality floor
85 or higher, or it does not make the shelf.
Specialty grade begins at 80 points. We hold our floor at 85 or higher on the cupping table, for every coffee, every season.
Your turn
Taste along with us
You do not need a lab. Brew two coffees side by side, smell first, slurp, and notice what changes as the cups cool. Our coffee tasting wheel helps you put words to what you taste, and if you want a shortcut to a coffee you will love, Find My Coffee will point you there in five questions.
Sip in the moment
Every bag on the shelf already passed the table.
Shop the coffee Tasting wheel Find my coffeeSpiritus Coffee Co., Lombard, Illinois. Consciously crafted, hand delivered fresh, roasted with intention.