Quality Standards
Understanding the Cup: Aroma, Flavor, Acidity, Body, Balance
Five of the core dimensions in SCA cupping describe the cup itself: aroma, flavor, acidity, body, and balance. Each captures a distinct aspect of what specialty cuppers evaluate. Aroma describes the fragrance of the grounds and the brewed coffee — the first impression, often rich with information about the coffee's character. Flavor describes the taste profile as it presents on the palate, the combination of all the descriptors the coffee expresses. Acidity describes the cup's brightness — its crisp, lively dimension, often one of the most celebrated qualities in specialty coffee.
Body describes the physical weight and texture of the coffee in the mouth — silky, creamy, syrupy, tea-like, or other mouthfeel characteristics. Balance describes how these various dimensions hold each other in equilibrium, whether no single element dominates and the cup feels whole. Each dimension is scored separately, giving the overall evaluation multiple viewpoints on the same cup.
For drinkers, these five dimensions offer a useful framework even outside formal cupping. Attention to aroma, flavor, acidity, body, and balance — one by one — deepens the experience of any coffee and builds a vocabulary for describing what the cup offers. Café de Volcán considers these dimensions the fundamental categories through which coffee experience organizes itself, and the framework that most rewards attentive practice.
