Tea 101: Cupping & Evaluation Method

A group of English Tea-Tasting Requisites

Cupping is the most important of all tea trade procedures after growing and manufacture. It is essential to buying tea and assessing its usefulness at every level of the trade; tea professionals often cup dozens of teas in a line at a single go. The only way for retailers to choose their own goods from the countless teas available and to understand their teas is to learn how to cup.

Cupping is not just tasting, but examination for purposes of comparison and contrast. Consistency is the key. You have to follow the same procedure every time you cup, using identical lighting, equipment, water, temperature of water, weight of dry leaf, length of steeping time, and ritual practices right down to always cupping at the same time of day and in a calm state of mind.

All you need is a clean, well-lighted area perfectly free from odors, a set of tasting cups with lids, a kettle, a gram scale, a timer, tea trays and spoons. Suppose you wish to choose which Assam to buy from numerous samples offered you. Line up the packages containing your samples in front of these, line up tea trays holding dry leaf from each sample; in front of these, line up your tasting cups. Now measure out an exact two grams of each sample and put it into the cup. Go down the line and fill each cup with steaming to boiling water and set the timer for appropriate time based on tea type (see Tea Steeping & Evaluation Method). When time is up, follow the same order in tipping the cups so as to drain the tea liquor into the tasting bowl. Now go down the line again and empty the infused tea leaf onto cup lids and place them atop the cups.

You are finally ready to proceed down the line with your spoon, slurping a spoonful of each tea with a sudden (and inevitably loud) in-take so that the tea sprays the entire interior of the mouth. You thus taste the liquor as you read the name of the particular Assam on the package and inspect a specimen of both its dry leaf and infused leaf. You will instantly notice the variations from one Assam to the next in appearance of leaf, color of liquor and its aroma, flavor, astringency, and brightness. You will be amazed at how many nuances you begin to notice. You are sure to enjoy your cupping experience ---and experience is sure to make you better and better at cupping.