Running a Coffee Tasting Flight or Cupping in Your Café

A tasting flight serves two or three coffees side by side in small cups so customers can compare them. A cupping is the professional version: coarse coffee steeped in bowls and tasted from spoons. Both sell retail bags, because customers leave knowing which coffee they like. You need matching small cups or bowls, a scale and a kettle.

Most customers have never tasted two coffees side by side. The first time they do, the difference between a washed Ethiopian and a natural Brazil stops being words on a bag. That’s why tastings are one of the best tools a café or roastery has for selling beans.

What’s the difference between a flight and a cupping?

How do you run a tasting flight?

1. Pick two or three coffees with a clear contrast — origin, process or roast.
2. Brew them the same way, with the same recipe, so the coffee is the only thing that changes.
3. Serve each in the same style of cup, about 80–120 ml, in a set order.
4. Put a small card beside each cup with the origin and two or three tasting notes.
5. Ask which one they liked best — then offer that coffee in a bag.

Does the shape of the cup change the taste?

Yes — shape changes how aroma reaches your nose and where the coffee lands on your tongue. Loveramics designed its Brewers tasting cups around it: 150 ml porcelain cups in three shapes, Floral, Sweet and Nutty, each meant to lift a different style of coffee. The Floral cup’s flared opening, for example, opens up the aroma of floral coffees. Best Coffee explains the science in why the cup you drink from changes the flavour.
Serving the same coffee in two shapes is a flight of its own, and one customers remember.

Which tasting cups should you use?

The champion cups come in the three sizes a competitor serves — espresso, a filter or cortado, and a milk drink — so a set of three makes a ready-made espresso, filter and milk flight. Browse the wider Brewers Embossed tasting cup range.

How do you run a public cupping?

1. Weigh coarse-ground coffee into a bowl for each coffee. The SCA cupping protocol uses 8.25 g of coffee to 150 ml of water.
2. Let guests smell the dry grounds.
3. Pour water just off the boil (around 93°C) to the top of each bowl and start a timer.
4. At about four minutes, “break” the crust with a spoon and smell the aroma that’s released.
5. Skim off the foam and grounds, then let the coffee cool.
6. Taste from the spoon with a quick slurp, rinsing spoons between coffees, and keep tasting as it cools.

How do you know when a cupping bowl is ready to taste?

Loveramics’ colour-changing cupping bowl uses heat-sensitive glaze: white at 95°C, light grey at 70°C and dark grey at 55°C. Guests can see when to taste without a thermometer. The bowls stack and are hand wash only. A new Deco 200 ml cupping bowl is due from Loveramics later in the season.

How do tastings sell more coffee?

1. Offer the coffee from the flight in a bag at the table, not just at the till.
2. Give cupping guests a discount on the night, and ask for an email to announce the next one.
3. Run a cupping on a fixed day each month so regulars plan around it.
4. Sell the cups. Customers who liked the flight often want the cups for home, and the champion ranges are easy gifts.
5. Use the same format to train new staff on your coffee range.

See also: Loveramics Egg cups explained and planning a crockery order.

Frequently asked questions

What is a coffee tasting flight?
A tasting flight is two or three coffees served side by side in small, matching cups so customers can compare them. Brew them the same way so the coffee is the only thing that changes.

What is the cupping ratio for coffee?
The SCA cupping protocol uses 8.25 g of coarsely ground coffee to 150 ml of water just off the boil. Break the crust at about four minutes, skim, then taste from a spoon as it cools.

Does cup shape affect coffee flavour?
Yes. Shape changes how aroma reaches your nose and where the coffee lands on your tongue. Loveramics’ Brewers tasting cups come in Floral, Sweet and Nutty shapes, each designed to lift a different coffee style.

What tasting cups do World Barista Champions use?
Loveramics has co-designed tasting cups with Boram Um, the 2023 World Barista Champion, and Mikael Jasin, the 2024 champion. Both ranges come in 80, 120 and 200 ml, matching the espresso, filter and milk courses.

How do colour-changing cupping bowls work?
They use heat-sensitive glaze that changes colour with temperature: white at 95°C, light grey at 70°C and dark grey at 55°C. Tasters can see when the coffee has cooled to a tasting temperature without a thermometer.