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Professional tea cupping - how tea is assessed in the industry

Behind every packet of tea you buy stands the work of professional tasters. Professional tea cupping is a strict, industry method of quality assessment - quite different from home brewing for pleasure. A tea taster can taste hundreds of liquors a day, assessing the leaf, colour, aroma and taste according to precise rules, to decide the price, quality and destination of the tea for blending. It is a world of its own equipment, its own vocabulary and its own international standard. Getting to know it is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the tea industry. Here is a guide to professional tea cupping: what the ISO 3103 standard is, what the tasting set looks like, what the assessment technique involves and what language professional tasters use.

What professional cupping is

Professional tea cupping (or tasting) is an industry method of quality assessment, used in quality control, trade and the creation of blends. It is not tasting for pleasure, but a strict, repeatable process of assessment, whose aim is the objective comparison and classification of teas. Professional tasters assess tea in specialised tasting rooms, according to set rules and their own vocabulary. It is their assessment that decides the price of the tea, its destination and the composition of the final blends. Cupping is the heart of the tea industry - invisible to the consumer, yet decisive for what ends up in the cup. Understanding that professional cupping is a strict quality assessment, not ordinary tasting, is the starting point. It is quality control in practice. It is the foundation of the tea trade. We cover home tasting more in home tea tasting.

The ISO 3103 standard

For the assessment to be fair, the brewing for cupping has to be repeatable - and here the ISO 3103 standard enters. It is an international standard specifying how to prepare tea for tasting in a strictly uniform way: how much leaf for how much water, how hot the water, how long to brew. Thanks to this, all teas are assessed under identical conditions, so differences in the liquor result from the tea itself, not from the way of brewing. It is crucial for objectivity. The ISO 3103 standard is proof of how seriously repeatability is taken in professional tea assessment. Understanding that ISO 3103 standardises the brewing for cupping explains why the assessment is comparable. It is a standard of fair comparison. It is a guarantee that the taster assesses the tea, not their brewing.

The tasting set

The heart of cupping is a special tasting set. It consists of a lidded cup (often with a serrated rim) and a bowl. The process looks like this: a weighed portion of tea is brewed with boiling water in the cup, covered and brewed for a set time, and then the cup is tilted so the liquor pours into the bowl, holding the leaves back in the cup thanks to the serrated rim. Now the taster assesses three things separately: the dry leaf, the infused leaf (left in the cup) and the liquor itself (in the bowl). This simple, brilliant set lets you quickly and repeatably assess many teas side by side. Understanding that the cup-and-bowl set separates the leaf from the liquor explains the mechanics of cupping. It is equipment made for assessment. It is the tool of the professional taster.

A table: what the taster assesses

Let us gather the elements of assessment:

The table shows that the taster assesses tea in stages: from the dry leaf, through the infused leaf, to the liquor itself. Each stage carries information about quality.

The assessment technique and slurping

The assessment of the liquor itself has its own technique. The taster takes the liquor with a spoon and energetically draws it into the mouth with a loud slurp - exactly like in professional coffee or wine tasting. Why slurp? Because the sudden intake of air sprays the liquor across the whole palate and releases the aromas, allowing the full flavour, body and aftertaste to be assessed. The taster also assesses the colour of the liquor (brightness, intensity) and its smell. The liquor is usually spat out rather than swallowed, so as not to take in excess caffeine over hundreds of samples a day. Understanding that slurping sprays the liquor for full assessment explains this characteristic technique. It is the sound of professional tasting. It is a way of drawing everything out of the tea.

The taster’s language

Professional tasters use their own, colourful vocabulary to describe tea - a kind of jargon of the trade. Brisk means a lively, refreshing astringency (a feature of good black tea). Malty is a malty note typical of Assam. Pungent is an intense, drawing fullness. Bright is a clear, lively liquor. Body is the body, the density of the liquor. Coppery describes the copper colour of a well-infused leaf. This vocabulary, incomprehensible to the layman, lets professionals communicate precisely about quality. Understanding that tasters have their own language (brisk, malty, pungent) shows the depth of this craft. It is the jargon of precision. It is the dictionary of professional tea assessment.

Leaf grades

Part of the professional assessment is also the classification of the leaf by appearance - especially in black tea. There is a whole system of abbreviations marking leaf grades, for example OP (Orange Pekoe), FOP (Flowery Orange Pekoe), BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe), as well as fannings and dust - fine fractions used mainly in teabags. These markings tell of the size and quality of the leaf, not the taste, but they are an important element of trade. The taster assesses whether the dry leaf is uniform, well made and matches its grade. Understanding that leaf grades (OP, BOP, fannings) describe its appearance completes the picture of professional assessment. It is a grading by appearance. It is part of the language of the tea trade.

Cupping and creating blends

What is all this for? One of the main aims of cupping is creating blends. Most teas on the market are blends - so they taste the same always, even though tea from each batch and season is different. The taster assesses hundreds of samples and selects them so the final blend has a constant, desired character, year after year. It is work analogous to a whisky master blender: composing a constant flavour from many variable ingredients. Cupping is the tool that makes this possible. Understanding that cupping serves the creation of repeatable blends links the assessment with the real aim of the industry. It is quality control and composition in one. It is the secret of the constant flavour of your favourite tea.

What it teaches an amateur

What does professional cupping say to an ordinary tea lover? First, that behind the quality of tea stands serious craft and science, not chance. Second, you can pick up their methods: brew in equal conditions, assess the leaf and the liquor separately, slurp to draw out the flavour, and learn the vocabulary. Third, knowing the leaf grades and terms helps you buy more consciously. You do not have to be a professional taster to benefit from their approach of attentive, systematic assessment. Understanding that the professionals’ methods can be brought home makes this knowledge practical. It is inspiration for the home taster. We cover describing your own impressions more in the tea flavour profile.

The essentials in brief

Let us gather it up. Professional tea cupping is a strict, industry method of quality assessment, used in trade and the creation of blends. The ISO 3103 standard standardises the brewing (how much leaf, water, time), so the assessment is comparable. The heart is the tasting set: a lidded cup with a serrated rim and a bowl, thanks to which the taster assesses separately the dry leaf, the infused leaf and the liquor itself. The liquor is assessed with the slurping technique, which sprays it across the palate, and usually spat out. Tasters use their own vocabulary (brisk, malty, pungent, bright) and leaf grades (OP, BOP, fannings). The main aim is creating repeatable blends. These methods can be picked up at home. Now you know how tea is assessed in the industry.

Note every tea in GustoNote - including by assessing the leaf and the liquor separately, like a professional. In time you will work out an attentive, systematic approach to tasting yourself.