Cupping Origin

[zacharycarlsen]

I've been trying to find the exact origin of the traditional coffee cupping online but haven't found details. When Trish R. allude to the "Brazilian cupping" on an earlier coffeed discussion it piqued my curiosity.

Thanks!

The following links provided good information on cupping without going into too much detail about its history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_cupping
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/04/cupping/
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/cupping.htm

[James Hoffmann]

I've been looking into this as well, as I wanted to write a big long article. Looking through my various coffee books the origin seems a bit fuzzy. I'll try and collate it all soon and post it somewhere.

[Ed Whitman]

Pendergrast mentions it briefly in Uncommon Grounds. One of the Hills Brothers, Reuben Wilmarth Hills adopted cup testing coffee in the 1880's originally pioneered by Clarence Bickford from San Francisco. Originally green coffee was purchased based on sight/ smell and cup testing evolved for greater accuracy. Supposedly the 7 gram coffee weight was the exact weight of a dime and nickel.

[zacharycarlsen]

Sweet! Google Books has Uncommon Grounds online!

Here's the part on Clarence Bickford and the original cupping ceremony:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Da_d7S ... rd&f=false

Thanks, Ed!

Can't wait to read the article, James.

Zachary

[sweetmarias]

Pendergrast mentions it briefly in Uncommon Grounds. One of the Hills Brothers, Reuben Wilmarth Hills adopted cup testing coffee in the 1880's originally pioneered by Clarence Bickford from San Francisco. Originally green coffee was purchased based on sight/ smell and cup testing evolved for greater accuracy. Supposedly the 7 gram coffee weight was the exact weight of a dime and nickel.

that's right - a nickel and a dime! I remember that being told to me the first time i tried cupping, which i suppose in the long view isn't that long ago, but for me it's 20 yrs. the cupping table had a balance beam in the center and you measured the coffee on one side, a nickel and a dime on the other. in fact i think an old jabez burns table at royal still has a balance beam on it.

[Wendy De Jong]

We have one of those old Jabez Burns tables with the balance scale on it too!