How to Get the Best Cup of Coffee: the Gold Cup

Toulouse lounging with a cappuccino at Julien's

You all know about my obsession with Swiss café crème (yes, I admit to it—I’m the cool cat). During my search for the “perfect cup” in Nova Scotia, I ran across something called “the Gold Cup”. Baristas in coffee houses that brewed a great cup of coffee kept mentioning it (see my previous post on Ten Best Places to Drink Coffee in the South Shore). Okay, how does a “gold cup” affect the quality of your coffee–except to make you feel like royalty, of course?

Wouldn’t you know it: ”the Gold Cup” is a standard for coffee-making that was devised by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) to improve the standard of filter coffee consumed in the marketplace.

The SCAE’s Gold Cup program promotes a measurable standard in filter coffee by recognising an internationally respected set of rules on brewing filter coffee. The Gold Cup sets minimum standards for coffee to water ratio, brewing temperature and holding time, and optimum standards for coffee extraction and strength.

How the Gold Cup Works: the Art of Brewing

Achieving the “Gold Cup” really consists of two parts: the coffee bean itself; and

Pouring the pure "gold" crema

 the alchemy of turning the bean and water into a perfectly extracted cup of coffee. The art of brewing involves taking from 18 to 22% of a coffee bean and extracting it into about 1.3% of a finished beverage. According to the SCAE, the most important aspect of “the perfect cup” is achieving the right balance between strength of the beverage and correct extraction of the bean.

How to Get the Perfect Cup: the Science of Brewing

The SCAE Gold Cup defines a filter coffee standard as “a ratio of 1 litre of fresh water brewed at 92 to 96 C through 50 to 65g of freshly ground coffee and filtered through an oxygen-bleached filter paper to extract between 18 and 22% of solids from the coffee.”

Toulouse savors a cappuccino at the Wildwood Cafe

As my barista friends tell me, several factors influence the quality of filter coffee. Some of the most important ones include:

• Grammage: how much coffee you use per litre of water
• Grind: how coarse or fine you grind the roasted coffee bean
• Contact time:  how long the ground beans and water are in contact to extract the brew
• Temperature: how consistent and what temperature the water is at brew time.

Aaron Brown of the Wildwood Cafe in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, tells me that he adjusts the grind and volume of his brew depending on the humidity, temperature and weather of the day. Creating the “perfect cup of coffee” is truly an art and science; the great barista is like a great chef who adjusts his recipe or baking conditions according to his environment like altitude and climate. The best baristas are accomplished alchemists who wield a kind of coffee-magic to evoke a blend of pure ecstasy… pure gold, I guess…

And this cool cat is truly grateful.

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