You've probably seen coffee described as “82+ SCA” or heard a roaster talk about an 85, 88, or even 90+ point coffee. But what does that number actually mean?
Is an 82 score really that different from a 79 score? What does an 88-point coffee taste like? And how does a coffee earn a score in the 90s?
The answer starts with cupping—the standardized process coffee professionals use to evaluate green coffee and its potential in the cup.
The SCA's current approach looks at coffee through multiple dimensions rather than reducing its value to a single number.
So when we talk about an 82+ coffee, we're talking about a coffee that has demonstrated specialty-level quality under the traditional scoring framework—and that's a meaningful starting point for understanding what you're buying.
What Is an SCA Cupping Score?
Traditionally, coffee professionals have used a standardized SCA cupping form to evaluate coffee on a 100-point scale.
Rather than simply tasting a coffee and deciding whether someone likes it, cupping breaks the experience down into specific characteristics. A trained evaluator (Q-grader) looks at things such as:
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Fragrance and aroma
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Flavor
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Aftertaste
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Acidity
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Body or mouthfeel
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Balance
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Uniformity
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Clean cup
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Sweetness
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Overall impression
The goal is to create a consistent language for evaluating coffee so that producers, green coffee buyers, exporters, importers, roasters, and other professionals can communicate about the same coffee.
That's important because “good coffee” means very little without a shared way of describing what makes it good.
So, What Does 82+ Actually Mean?
Under the SCA scoring system, 80 points has generally been the threshold used to identify specialty coffee.
That means an 82-point coffee isn't simply “a little better than average.” It has crossed into the specialty category under the traditional scoring framework.
A simplified way to think about the traditional scale is:
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Below 80: Generally considered commercial/non-specialty under the traditional scoring framework.
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80–84.99: Specialty coffee with very good quality and desirable attributes.
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85–89.99: Excellent specialty coffee with increasingly distinctive and complex characteristics.
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90+: Exceptional coffees that demonstrate remarkable sensory qualities and distinction.
An 82-point coffee and a 92-point coffee aren't necessarily valuable for exactly the same reasons.
The score is a tool for communicating quality—not a complete description of the coffee.
How Do You Actually Get That Score?
This is where things get interesting.
Before a coffee ever becomes a bag of roasted beans sitting on your counter, professionals can evaluate the green coffee through a controlled cupping process.
Green coffee is roasted to a standardized sample roast, ground, and prepared according to a consistent cupping protocol. Evaluators smell the dry grounds, assess the fragrance, add water, and evaluate the coffee as it extracts and cools.
Coffee changes significantly as it cools, which is one reason professional cupping isn't simply taking a sip of hot coffee and deciding whether you like it.
The evaluator is looking at the coffee's characteristics throughout the tasting experience.
Is the aroma clean and distinctive?
Does the flavor have complexity?
Is the acidity vibrant and pleasant?
Does the body complement the coffee?
Does the flavor remain pleasant through the finish?
Is the cup balanced?
Are there defects?
Does the coffee demonstrate characteristics that make it distinctive?
These are the kinds of questions that turn tasting into evaluation.
Green Coffee Is Cupped Before We Roast It for You
One of the most important things to understand about an SCA score is that the green coffee is being evaluated for what it can become in the cup.
That's why green coffee evaluation is so important to us.
When we're looking at a new coffee, we're not simply asking, “Does this have a high score?”
We're asking:
What does this coffee have to offer?
What characteristics are present in the green coffee? What makes it distinctive? What flavors and aromas can we develop through roasting?
And perhaps most importantly:
Can we bring those characteristics into the finished coffee in a way that makes the cup exciting?
We Cup Independently, Too
We don't rely solely on a number provided by a producer, exporter, importer, or other source.
We independently cup the coffees we consider purchasing and roasting.
Our team has training under Q Graders, a professional coffee evaluation program designed to develop expertise in sensory evaluation, cupping, physical coffee quality, flavor, aroma, and overall cup quality.
That training matters because consistent cupping requires more than simply having a good palate.
It requires calibration, standardized procedures, sensory vocabulary, and the ability to separate personal preference from the characteristics actually present in a coffee.
For us, independent cupping is part of our quality-control process and part of how we decide which coffees are worth bringing to you.
We're not interested in simply putting a score on a bag.
We want to understand why a coffee earned that score and whether we can bring those qualities forward through our roasting.
A Note About the Farm Behind the Coffee
Quality doesn't stop with what's in the cup.
The farm behind this coffee is women-owned and women-run, something we're proud to support as part of our commitment to thoughtful sourcing.
It's an important part of this coffee's story and another reason we're proud to work with the farm. But we don't believe that the story behind a coffee should replace quality standards.
The quality has to stand on its own.
We independently cup the green coffee, evaluate its characteristics, and roast it based on what we believe the coffee can become in the cup.
The people behind the coffee add meaning to its story. The quality in the cup is what ultimately earns its place in our lineup.
The Score Is Only the Beginning
Here's something that can get lost when we talk about numbers:
An SCA score doesn't tell you exactly what a coffee will taste like.
An 85-point coffee isn't automatically going to taste better to you than an 83-point coffee.
Maybe you love bright, citrusy coffees. Maybe you prefer chocolate, caramel, and nutty flavors. Maybe you're looking for something floral and tea-like.
Your preferences matter.
A score gives you information.
The flavor notes tell you why you might want to drink it.
Why We Focus on the Notes We Bring Out Through Roasting
This is where we put our own craft into the process.
Green coffee has potential, but it isn't finished coffee.
Roasting transforms it.
Our job as roasters is to understand what makes each green coffee special and develop a roast profile that allows those characteristics to show up in the cup.
That means we don't want to roast every coffee the same way.
A high-scoring coffee doesn't need to be roasted simply to preserve its number. We want to understand what makes that coffee interesting and build a roast that highlights those qualities.
Maybe that's a bright acidity.
Maybe it's berry sweetness.
Maybe it's floral aromatics.
Maybe it's chocolate, caramel, spice, or a complex combination of flavors.
The SCA score tells us something about the quality of the green coffee.
Our roast helps determine how much of that potential makes it into your cup.
That's why the tasting notes we put on our coffees matter so much to us. They're not there simply to sound interesting. They're our way of communicating the characteristics we're intentionally bringing forward through roasting.
What About 90+ Point Coffee?
Now we're getting into some really exciting territory.
A 90+ coffee is considered exceptional under the traditional 100-point scoring framework.
These coffees are uncommon, and they tend to demonstrate an unusually high level of sensory distinction, complexity, balance, sweetness, acidity, or other desirable attributes.
And yes—some of the green coffees we cup score above 90.
That's something we're incredibly excited about.
But we don't believe a 90+ number should be the only reason you buy a coffee.
A number can tell you that something special is there.
Our job is to help you experience what makes it special.
That's why we're interested in the actual cup: the fruit, florals, sweetness, acidity, body, finish, and balance that make a particular coffee memorable.
Why 82+ Matters to Us
When we say a coffee is 82+, we're communicating that it has crossed an important quality threshold within the traditional specialty coffee framework.
But we're also saying something else:
We found something worth exploring.
An 82-point coffee can be delicious.
An 85-point coffee can be remarkable.
A 90+ coffee can be extraordinary.
But the number doesn't replace the experience.
We cup coffees independently. We evaluate the green coffee. We look for distinctive characteristics. We roast with those characteristics in mind. Then we taste the finished coffee again to make sure we're bringing forward the qualities that made us excited about the coffee in the first place.
Because ultimately, specialty coffee isn't about chasing a number.
It's about finding coffees that have something special to offer—and roasting them so you can taste it.
From a Number to a Cup
The next time you see 82+, 85+, 88, or 90+ SCA on a coffee, you'll know that the number represents much more than a marketing claim.
It's rooted in a structured approach to evaluating coffee quality and sensory characteristics.
But don't stop at the number.
Look at the tasting notes.
Look at the origin.
Look at the processing method.
Consider the people who produced it.
And most importantly, find out whether those characteristics sound like something you want to drink.
Because at the end of the day, the best coffee isn't necessarily the one with the highest score.
It's the one that makes you want another cup.