CUP TASTERS TRAINING SET
Train your palate the way champions do.
Sensory needs continuous training, whether you are a competitor, a coffee professional or a home brewer.
Two cups match. One doesn’t. Find the odd one, eight times, against the clock.
The Cup Tasters Set brings the championship triangle test home: four coffees, a step-by-step brewing and setup guide, and five levels from Beginner to Hardcore. Designed by Mehmet Sogan, three-time US Cup Tasters Champion and bronze medalist at the 2026 World Cup Tasters Championship.
Each triangle gives you a one-in-three chance of guessing right. Guess all eight and you’ll average about 2.7 correct. A perfect 8/8 by luck alone is 1 in 6,561, and six or more by guessing happens about once in 50 tries. Score 6+ consistently and that’s your palate, not luck.
Every level uses the same format and the same guide. What changes is how close the four coffees are to each other.
Beginner: Worlds apart
Four coffees from different origins and processes. The differences show up on the first slurp, which makes this the right place for a first blind tasting or a blitz cup tasters with friends.
For curious coffee drinkers, first-timers and gifting.
Intermediate: Same family, different accents
Four coffees that share a process but come from different origins and blends.
Advanced: Close neighbors
Four blends with the same coffees at different percentages. The differences move from flavor to structure.
Expert: Competition territory
Differences as tight as the ones you meet in championship rounds with tighter blends.
Hardcore: Finals pressure
Built from the top of the training ladder Mehmet used for competition with three-way blends with components as small as 5%. Expect to miss some. That’s the point.
Not sure where to start?
- Never tasted blind before: Beginner
- You can tell a washed coffee from a natural: Intermediate
- You cup regularly or work behind a bar: Advanced
- You’ve competed, or you’re training to: Expert
- You read this list and thought “easy”: Hardcore
