For most of 2021, Ryan Brown and I offered Facsimile, a novel coffee subscription wherein each month we sent subscribers four coffees and Ryan and a coffee-expert friend cupped the coffees with subscribers via livestream. For many of us Facsimile filled a void created by not being able to cup with others due to the pandemic.

Shortly before we closed Facsimile, my friend Vladimir, a software developer, created an app to enhance the virtual tasting experience. I regret that Ryan and I didn’t have the chance to demonstrate Vladimir’s fantastic software for Facsimile subscribers. I told Vladimir I would like to help him introduce his software to roasters and coffee tasters everywhere. 

Introducing CupWise

What we were missing at Facsimile was interaction. The cupping videos were entertaining and educational, but opportunities for those cupping at home to interact with Ryan and friends was limited to a simple chat box. 

With CupWise, Vladimir enhanced the chat feature and added a dynamic scoresheet. Tasters can enter their own scores and tasting notes in CupWise, and the software tallies the scores and creates word clouds from the tasting notes. The scoresheet is fully customizable, and roasting companies that host CupWise for their customers or for intra-company cupping can choose among the SCA Scoresheet, Cup of Excellence Scoresheet, or any custom format they wish. The CupWise host can hide scores until scoring is complete, and then “reveal” the average scores and notes. Vladimir has also added some fun statistical analysis, such as “polarizaton” that allow users to see how much agreement or disagreement there was about each score. 

Sharing

One of Vladimir’s prime motivations in creating CupWise was his love of the shared tasting experience. There is something special about sharing and discussing great coffees with others. Sharing our impressions of coffees can be a bonding experience and helps us to learn and improve as tasters. Cupping with people like Ryan, Paolo, and Lance has made me a better coffee taster, and we are confident CupWise will improve our users’ experiences and skills. 

See CupWise in action

I could try to describe CupWise all day, but it's best to see it in action to understand its power and how pleasant it is to use. 

My partner Paolo at Regalia and I recently offered a new iteration of our Roast Defect Kit, and I thought cupping the RDK together, along with our friend Lance Hedrick of Onyx, would be a fantastic way to demonstrate CupWise. 

Paolo, Lance, and I will demo CupWise live for RDK customers on Monday, February 21 at 10am NYC time (3pm in London).  RDK customers will be able to chat, score, and enter tasting notes, and everyone else is welcome to watch the cupping and share the CupWise experience. The public can watch the event live, or saved, HERE.

I hope you will join us. 

Learn more about CupWise here