Hey everyone, I'm Jim, an Artisti coffee guy based in Sydney, and I spend my days helping baristas elevate their skills. If you're a cafe owner in Sydney, feel free to reach out—I'd love to drop by and share some tips!

As you might know from my recent success in the Brewers Cup and placing second in the NSW Barista competition, the pursuit of the perfect cup is endless. One of the most critical, yet often overlooked, elements I discovered during my competition prep is the sensory cup.

What is a sensory cup? It’s a coffee vessel specifically designed to enhance and manipulate your tasting experience. The material, size, and—most importantly—the shape of your cup directly influence your perception of flavour, sweetness, and texture.

Skip to the full video here. 

🧠 The Science of Shape: Wide vs. Narrow

The dimensions of your coffee cup play a huge role in how you perceive the aromatic compounds and the liquid flow:

• Wider Shapes: A broader cup helps open up the coffee’s volatile aromatic compounds. If you're drinking a washed coffee, this shape will help enhance delicate, high-frequency aromatics like floral or jasmine notes.

• Narrow Shapes: A more narrow cup closes up and tightens the flavour. This is excellent for espresso or milk beverages, as it helps concentrate the flavour and direct it more intensely toward the centre of your palate.

🎯 Introducing the Sensory Cup: A Dual-Experience Design

The true magic lies in a specialized design often seen in coffee competition: the two-way sensory cup.

I originally used a prototype of this cup during the 2023 Brewers Cup (and a similar design was used by the 2024 World Brewers Cup Champion). This innovative design allows a single cup to offer two distinctly different experiences:

1. The Flipped, Tilted Angle (Flavour & Acidity Focus)

• When to Use: When the coffee is still hot.

• Effect: The tilted angle helps direct the liquid across a wider area of your tongue, maximizing the perception of clarity and flavour profile.

• Result: It will really enhance bright, high-acidity notes, such as stone fruit, bergamot, and delicate floral aromas in washed or lighter-roasted coffees.

2. The Straight Lip (Sweetness & Texture Focus)

• When to Use: Once the coffee begins to cool down and acidity typically starts to rise.

• Effect: This side directs the liquid straight to the centre of your tongue, where sweetness receptors are more dominant.

• Result: It helps to lower the perceived acidity, allowing you to focus on the coffee’s texture, body, and lingering sweetness in the cool stage.

💡 How to Use Sensory Cups to Elevate Your Coffee

The sensory cup is more than just a fancy vessel—it’s a powerful tool for the home barista and the cafe owner alike.

For Home Baristas: Discover Dual Experiences

You can now take a single-origin coffee (same roast, same brew) and find two distinct sensory experiences simply by flipping the cup. If you have a high-acidity coffee, use the straight-lip side to focus on texture and sweetness. If you want to elevate the clean, bold flavours, flip it to the tilted side.

For Cafe Owners: Upgrade Your Customer Service

• Educate and Elevate: When serving a single-origin filter coffee, you can offer two distinct experiences. Introduce a washed coffee and recommend the flipped side to enhance the beautiful acidity and flavour notes you want to present.

• Balance the Bold: When serving a big, bold, or complex natural coffee, you can recommend the straight side to focus the customer's attention on the body, texture, and inherent sweetness.

For Competitors: Your Winning Weapon

As a barista competitor, the cup becomes a weapon. I use it to maximize the sensory impact for the judges. I serve the coffee hot on the flipped side to allow easy flavour perception (like chocolate, cherry, and caramel). Once the coffee cools, I instruct them to flip it to the straight side to find the sweetness, aftertaste, and body.

The coffee cup is not neutral; it actively directs how we perceive flavour. Start paying attention to your vessel, and you might just unlock a whole new dimension of your favourite brew!

Did you learn something new about your coffee ritual?

Which side of the sensory cup would you try first: the flavour-focused tilt or the sweetness-focused straight lip? Let us know in the comments!