Coffee Roaster's Companion

Log a roast, score it on an SCA-style cupping sheet, and work out your brew ratio — all linked to the same batch, so you can actually see which roasting choices produced the best cup.

Log a Roast

Enter your times and weights — weight loss and development time ratio are calculated automatically.

Roast History

How This Fits Together

Development Time Ratio (DTR)

DTR is the percentage of your total roast time spent between first crack and drop — (drop time − first crack time) ÷ total roast time × 100. A commonly-cited target for specialty roasting is 20–25%, though the cup itself is always the final judge, not the number.

This cupping sheet is adapted for one home cup

The real SCA protocol assesses five identical cups of the same coffee, which is how uniformity, clean cup and sweetness get properly tested. At home you're almost always tasting one cup, so those three categories are simplified to a straightforward yes/no here rather than requiring five servings — everything else follows the same 6–10 scoring and 80-point specialty threshold professionals actually use.

Why linking batches matters

A roast log on its own tells you what you did. A cupping score on its own tells you how it tasted. Neither tells you much alone — the value is in seeing them together over enough batches to notice a real pattern, like "my highest scores keep coming from a slightly higher DTR on washed coffees."

Brew ratios are a starting point, not a rule

The reference ranges reflect common specialty-coffee practice, but roast level, grind, and personal taste all shift the right ratio for a given coffee. Use the calculator to get in the right neighbourhood, then adjust from there.

Frequently Asked Questions

A home adaptation, not an official SCA tool. The cupping sheet follows the same scoring logic and grading thresholds as the professional SCA protocol, simplified for single-cup home tasting rather than a formal 5-cup panel. It's not affiliated with or certified by the Specialty Coffee Association.