Inside the UAC Cup Taster 2026 Sets: Recipe, Result and Learning

After UAC Cup Taster 2026, we returned to the tasting sets to ask what the results could teach our coffee community. The format was simple: three cups, with one different cup to identify.

The sets compared extraction, Brazil/Ethiopia blend ratios, coffee origin, water chemistry and beverage strength. Each comparison gave competitors a particular variable to focus on, connecting competition tasting with questions that also arise in a café or roasting room.

In the results published for this event, origin, water chemistry and strength were easier to identify than the blend-ratio and extraction comparisons. These were observations from our competition sets, rather than universal rules about every coffee or taster.

The field progressed from 62 competitors to 18, then to six finalists. Alongside tasting, time pressure, fatigue and confidence became part of the challenge. Sharing the recipes and results helped turn the completed competition into further learning for baristas, brewers and roasters.