What is the Coffee Gold Cup Standard?
Jun 22, 2025
If there are two things most crucial to coffee, it's taste and brewing. Well roasted coffee ensures high quality, even taste whilst brewing brings out the care and flavour from farming to production.
Incorrect brewing can lead to bitter, sour or weak coffee, so it's key to understand the methodology behind each brewing method - if you need help, we've got lots of brew guides on our blog. But not everyone always has time to tweak brew times or grind, which is why Sage have developed the 'Gold Cup' standard preset in some of their machines to make high quality brewing much easier. As a proud partner of Sage machines, we wanted to give you all the details on why Gold Cup precision brewing can make all the difference...
What is the Coffee Gold Cup Standard?
The Gold Cup standard is set by the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association), the largest global coffee trade association dedicated to making coffee better through supporting the global coffee community via activities that make specialty coffee a thriving, equitable, and sustainable endeavor for the entire value chain.
To help coffee lovers brew consistently great coffee, the SCA created standards that focus on key elements like coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, brew time, and water quality to ensure people get the very best from their coffee, no matter the brew method.
Key SCA Brewing Standards:
Coffee-to-Water Ratio
The recommended ratio is 55-60 grams of coffee per litre of water, or approximately 1:16 to 1:18 (coffee:water).
Water Temperature:
The ideal water temperature at the point of contact with the coffee is 200°F ± 5° (93.0°C ± 3°).
Brew Time:
The contact time between coffee and water varies based on grind size: fine (1-4 minutes), drip (4-6 minutes), and coarse (6-8 minutes).
Water Quality:
Water should be free of odor and color, with a pH between 6 and 8, and a total hardness between 40-175 ppm.
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS):
The SCA recommends a TDS range of 1.15-1.35% for brewed coffee, achieved through a solubles extraction yield of 18-22%.
Grind Size:
Grind size should be matched to the brewing method and brew time to ensure proper extraction.
Coffee Preparation:
Using freshly roasted coffee (within a month of brewing) is recommended.
Following these standards helps ensure consistent and optimal coffee extraction at home, leading to a more flavorful and enjoyable cup of coffee. The SCA's focus on these specific elements aims to elevate the overall quality and consistency of specialty coffee.
How does Sage implement the Gold Cup standard?
In Gold Cup preset mode, the Sage Precision Brewer™ automatically adjusts the water temperature and brew time to meet the standards set by the SCA for a precisely balanced cup, which has also been certified by the SCA to meet their rigorous technical criteria.
Sage Precision Brewer™ is the world's first 1.7L drip coffee maker with the precision to brew craft filter coffee automatically with precise temperature and brewing time.
