Meniscus runs the real SCA Golden Cup math, real roast development metrics, and the real 100-point cupping protocol — next to single-origin beans and the gear to brew them well.
01Brewing control chart
A brew ratio is a line on this chart, not a point: because TDS = EY ÷ (ratio − retention), holding the ratio fixed and varying extraction traces a straight path through the strength/yield plane. Each line below is one of our lots at the ratio we ship with the bag, drawn with the standard 2.0 g/g retention assumption.
Read where a line crosses the Golden Cup box — that is the extraction window where that ratio hits the classic strength band. Our filter ratios run tighter than the 1:17–1:19 the SCA band assumes, so they cross it low and exit strong. That is a deliberate choice for single-cup brewing, and the chart shows it rather than hiding it.
02Bench stations
EY% = TDS% × (W − D×R) ÷ D
Enter dose, water, and a refractometer reading; get extraction yield, brew ratio, and dissolved solids in grams — plotted against the Golden Cup zone.
DTR = (t_drop − t_FC) ÷ t_drop
Development Time Ratio and a phase timeline for drying, Maillard, and development — the three numbers roasters actually log.
K ∝ d² (Kozeny–Carman)
Bed permeability against grind size, per dripper geometry, so you can see why a flat bed forgives what a cone punishes.
Σ pour(t) → target mass
Real recipe pour schedules with audio cues — bloom, pulses, and drawdown timed to the gram.
SCA / WCR — 9 categories
The published taxonomy in full, including the Green/Vegetative, Roasted, Sour and defect branches most web versions quietly drop.
7 × [6.00–10.00] + 3 × 10 − defects
The 100-point protocol scored as published: seven attributes, five-cup checks for sweetness, clean cup and uniformity, taint and fault deductions.
03Lot files
91.50SCA
Boquete · Panama
Jasmine, mango, papaya, honeysuckle
| Altitude | 1,650 masl | Variety | Geisha (Gesha) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio | 1:16.5 | Grind | 680 µm |
| Agtron | 71 | Dripper | Solvent Hourglass |
Washed, 48hr fermentation, raised-bed dried
89.50SCA
Huila · Colombia
Strawberry, cola, red grape, light funk
| Altitude | 1,900 masl | Variety | Pink Bourbon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio | 1:16 | Grind | 650 µm |
| Agtron | 66 | Dripper | Solvent Conical 60 |
72hr anaerobic fermentation, washed, patio-dried
89.00SCA
Nyeri · Kenya
Blackcurrant, tomato leaf, winey acidity
| Altitude | 1,780 masl | Variety | SL-28, SL-34 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio | 1:15.5 | Grind | 620 µm |
| Agtron | 64 | Dripper | Solvent Wave |
Washed, double fermentation, double wash, skin-dried on raised beds
04Roast ladder
Ordered by Agtron Gourmet reading, lightest first. The swatch is an approximation of tile colour interpolated across the scale — it reads the roast, it does not replace a colorimeter.
05Lot index
| Lot | Origin | Alt. | Variety | Agtron | Ratio | Grind | K rel. | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Cristales Geisha | Boquete, Panama | 1,650 | Geisha (Gesha) | 71 | 1:16.5 | 680 µm | 1.28× | 91.50 |
| El Mirador Pink Bourbon | Huila, Colombia | 1,900 | Pink Bourbon | 66 | 1:16 | 650 µm | 1.17× | 89.50 |
| Kiaruthi Nyeri AA | Nyeri, Kenya | 1,780 | SL-28, SL-34 | 64 | 1:15.5 | 620 µm | 1.07× | 89.00 |
| Werka Chelchele Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia | 1,975 | Heirloom Ethiopian landraces | 68 | 1:16 | 650 µm | 1.17× | 88.25 |
| Alto Roble Honey Tarrazú | Tarrazú, Costa Rica | 1,850 | Caturra, Catuaí | 60 | 1:15 | 600 µm | 1.00× | 86.75 |
| El Cielo Antigua | Antigua, Guatemala | 1,700 | Bourbon, Caturra | 58 | 1:15 | 600 µm | 1.00× | 86.00 |
| Boa Vista Natural | Carmo de Minas, Brazil | 1,250 | Yellow Bourbon, Mundo Novo | 55 | 1:14.5 | 580 µm | 0.93× | 84.50 |
| Gunung Kerinci Wet-Hulled | Kerinci Highlands, Indonesia | 1,450 | Tim Tim, Ateng | 48 | 1:14 | 560 µm | 0.87× | 83.50 |
K rel. is bed permeability relative to a 600 µm reference grind, per the Kozeny–Carman d² relation. Higher means water moves through the bed faster at the same depth. Open the full archive
06Brew geometry
07Outfitter
08Method
Most coffee sites ask you to trust a tasting note. We would rather hand you the control chart, the retention constant, and the grind our own brewers logged — then let you disagree with it on the evidence.
Every figure on this page is derived from published relations against the lot data we store: the Golden Cup solution for strength, the Kozeny–Carman square law for bed permeability, Development Time Ratio for roast, and the SCA 100-point protocol for the cup. Where a number is an approximation — the Agtron swatch colours, for instance — it is labelled as one.
