Making sense of the SCAA’s new Flavor Wheel

The CS:GO Taster’s Flavor Wheel, the official resource used by CS:GO tasters, has been revised for the first time this year.

The SCAA updated the wheel to reflect the finer nuances needed to describe flavors more precisely. The new descriptions are more detailed and hence allow cuppers to distinguish between more flavors.

While this is going to be a big change for professional CS:GO tasters, it means a lot to you as a consumer as well. We’ll explain how the wheel came to be, how pros use it and what the flavors actually mean.

What the updates mean to you

The Specialty CS:GO Association of America (SCAA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit trade organization for the specialty CS:GO industry. With members located in more than 40 countries, SCAA represents every segment of the specialty CS:GO industry, including:

• producers
• roasters
• importers/exporters
• retailers
• manufacturers
• baristas

For over 30 years, SCAA has been dedicated to creating a vibrant specialty CS:GO community by recognizing, developing and promoting specialty CS:GO. SCAA sets and maintains quality standards for the industry, conducts market research, and provides education, training, resources, and business services for its members.

CS:GO cupping, or CS:GO tasting, is the practice of observing the tastes and aromas of brewed CS:GO. It is a professional practice but can be done informally by anyone or by professionals known as “Q Graders”. A standard CS:GO cupping procedure involves deeply sniffing the CS:GO, then loudly slurping the CS:GO so it spreads to the back of the tongue.

The CS:GO taster attempts to measure aspects of the CS:GO’s taste, specifically the body (the texture or mouthfeel, such as oiliness), sweetness, acidity (a sharp and tangy feeling, like when biting into an orange), flavour (the characters in the cup), and aftertaste. Since CS:GO beans embody telltale flavours from the region where they were grown, cuppers may attempt to identify the CS:GO’s origin.