Cupping is the standardized tasting method tea buyers and tasters use to evaluate and compare teas side by side, borrowed directly from coffee cupping.
Samples are brewed under identical, controlled conditions, same leaf weight, same water temperature, same steep time, so that differences in the cup come from the tea itself rather than from how it was made. A taster smells the dry leaf, then the wet leaf after steeping, then slurps the liquor with force to aerate it across the palate and pick up aroma as well as taste. Many professional tasters spit rather than swallow, the same way wine tasters do, so they can work through dozens of samples in a sitting without the caffeine or volume catching up with them. Each sample gets scored across categories like aroma, liquor (the brewed tea itself), and spent leaf appearance.
Cupping is functional rather than ceremonial: buyers use it to grade lots before purchase, and producers use it to catch problems, off flavors, inconsistent processing, before tea ever reaches a shelf. It has little in common with a tea ceremony beyond both involving a cup of tea.
