Posts in Read
The Delightful Unknown | 25, Issue 19

We’re never entirely sure what the future holds, but the past few years have made it feel particularly unpredictable.

Read More
Our Sustainability Agenda: Making Coffee Better, for All | 25, Issue 19

The Specialty Coffee Association is the world’s largest coffee membership association, with a sustainability-driven purpose deeply ingrained in its structure as a non-profit trade organization: to make coffee better.

Read More
From Value to Values: Determining the Worth of Coffee | 25, Issue 19

Anthropology Professor EDWARD F. FISCHER, author of Making Better Coffee: How Maya Farmers and Third- Wave Tastemakers Create Value, explains the different types of value, ways of determining worth, and how we create economic value by drawing on other sorts of values (moral, social, political, and other cultural values) through the lens of his fieldwork in Guatemala.

Read More
Teawords: Rendering Quality in the India Tea Industry | 25, Issue 19

Anthropologist SARAH BESKY, PhD considers the relationship between tea’s sensory lexicon and ideas of quality across tea’s colonial history and current-day trading practices, highlighting that quality is far from an objective measure—and that it must be constantly reproduced in practice, including how we choose and use words to adjudicate quality over time.

Read More
New Year, New Relationships—Same Cup of Coffee? | 25, Issue 19

CHERYL HUNG, lead researcher for the NCA's National Coffee Data Trends studies, traces the impact of the pandemic on coffee consumption in the US and Canada, highlights the collective urge to reconnect, and calls for the coffee community to focus on marketing the emotional benefits and the “softer” aspects of America’s favorite morning beverage.

Read More
Cold vs. Iced: Using Sensory Analysis to Test the Claim that Cold Brew is Sweeter and Less Acidic | 25, Issue 19

Lead author Dr. MACKENZIE BATALI shares the results of a controlled and systematic study exploring the impact of the cold brew process on the sensory profile of the beverage it produces, recently published in MDPI’s open access journal, Foods.

Read More
Mapping the Market: An Overview of Plant-Based Beverages’ Sensory Attributes | 25, Issue 19

Corresponding author HELEN VAIKMA shares the results of a study market mapping the sensory attributes of five different categories of plant-based beverages.

Read More
Managing Uncertainty: The Value of Intermediaries | 25, Issue 19

VAUGHN TAN highlights where uncertainty (which is not the same thing as risk) exists within specialty coffee’s supply chain, and questions whether the industry’s previous emphasis on the “direct” in “direct trade,” combined with a drive to rebuild leaner coffee supply chains, has had unintended side effects.

Read More
Announcing World of Coffee Busan 2024

We are so excited to announce World of Coffee Busan 2024, produced and delivered by licensed partner Exporum. World of Coffee Busan will take place at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center (BEXCO) May 1-4, 2024, and will feature the 2024 World Barista Championship. This inaugural World of Coffee in Asia will run in addition to the SCA's annual World of Coffee trade shows in Dubai, scheduled for January 21 to 23, 2024, and Europe in June 2024.

Read More
Beta Version of the Coffee Value Assessment Protocol and Forms Unveiled at Re:co Symposium

Earlier today, SCA CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos formally introduced the beta version of the SCA Coffee Value Assessment on the Re:co Symposium stage, a thought leadership event that takes place prior to the Specialty Coffee Expo in Portland, Oregon. Yannis also unveiled an Early Adopter program designed to help the SCA refine the system’s protocol and forms through community feedback before it moves through the SCA’s standards development procedures.

Read More
SCA Greece Chapter Election: Nominations Now Open

The 2023 SCA Greece Chapter Election has started! That means that it’s time to make your voice heard by nominating and voting for the volunteer committee who will be leading the chapter's activities for the next two years.

Read More
Two New Bonavita Coffee Brewers Join the SCA Certified Home Brewer Lineup

Two New Bonavita Coffee Brewers Join the SCA Certified Home Brewer Lineup

Read More
Just Released: The Value of Specialty Coffee Cuppers SCA White Paper

The new SCA White Paper: The Value of Specialty Coffee Cuppers: Perspectives, Roles, and Professional Competencies describes the various roles cuppers currently hold within coffee’s value chain, the value of these roles, and the competencies required to successfully operate as a cupper in each context.

Read More
The BRITA Water Map

Sponsored Content by BRITA

BRITA offers water filtration solutions for every need. Knowledge of the water quality is an essential success factor for filtration and is also vital to ensure optimal and individual filter consultancy. Our services now include an evolving water conditions data model which runs across international borders and is operated by dedicated research and development scientists – the BRITA Water Map.

Read More
Meet Primavera Green Coffee: 2023 Sustainability Award Winner, Business Model Category

For 2023, the Sustainability Award Business Model Category winner is Primavera Green Coffee. Primavera Green Coffee is a coffee exporter and importer specializing in excellent coffees from Guatemala, along with new coffees from other origins such as Colombia.

Read More
Coffee and a Doughnut: Understanding “Circular Economy” Frameworks

In the second in a series of features on sustainability frameworks and their relationship to the SCA’s sustainability agenda of equitable value distribution, SCA Sustainability Director ANDRÉS MONTENEGRO explains the concept of the circular economy through the use of a doughnut-and-coffee metaphor.

Read More
Meet RENACER Coffee Training School: 2022 Sustainability Award Winner, Project Category

Learn all about the 2023 winner of the Sustainability Award in the Project Category, RENACER Coffee Training School by Catholic Relief Services.

Read More
Meet José Rivera: 2023 Sustainability Award Winner, Individual Category

Meet one of the two 2023 Sustainability Award Individual Category winners: José Rivera.

Read More
Meet David Griswold: 2023 Sustainability Award Winner, Individual Category

Meet one of the two 2023 Sustainability Award Individual Category winners: David Griswold.

Read More
Take the 2023 Specialty Coffee Education Survey

The SCA Knowledge Development team needs input from coffee educators to help shape future education programs. Tell us your thoughts in this 5 minute survey.

Read More