Coffee Culture in Turkey
By Özgün Sarisoy Do you know the words for “breakfast” and “brown” in Turkish?(1) The Turkish language has many words related to coffee in its vocabulary. Turkish culture has deep roots in coffee, with traditional ballad songs, as well as different brewing and serving rituals for this beloved beverage. Turkey’s coffee culture is one of the oldest, but today …
New Coffee Skills Program Foundation Level Materials and AST Logos Now Available
The SCA’s Education department is pleased to announce that the Foundation level exams and curricula for the new Coffee Skills Program (CSP) are now available. These materials are currently only available in English but translations will be available in the coming weeks. ASTs should note that the function to add new CSP courses is not …
Peter Giuliano | Collaborative Research in Action
Peter Giuliano on the story of the collaboration involving two scientific studies, two institutions, three countries, and hundreds of participants that helped create the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel. This talk was recorded at #RecoDublin in June 2016.
SCA Lectures Podcast #4: Trees Are Cool
Jon Ferguson moderates a panel discussion on coffee agroforestry systems and its nexus with farm productivity, quality, climate change mitigation, and the market forces.
Challenges and Opportunities: The Guilds
By Hannah Davies Within the coffee industry, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is a body that provides support to the professional development of baristas, roasters, technicians—and now producers—through our Guild structure. Our challenges lie in finding the best way to deliver that support and the most effective way of reaching our various communities. The work …
SCA Lectures Podcast #3: Molding All Star Baristas
Anna Gutierrez on how specialty coffee business owners and managers can implement a training program to mold all star baristas.
Ida Steen | Measuring Sensory Performance
Training for subjectivity can be time-consuming and expensive. At Re:co Dublin 2016, CoffeeMinds sensory scientist Ida Steen presents her PhD work on identifying sensory learning strategies and training, to close the gap between subjectivity and objectivity as effectively as possible.
SCA Releases Access to Results of 2017 Coffee Roaster/Retailer Benchmarking Study
In April of this year, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) launched a survey for the new Roaster/Retailer Financial Benchmarking Study: a business tool that offers roasters and retailers a way to measure their company performance against the objective industry standard. The idea is to deliver business information to people and companies in the specialty coffee …
SCA Lectures Podcast #2: Pulp Fiction
Lucia Solis and Laurent Berthiot discuss fermentation, a process historically used to remove mucilage from the coffee seed to prevent spoilage during drying, as an opportunity to enhance aroma and improve quality.
Nick Cooper | Storytelling: The Power of Narrative
Stories are baked into the specialty coffee experience. At Re:co Dublin, Nick Cooper of Salt Media explains how important those stories are to tell in order to break through the noise.
Collaboration – The Key to a Better Cup
Sponsored content provided by Cropster. Successful roasters are like Formula One drivers Formula One, like roasting, requires an almost miraculous collaboration of people whose efforts come together in the hands of just one person. A single person who can make or break the results of all that effort. If you have ever stood beside …
In Memoriam: Skip Finley
By Ric Rhinehart For the staff of the SCA the world contains a little bit less light today, because today Skip Finley has physically left us. As we mourn Skip throughout the coffee world, we also have a chance to remember his spirit, which remains very much with us. In an organization that was founded …