SCA Certified Home Brewers
SCA’s Certified Home Brewer program has long been the recognized mark of excellence when it comes to home brewing machines. The program recognizes brewers that meet SCA’s longstanding rigorous technical requirements which are based on decades of industry knowledge and research by the Coffee Brewing Center. All SCA Certified Brewers have met these requirements, which …
Spring Changes at Grounds For Health
By Justin Mool Spring is in the air and it’s been a time of rebirth at Grounds for Health. We’ve been working hard on a new organizational strategy that could change the way the world thinks about cervical cancer prevention. We are close to launching an exciting new campaign that will leverage existing technologies and …
What Does Community Mean to You?
With millions of people around the world earning their living through coffee, the community that supports the industry is more important than ever. At SCA, the coffee community is at the heart of what we do every day. With chapters around the world, we have a team of people who are charged with making sure …
Coffee Education & Collaboration
By Mike Ebert One of my first educational experiences involving the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) occurred in the mid-nineties. One of the earliest “pathways” (even though that term would come more than a decade later) was the Golden Cup Technician class. This was the first class I took that was not offered by …
Sensory Experiences at Re:co Symposium
By Steven Lee Over the last couple of days, something was going on at Re:co—something to stimulate the senses, promote discussion, and open up the world of possibilities. The Swiss Water Sensory Experience at Re:co has been a fixture of this event since the Boston symposium in 2013. Each year we try to explore and …
Fairtrade and Beyond
By Kyle Freund Specialty coffee is a leader in sustainability. From the world’s first fair trade coffee landing on store shelves more than 30 years ago, farmers, traders, roasters, and consumers have pushed the concept of sustainability a long way. In North America, there are a variety of approaches to Fairtrade—but only products with the Fairtrade …
Interactive Exhibits At Global Specialty Coffee Expo
Tech Pavilion In an age when technology can mean so many different things to different people, SCA’s goal is to introduce members to the hardware, software, and services that empower coffee bar owners and staff to deliver a new and fresh experience to their customers. It’s not just about automation or flashy electronics—technology can and should …
Building Youth Livelihoods in Nicaragua
By Rosemary Trent Every young person imagines what their future will look like and dreams of what they would like to become. For those who live in poverty, the surest path to a brighter future is an education, but in coffee producing communities in Nicaragua, many young people are forced to drop out of school …
Building Understanding: Making Coffee Better Through Research
By Peter Giuliano The new SCA Research Center has the potential to radically transform the world of specialty coffee. Since the very beginning, the ideal of specialty coffee has been about making coffee better, but how do we do that? How do we distinguish ‘better’ from ‘worse’? What tools can we develop to improve coffee …
Coffee Roasters and Retailers: Take Part In the 2017 Financial Benchmarking Study
By Heather Ward Within the last few years, SCA’s research initiatives have developed to focus more attention on business insights. The idea is to deliver business information to people and companies in the specialty coffee business, contributing to the support of more informed business decisions. One way to deliver insights is through the Specialty Coffee …
Beyond the Obvious: Why Volunteer?
By Theresa Maguire Why volunteering is so much more than earning a complimentary badge. I have found that those who volunteer for the Specialty Coffee Association are almost as passionate about volunteering as they are about coffee! Everyone takes a different path to their first volunteer experience. Maybe it all starts with a simple desire …
Scientific Poster Session To Be Held At The 2017 Global Specialty Coffee Expo
By Emma Sage We would like to invite you to the second year of the SCA Scientific Poster session! The posters will be displayed at the TCC (Lectures Campus) on levels 2 and 3 from Friday through Sunday of the Global Specialty Coffee Expo. The poster session meet-and-greet will be held on Friday, from 12–2 …