Could The SCA's Official Takeover Of The Q Grading System Disrupt Coffee Quality Standards? – CoffeeTalk

The Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) has been a key player in the coffee industry for decades, licensing coffee specialists worldwide to taste and describe coffee under the Quality Evaluation program. This certification is a key résumé piece in the world of specialty coffee, with thousands of licensed Q graders in the world. However, the CQI has recently entered into an agreement to license the entire Q program to another organization, effectively pulling the rug out from under those who have invested their time and money into the professional certification.

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), which hosts all of the coffee industry’s largest conventions, unexpectedly announced it would be taking over the Q. Across the world of specialty coffee, Q graders have been left with a soon-to-be-obsolete certification, a lot of unanswered questions, and an undeniably bitter taste in their mouths. Q graders are the link between coffee farmers and everyday coffee consumers, often choosing which green coffee beans to buy. They work for exporters in Brazil and Colombia, Ethiopia and Guatemala, and sell to the roasters and coffee shops we buy from. If their form of evaluation is discredited, a change in the taste of our morning joe won’t be far behind.

When the SCA begins managing the Q on Oct. 1 of this year, the underlying logic of standardized sensory evaluation that makes up the program will cease to exist. Because the association launched a competing sensory evaluation program called the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) in 2022, it will operate the Q brand but do so with the completely different CVA standards—ones that lose sight of utility for the coffee trading industry in the pursuit of science and so-called objectivity.

The SCA may have been able to breed a young racehorse (Cupping Monopoly) from the same pedigree as the world’s fastest horse (Q-Biscuit). But just as the young buck was about to race the veteran Q-Biscuit for the first time, the SCA purchased Q-Biscuit and then took him behind the barn and shot him. Cupping Monopoly, it turns out, wins the race.

Following the stunning agreement, Pollack likened the SCA to the Mafia: “They found out the No. 1 opposition to CVA global domination. It’s Q graders.” Now Q graders either train with the SCA—on a system that erases the specialty coffee community they have long been a part of—or don’t train at all.

The CQI’s Q grading system has been a significant factor in the coffee industry, but its backbone is about to break. The SCA is taking over the Q program in name only, and the underlying logic of standardized sensory evaluation will cease to exist. The SCA’s decision to take over the Q brand could lead to a change in the taste of coffee, as Q graders must either train with the SCA or not at all.

Thomas Ameloot, a Q instructor, was shocked to learn about the acquisition of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and the Certified Quality Instructor (CQI) for their Q program. The SCA had acquired the Q program without consulting its former students, leading to a loss of trust and concerns for their livelihoods. Ameloot’s income was cut by 90% from the change, but he was approved for the CVA for Cuppers course, which created demand for the class.

The SCA and CQI are registered nonprofits with a shared history, with the CQI emerging as an independent organization from meetings held at the Specialty Coffee Association of America in 1996. The SCA has built an army of over 2,000 independent trainers and grossed only $2.6 million in revenue in 2023. The CEO of the SCA took home $729,575 in 2023, while the CQI’s interim CEO received $150,000.

Michael Sheridan, the CQI CEO, describes his organization’s financial outlook going into 2025, noting that the abrupt closure of USAID made a significant impact on the organization’s plans to rebuild a robust project portfolio. Income from the Q made up four times more revenue for CQI in 2023 than contributions and grants.

The lack of consultation with the Q grading community was acknowledged by CQI board members, who admitted to doing their best to engage with them in the ways they deserved. The licensing deal, which included $250,000 annually for the Q for 10 years and a grant of 5% of SCA global education revenue per year, left one questioning if there was any benefit to the CQI.

The 2023 annual report listed “Education and Training Revenues,” presumably the portion of Q classes that instructors pay back to the CQI as royalties, at $1,717,515, a number that correlates with the “Other revenue” reported on its Form 990 tax filing. If the CQI was interested in continuing its mission to improve the quality of coffee and the lives of the people who produce it, it seems counterintuitive to short itself close to $1 million in additional annual revenue by off-loading the Q onto the SCA.

The CQI and the Special Coffee Association (SCA) are facing a competition over how to standardize coffee evaluation, which could potentially impact the quality of coffee. The CQI, which cares about farmers, has a larger role in the specialty coffee industry, while the SCA, which is smaller, has a smaller role. The two organizations have competing views on how to evaluate coffee, which could affect how coffee is sourced.

The CQI’s mission is to care for farmers, while the SCA aims to eliminate subjectivity or bias in tasters. The SCA’s CVA program is developed on the latest in chemistry and biology, aiming to eliminate subjectivity or bias. Meanwhile, the CQI prioritizes consensus and consensus-building, with the Q being built by creating a common language that the global coffee trade has adopted to allow producers, traders, and consumers to discuss value intelligently.

The SCA does not believe in calibration, which it refers to as “alignment,” as it results in inter-subjectivity and inter-subjectivity. The SCA states that there can be no calibration in cupping, as there is no objective standard regarding the impression of quality. However, the CQI’s lack of community engagement during its agreement with the SCA suggests that it no longer believes in sharing a common understanding of what’s good either.

The fight between the two regimes of coffee quality assessment raises the broader question: Who gets to decide what good coffee is? In June, a group of disgruntled Q instructors and Q graders held a “Qonvocation,” where coffee professionals across various countries discussed the future of coffee education and quality evaluation in the wake of the Q. They are now looking to develop a new way of evaluating coffee, whether it’s a Guild of Coffee Cuppers, regional organizations uniting at a global scale, or a Court of Master Coffee Sommeliers.

The fight between the two regimes of coffee quality assessment raises questions about who gets to decide what good coffee is and the future of coffee education and quality evaluation.

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