Announcing the 2026 SCA Sustainability Award Winners
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is proud to announce the winners of the 2026 Sustainability Awards, recognizing one for-profit and one non-profit whose work exemplifies leadership, innovation, and measurable impact in advancing sustainability across the global specialty coffee industry.
Since 2004, the SCA Sustainability Awards have recognized individuals, organizations, and business models that confront the most pressing challenges facing the coffee sector, from climate change to gender equity, while demonstrating a deep commitment to collaboration across geographies, cultures, and throughout the value system. These awards celebrate approaches that move beyond isolated interventions, highlighting how shared learning, strong networks, and collective action can drive a more resilient and equitable future for coffee.
SCA’s Sustainability Manager, Andrés Montenegro, highlights how this year’s winners set a new standard for leadership and industry-wide influence. “This year’s Sustainability Award winners represent what leadership looks like in today’s coffee industry, grounded in purpose, informed by deep expertise, and demonstrated through measurable impact,” said Montenegro. “The winners not only address complex, interconnected challenges across the value chain, but also apply structured, evidence-based approaches to designing and delivering solutions that respond to real needs. Their work reflects a deeper understanding of how value is generated, distributed, and sustained over time – setting a benchmark for the sector and strengthening long-term viability of coffee and the communities who support it.”
2026 Sustainability Award Winner, For-Profit: Coffee Circle
The SCA is pleased to name Coffee Circle as the 2026 Sustainability Award winner in the for-profit category. Founded in 2010, Coffee Circle has built a business model that integrates high-quality coffee sourcing with direct reinvestment into coffee-growing communities.
At the heart of Coffee Circle’s approach is a commitment to equitable value distribution and long-term impact. For every kilogram of coffee sold, €1 is reinvested through the Coffee Circle Foundation e.V. into community-led projects at origin. This model creates a direct and scalable link between business success and social and environmental impact. Deborah Moschioni, Head of Human Resources at Coffee Circle, says, “Coffee Circle contributes to a more equitable distribution of value by addressing a structural imbalance in the coffee industry: farmers carry a disproportionate share of the work, production risk, and environmental pressure, while capturing only a limited share of the value created. Our model responds by redistributing value more intentionally across the supply chain in ways that better reflect contribution, risk, and long-term responsibility.”
Over the past 15 years, Coffee Circle has invested more than €5 million in coffee-growing regions, supporting initiatives that have reached over one million people. These efforts span clean water access, food security, sustainable agriculture, reforestation, gender equity, and climate resilience, as well as research into climate-adaptive coffee varieties.
By combining long-term sourcing relationships, above-market pricing, and impact-linked reinvestment, Coffee Circle demonstrates how sustainability can be embedded into the economics of a business, ensuring that growth directly contributes to stronger, more resilient coffee-producing communities.
2026 Sustainability Award Winner, Non-Profit: Bean Voyage
The SCA is proud to recognize Bean Voyage as the 2026 Sustainability Award winner in the non-profit category. Founded to address a critical gap in the coffee industry, Bean Voyage focuses on empowering women coffee producers, who perform an estimated 50–70% of the work in coffee production but historically receive far less than their fair share of income. By equipping women with the tools, financing, and market access they have often been excluded from, Bean Voyage creates pathways for producers to thrive and strengthens the overall equity and resilience of the coffee sector.
At the heart of Bean Voyage’s work is a commitment to equitable value distribution and long-term systemic change. By connecting over 1,300 women smallholder coffee producers directly to markets, Bean Voyage has generated more than US$1.4 million in direct income and catalyzed an additional US$800,000 through seed grants and support programs. “By connecting smallholder women coffee producers directly to markets, we help ensure that a group often excluded from these spaces is not only visible, but meaningfully included,” SungHee Tark, co-founder of Bean Voyage,explains. “This access enables women to capture a greater share of the value they help create, while also ensuring that their contributions, risks, and costs are more fairly recognized. In doing so, we support a more equitable and sustainable distribution of value across the coffee industry.”
Beyond income, the organization has brought 136 tonnes of micro-lot coffee to market and convened nearly 900 participants at four Women-Powered Coffee Summits, sparking over 8,000 meaningful connections across the coffee value system. These efforts ensure that women’s contributions are recognized, their risks mitigated, and their communities strengthened.
Bean Voyage’s work demonstrates how sustainability in 2026 has evolved beyond certifications and frameworks to focus on relationship-driven, trust-based, and intersectional approaches. By embedding long-term partnerships, ongoing communication, and responsiveness to producers’ realities into every aspect of its programs, Bean Voyage helps create a coffee industry where sustainability is practiced holistically. Through direct implementation, industry convening, and support for inclusive business models, Bean Voyage continues to advance its vision of an equitable, resilient coffee sector where women producers and their communities thrive.
Celebrating Our Finalists
The SCA also congratulates all 2026 Sustainability Award finalists for their outstanding contributions and commitment to advancing sustainability across the coffee sector.
For-Profit Finalists:
Fazenda Califórnia Amavida Coffee & Trading Company
Mai Shayi Coffee Roasters Ltd.
Non-Profit Finalists:
The Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity
Jamaican F&B Training Center – USAID
Selected through a rigorous two-step judging process, these finalists represent a diverse range of approaches to sustainability, each demonstrating innovation, collaboration, and measurable impact across the coffee value system.
Award Recognition
The 2026 Sustainability Award winners will be formally recognized at World of Coffee San Diego this April, where members of the global coffee community will gather to celebrate their achievements and continued leadership in building a more sustainable future for coffee.
As the SCA continues to advance its sustainability agenda, the Sustainability Awards remain a vital platform for elevating the ideas, partnerships, and models that are shaping the future of the specialty coffee industry.
