Standard Development at the SCA: A Tool to Create Value for the Community | 25, Issue 17
Our industry is characterized by creative, free spirits, passionate about expressing themselves through coffee—which is why the word “standard” is not always well received.
“Are you going to tell me how to make coffee better?” “Are you going to corset my passion for coffee?” We tend to believe standards are like laws and taxes: boring requirements set by someone who probably does not even like coffee or—even worse—by somebody who believes coffee should only be made their way. And yes, some standards are like that, designed to rule out competition or to completely quell creativity (think about the über-strict standards in the wine industry for some appellations of origin in the “Old World”). However, when standards are designed for the benefit of a community, they can become a tool for value aggregation amongst its members. A standard does not have to be prescriptive—although many are—it can also be a way to establish a common language, and with a common language, trade flourishes.
If you have traveled outside of your country or region, you probably had to get an adaptor for the electrical outlets in your destination country. If you brought appliances from home, you likely also needed a transformer to use your appliances, as the voltage is often different. That’s because each country uses a different electrical voltage and outlet standard. On the other hand, if you use a USB device, you can bring it to any country and plug it into a USB outlet, knowing it is going to work. The USB standard, thus, is our benchmark for a standard: it establishes a common definition or infrastructure for the different actors to develop their creativity around and to create value. In coffee, a great example is the SCA Cupping Protocol: over the years it has become the common language to describe and assess coffee quality along the chain and across the globe, whether or not the users are active members of the SCA community. This is the kind of standard we need: one which becomes a common platform from which creativity can be spurred and value can be created.
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) developed several standards through its Technical Standards Committee. Many of these heritage standards, such as the Cupping Protocol, have become widely adopted by the community worldwide. Since the unification of the heritage organizations as the SCA, our community has expanded and diversified, encompassing many roles, cultures, and traditions. We know that one of the ways we, as a trade association, can make a difference and help create value in the community is through standards development—but developing fair standards for such a diverse community is certainly a challenge! Luckily, we don’t have to “feel our way through” the process: the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develops standards for a global community. Using their best practices and our values, we have set up a new standard development system at the SCA.
As part of those best practices, we have implemented several new checks and balances to ensure we get feedback from the community, especially the groups potentially impacted by a standard, before we publish it. We also created a standard development panel to represent the interests of stakeholders, including our guilds and the coffee community at large. The panel approves the standard development schedule every year, approving or rejecting the draft standards after consultation with the community. The panel does not get involved in drafting the standard; for that, we assemble an expert group of subject matter experts and representatives of those who may be impacted. As an example, the expert group that developed the espresso machines standard in 2021 included a representation from World Coffee Events, content creators from the SCA’s Coffee Skills Program, and several espresso machine manufacturers. Administrated by the SCA’s technical office with the participation of the Coffee Science Foundation, a preliminary draft is presented to the expert group and is then revised as many times as necessary to address the group members’ comments.
Beyond standard development practices, we have adopted a set of values to guide standard development at the SCA, acknowledging the diversity and creativity of our community:
1. User-focused development. The standard is not created for the person who develops it, but for the person who will use it.
2. Voluntary implementation. The SCA’s standards shall be completely voluntary, as a way for users to push their boundaries and improve their products/ processes. This means certification is not the goal of the standard developing system, though the certification of some standards might be done directly by the SCA or licensed to a third-party certification body, when such a certification system is in the best interest of the community.
3. Global scope. The SCA is a global organization, and standards shall be developed in the spirit of respect to all coffee-producing and coffee-drinking cultures.
4. Innovation-fostering. Standards are not meant to hamper innovation but to support it, by bringing more actors of the industry to a “platform level” of quality and good practices, from which to launch innovation. Highly innovative actors, on the other hand, should not feel restrained by standards, but take them as a framework for “out-of-the-box” thinking.
5. Inclusiveness. SCA standards are designed to appreciate and celebrate quality; their purpose is not to create a separation between “complying” and “non-complying” actors. They should never be developed with the idea of excluding a specific actor from compliance.
6. Research-based development. This means not just that the standards shall be derived from research, but also that technical standards shall be tested prior to being issued.
7. Relevance. All standards shall be relevant to the coffee community as a whole or to certain populations within the community, with the aim of becoming an aid in the creation of value.
8. Consensus. Representatives from different populations of the coffee community, namely the actors impacted directly by a standard, shall be consulted through the standard development panel. Consensus does not mean unanimity, but in principle a broad consensus shall be sought, especially to avoid requirements that might harm certain members of the community.
9. Transparency. All standards shall be developed according to the same principles, policies, and procedures. Standard development files shall be accessible for stakeholders, who will have the right to propose standards through the appropriate channels.
10. Quality. Standards shall be drafted by experts and reviewed by SCA technical staff before the draft is submitted for approval. The format of standards shall adhere to best practices, including appropriate standard identification numbers. Standards shall be maintained and updated every five years to ensure relevance.
11. Efficiency. The timing and procedures for drafting, reviewing, and approving a standard shall be managed by SCA staff to avoid delays.
There may be different types of standards eventually developed by the SCA: technical standards will deal with technical requirements or definitions of coffee as a product, coffee-related products (such as brewing water), and coffee equipment; professional competency standards will describe the competencies and skills needed in certain key positions within the specialty coffee industry; and sustainability standards will outline some guidelines specific to our industry. Since 2021, these abstract concepts and values have been applied to standards development. At the time of writing, two standards have been developed and approved through the new standard development system: SCA-310-2021 Home Coffee Brewers: Specifications and Test Methods and SCA-350-2021 Semi-Automatic and Automatic Espresso Machines: Specifications and Test Methods. A third standard is still under review by the standard development panel (SCA-320-2021 Home Coffee Grinders: Specifications and Test Methods) but is anticipated to receive approval from the panel later this year. ◇
Dr. MARIO FERNANDEZ-ALDUENDA is the SCA’s Technical Officer. If you’re interested in getting involved with the SCA’s Standard Development System, either as a member of an expert group or by piloting a standard in your organization, email mariof@sca.coffee.
We hope you are as excited as we are about the release of 25, Issue 17. Both the print edition and the availability of these features across sca.coffee/25 wouldn’t have been possible without our generous underwriting sponsors for this issue: Tempesta Barista Attitude, BWT water+more, and TODDY. Thank you so much for your support! Learn more about our underwriters here.