Telling Coffee Stories | 25, Issue 25
Welcome to the 25th edition of 25. Beyond the satisfying issue number—which would only be more perfect if it fell in 2025 instead of 2026—you may have noticed that this issue looks a little different. The aim is to share more, in a more approachable way.
One of 25’s primary goals is to share academic research on coffee in plain language and in free-to-access formats. But we also believe that the coffee sector is full of stories and that these stories are important and influential. Research can sometimes feel abstract and theoretical, but we also know that there’s a story behind every project—even those conducted in a chemistry laboratory or by poring over data from scientific studies in something known as a global meta-analysis.
As the editor, I also ask every author to share some of the story that brought them to their area of interest, or that emerged as they journeyed through a complex research project.
In Business, Dr. Emily Pappo from the Smithsonian Bird Friendly institute takes a complex topic—carbon sequestration—and brings it to life, sharing practical strategies for coffee buyers and sellers to promote and protect the biodiversity that is so valuable in coffee landscapes.
In Insight, a team of researchers from Switzerland, Bolivia, and Colombia share research into coffee value chains and their impact on producer livelihoods, exploring opportunities for business and product innovation to retain more value at origin. The key story here is that the research was participatory: involving coffee farmers from the outset and resulting in the creation of long-term products, such as a cascara recipe book and two higher education programs.
Part of specialty coffee’s story is diversity—of people, experiences, preferences, and of coffee itself. At the SCA, we embrace this through a definition of “specialty coffee” that includes non-arabica species. In Insight, neuroscientist Dr. Fabiana Carvalho takes us through the development of the Canephora Flavor Wheel—a tool to help cuppers better understand Coffea canephora (also known as canephora or robusta). Also in Insight, Dr. Aaron P. Davis traces Liberica coffee from its West African origins through its cultivation history to its growing role in specialty markets—and to his work at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where they discovered that “Liberica” is actually three separate species.
In Research, I spoke with the team at the Hendon Coffee Lab at the University of Oregon about their research on electrochemistry and coffee extraction. I was daunted by the topic at first, but the researchers took me through their work in simple and relatable terms, explaining how they’re building up a bank of knowledge that will help baristas dial-in espresso.
Finally, in Program Spotlight, Peter Giuliano shares how a research project into coffee farm workers’ perspectives inspired the SCA’s definition of coffee and the Coffee Value Assessment, showing how the SCA’s key evolutions have been shaped by the needs of the sector.
We publish 25 to build knowledge and share stories. The specialty coffee sector is driven partly by numbers: monetary value, electrochemistry readings, carbon sequestered. But it’s also driven by human experience—people along the value chain feel inequity, volatility, awe, satisfaction, and solidarity. And these feelings shape outcomes. They say that “every coffee person has a story,” and we’re here for them.
LAUREL CARMICHAEL (they/them), Editor, 25
We hope you are as excited as we are about the release of 25, Issue 25. This issue of 25 is made possible with the contributions of specialty coffee businesses who support the activities of the Specialty Coffee Association through its underwriting and sponsorship programs.Learn more about our underwriters here.
