Welcome to Coffee, Decoded, the Specialty Coffee Association’s weekly column on science, research, and all things coffee knowledge.

PETER GIULIANO, the SCA's Senior Advisor for Scientific Communication, helps us understand the world of coffee species (plural!), their role in the history of coffee's cultivation and trade, and the exciting potential that coffee's diversity holds for the future. 

One of 25’s 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.

Peter Giuliano, SCA Senior Advisor of Science Communication, shares insights from research into the perspectives of coffee farm workers, and how this research has shaped knowledge building at the SCA.

Emily Pappo, Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Fellow with Smithsonian Bird Friendly Coffee & Cocoa, draws on a global meta-analysis to argue that while tree planting dominates current climate strategies in coffee, protecting existing biodiverse agroforestry systems should also be recognized as an effective climate and biodiversity solution. When incentivized, this approach can build shared value for producers and buyers.

The SCA’s Content Development Manager, Laurel Carmichael, speaks to researchers at the Hendon Coffee Lab about their chemistry lab that looks like a café, and about how they use electrochemistry and Design of Experiments to better understand the complexities of espresso extraction.

An interdisciplinary research team from Switzerland, Bolivia, and Colombia, led by Chahan Yeretzian, Nelson Gutiérrez Guzmán, and Johanna Jacobi, and including researchers Derly Lara, Daniel Castro, Sebastian Opitz, Sabine De Castelberg, Sergio Urioste, and Alvaro Irazoque, worked alongside coffee farmers, processors, and traders to examine which value chain structures improve farmer livelihoods in the Yungas of Bolivia and Huila, Colombia.

Dr. Aaron Davis, Senior Research Leader of Plant Resources and Head of Coffee Research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, shares the history of Liberica coffee, recent genomic research that has redefined it as three distinct species, and how Liberica and Excelsa’s climate resilience and unique flavor profiles offer new opportunities for the specialty coffee sector.

Neuroscientist Dr. Fabiana Carvalho explores the specialty coffee sector's perceptions of canephora and how the development of the new Canephora Flavor Wheel could help cuppers better describe and value the species' sensory potential.

The coffee sector is in constant flux. Increasingly our definitions of consumer, creator, and producer are blurring. The way we drink coffee is changing, even how we define the term “coffee” itself.

JENN RUGOLO, Specialty Coffee Association Innovation Officer, shares early insights from a project exploring the possibility of building a common language around green coffee identity.

Green coffee sales representative and author KOSTA KALLIVROUSIS offers insights and new marketing strategies that engage “digital natives,” the postmillennial generation that is evolving the relationship between brands and consumers.

The SCA’s Publications Manager, LAUREL CARMICHAEL, introduces a Coffee Science Foundation research project on the sensory impact of physical defects in green coffee, undertaken at the Coffee Excellence Center at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. 

Scholar and PhD candidate JORDAN BUCHANAN shares their research into the rise of the specialty café scene in Puebla state, Mexico, focusing on the journey and testimony of coffee-shop owners.

PhD student ANNA LUIZA SANTANA NEVES shares their research into Brazil’s everyday and culturally informed coffee and food pairings, from pão de queijo to chocolate.

Communications expert and researcher DANIEL MURAGA shares insights into Kenya’s domestic specialty coffee consumption, tracing how migration, economic shifts, and urbanization have fueled a dynamic local café and roasting scene, blurring the distinction between “producing country” and “consuming country.”

Writer and anthropologist ALEXA ROMANO and researcher and strategist VERA ESPÍNDOLA RAFAEL draw on two intentional dialogues, held at the Women-Powered Coffee Summit in 2024, to look at the value of dialogue to understand the needs and realities of coffee producers, particularly women.

En la Women Powered Coffee Summit 2024 (WPCS) se llevaron a cabo dos diálogos que la escritora y antropóloga ALEXA ROMANO y la investigadora y estratega VERA ESPÍNDOLA RAFAEL retoman para reflexionar sobre el valor del diálogo en la comprensión de las realidades y necesidades de los productores de café, en particular de las mujeres.

Coffee is a subject that grows more intricate the deeper you explore it. This seems daunting at times, but the opportunity for endless learning is what draws so many of us to this field.

ANDRÉS MONTENEGRO, SCA Sustainability Director, provides an update on how the Sustainability Awards are evolving.

LUCAS TEIXEIRA shares the results of a study that used eye-tracking technology and mathematical modeling to explore how visual attention to specialty coffee labels influences consumer choices.