Posts in 25
Exchanging Valuable Information | 25, Issue 22

As incoming editor of 25, I’ve seen my first issue as a great reminder that every conversation we have about coffee is a chance to interrogate what we think we know.

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The Coffee Value Assessment: An Opportunity for Information Sharing | 25, Issue 22

LAUREL CARMICHAEL, SCA Publications Manager, provides an update on the CVA, with a focus on its capacity for information-sharing.

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Mapping the Past to Model the Future: Exploring the Potential Effects of Climate Change on Coffee Flavor in Veracruz, Mexico | 25, Issue 22

For her master's degree, environmental science researcher LORENA PIEDRA CASTILLO set out to model how climate change could affect coffee flavor, in the hope of providing coffee growers with valuable information to develop strategies to ensure the continued availability of high-quality coffee in Veracruz state, Mexico in the future. 

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The Grounds for Sharing: A Comprehensive Analysis of Value Distribution in the Coffee Industry | 25, Issue 22

Senior Program Manager for Coffee at IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, METTE-MARIE HANSEN shares key insights from the recently published report, The Grounds for Sharing. The report was commissioned by the Global Coffee Platform, IDH, and Solidaridad and traces how value for coffees sold in the German retail sector is created and distributed along supply chains.

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Cracking Coffee Regulation: The Coffee Supply Chain Challenges with EUDR Compliance | 25, Issue 22

EILEEN GORDON-LAITY, Secretary General of the European Coffee Federation, shares what we know (and what we don’t know) about the EU Deforestation Regulation coming into effect in the future.

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How Sweet Coffee Tastes! Towards an Understanding of Coffee Sweetness | 25, Issue 22

Researchers Dr. NANCY CORDOBA and Dr. DEVIN PETERSON, joined by PETER GIULIANO, share early results of a multi-year Coffee Science Foundation research project, undertaken at the Flavor Research and Education Center at Ohio State University, to establish foundational knowledge about the phenomenon of sweetness in coffee.

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Worth the Wait: How Cold Brew Differs from Chilled Hot Brew | 25, Issue 22

Director of the University of California Davis Coffee Center, Professor WILLIAM RISTENPART shares a summary of a four-year-long project on cold brew.

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The Roots of Robusta: Cultivating Growth for a Species Once Overlooked | 25, Issue 22

World Coffee Research’s MAEVE HOLLER and Dr. ROBERT KAWUKI write about how the organization is fast-tracking innovation for robusta to forge the future of coffee. 

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Cultivating Curiosity | 25, Issue 21

Despite entering my sixth year of editing 25, I’m (somehow) still astonished at the organic way the editorial team often ends up with some kind of unifying link between all the features despite our best efforts to avoid any “theming” at the start of each cycle.

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Nurturing Sustainable Coffee Excellence: The Coffee Science Foundation’s 2024-2025 Research Agenda | 25, Issue 21

MARY BASCO, SCA Research and Knowledge Development Programs Manager, outlines the Coffee Science Foundation’s 2024-2025 Research Agenda and outlines which research projects are on the horizon.

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The “Other” Certified Coffee: Understanding Recent Rule Changes to the Intercontinental Exchange | 25, Issue 21

Commodity market analyst JUDY GANES explains the Intercontinental Exchange grading process and considers how recent changes to this practice, which results in exchange-certified coffee and impacts levels of “certified stock,” are likely to impact C market dynamics.

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A Point of Tension: What We Know (and Think We Know) about Equitable Value Distribution | 25, Issue 21

SCA Sustainability Director, ANDRÉS MONTENEGRO, writes an “after action review” on the SCA’s Equitable Value Distribution Survey tool, offering insights into its process, highlighting key elements from its results, and providing early insights into how these results will impact the SCA’s Sustainable Coffee Agenda.  

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What Color is Your Coffee? | 25, Issue 21

University of California Davis Coffee Center scientists LAUDIA ANOKYE-BEMPAH, IRWIN R. DONIS-GONZÁLEZ, and WILLIAM D. RISTENPART describe research undertaken in 2023 with a goal of developing new roast color standards for the coffee industry.

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It’s Electric: Understanding—and Reducing—Static Electricity During Grinding | 25, Issue 21

Drs. JOSHUA MÉNDEZ HARPER and CHRISTOPHER H. HENDON discuss the chemistry and physics behind the electrification of coffee during grinding, its effect on extraction, and strategies to mitigate it. All images are adapted from their recent academic publication “Moisture-Controlled Triboelectrification During Coffee Grinding,” published in Matter.

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What You Know Matters: The Impact of Storytelling on Coffee Professionals’ Sensory Perception | 25, Issue 21

Corresponding author MATEUS MANFRIN ARTÊNCIO shares the findings of a recent paper, “The Impact of Coffee Origin Information on Sensory and Hedonic Judgment of Fine Amazonian Robusta Coffee,” published in the Journal of Sensory Studies, confirming the significant influence of origin information on the sensory perception of professional coffee tasters.  

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From Passive to Active: Expanding Our Understanding of Specialty Coffee Consumerism | 25, Issue 21

ALEXA ROMANO explores the emergence of specialty coffee culture as an embedded subculture within the broader coffee industry, and how the resulting shift from passive to active consumption asks us to rethink the consumer’s role in value creation and distribution.

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The Extraordinary Extrinsic | 25, Issue 20

If you’ve been following along with the SCA’s project to evolve the 2004 cupping system into a Coffee Value Assessment, there’s a good chance you’re already aware of the importance of extrinsic, or symbolic, attributes.

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Curriculum Development at the SCA: Building a Consistent, Collaborative Process | 25, Issue 20

The Specialty Coffee Association is the world’s largest coffee membership association, with a sustainability-driven purpose deeply ingrained in its structure as a non-profit trade organization: to make coffee better.

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Supply Chain Sustainability: Shifting from “Can” to “Must” | 25, Issue 20

SARAH CHARLES, writer, Communications Officer at the International Trade Centre, and author of a recent dissertation on mandatory supply chain due diligence, outlines the history, opportunities, and challenges of regulatory sustainability approaches while offering a path forward for coffee businesses grappling with the shift from a voluntary to a regulatory approach.

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Beyond Freshness: How Packaging Color Influences Consumer Behavior | 25, Issue 20

Neuroscientist Dr. FABIANA CARVALHO shares the recent results of a Coffee Science Foundation study, supported by Savor Brands Inc., to understand how packaging color influences consumer behavior.

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