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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.  

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.

Join us for “Brewing Value: A Webinar on the Equitable Value Distribution Report” happening Tuesday, March 26th at 9am PDT, 12pm EDT, and 4pm GMT on Zoom. 

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is proud to announce the release of its latest report, titled "Equitable Value Distribution Survey Findings," marking a significant milestone in the effort to shape mindsets and business behaviors in order to foster equitable value distribution as a sustainability tool for the specialty coffee sector.

The SCA Spain Chapter has selected four new coordinators to join the committee for a two-year term.

The SCA Portugal Chapter has selected four new coordinators to join the committee for a two-year term.

The SCA Portugal Chapter has selected four new coordinators to join the committee for a two-year term.

The SCA Netherlands Chapter has selected four new coordinators to join the committee for a two-year term.

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2023 Re:co Fellow RAGHUNATH RAJARAM, co-founder of Aramse, links their work to revive and modernize the South Indian Filter to the concept of value creation, reminding us that solutions to existing or emerging problems may already exist—and that they may hold the key to keeping more value where it’s created.

The SCA Germany Chapter has selected four new coordinators to join the committee for a two-year term.