Following the 2002 coffee price crisis, our industry turned to solutions focused on delivering greater value to consumers or introducing new market segments, but in hindsight, these have had a negligible impact on addressing the problem of stagnant producer income: only a tiny proportion of the increased value filters down to growers in the current model.

This week on Recap: April 2020 saw the highest amount of interest in the search term "coffee" since 2004; coffee shops and roasters face difficult decisions without access to rent relief; as hospitality demand for specialty coffee continues to fall, its future is called into question; an unmanned café design announced in January may offer a blueprint for socially-distant café operations.

This inaugural episode of Roundtable, Yannis Apostolopoulos hosts a conversation with four esteemed coffee professionals who share their experiences as owners of independent cafés amid the pandemic.

In Roundtable, a new video series from the SCA, CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos hosts conversations with leaders in the coffee industry from around the world with a view towards the future.

Join the Coffee Roasters Guild on Friday, May 15, for the first in the We Are #StillRoasting series focused on the current experiences of coffee professionals around the world.

Register now to join us on Thursday, May 7, for an informational webinar on the application process for professionals interested in becoming Authorized SCA Trainers (ASTs) for the new Coffee Technicians Program.

This week on Recap: Root Capital releases the results of a survey examining the impact of the pandemic on rural farming communities; reports of losses in Yunnan, China foreshadow a bleak result for coffee-producing countries entering their harvest under social distancing measures; the SCA has released a summary of work for the Price Crisis Response Initiative; a national coffee campaign in Indonesia encourages domestic coffee consumption during lockdown.

Join the Coffee Roasters Guild (CRG) on Friday, May 8, for a conversation with North Central College on their direct trade relationship with coffee farmers in Guatemala.

In this issue, we’re taking a step back and focusing on some big questions that could shape the future of our industry.

Dr. ILJA CROIJMANS explores why the vocabulary we use to describe aromas matters, sharing findings of previous research on the evolution of sensory language from hunter-gathers to wine and coffee professionals.

JENN RUGOLO distils findings of the SCA’s Price Crisis Response (PCR) report and offers some ways we can begin to put some of the report’s recommendations into practice immediately.

Specialty Coffee Association CEO YANNIS APOSTOLOPOULOS shares findings from the recent Coffee Growth Dynamics Report from Euromonitor International.

We know that high-quality coffee comes at a cost, but what are the unseen costs of selling that coffee with a story? EVER MEISTER asks herself this question every day—and now she’s asking all of us.

NOA BERGER explores some of the different ways packaging helps to construct different types of authenticity.

Sitting at the crossroads between Scandinavia and the Baltics, Helsinki has this wonderfully Finnish feeling about it while remaining accessible, vibrant, and dynamic.

“An update on the status of coffee vocabulary is very much called for,” wrote Ilja. And so, when presenting this work at Sensory Summit in Zurich—complete with wine and coffee samples—Ilja also collected data.

While many cafes and coffee businesses have seen a drop in business, grocery is going strong. In the sixth and final webinar in this series, we brought in several experts to discuss how businesses can break into grocery.

While we can’t join together in Portland as planned, we've been working hard in the background to bring some of Expo's features to all of you online throughout something we're calling #ExpoSeason.

As many businesses are adapting as quickly as possible to new ways of doing business, takeaway and delivery are becoming valuable options. We brought in several experts to discuss how businesses can successfully add or highlight delivery in their business model.

On Friday, April 17, CTG Chair Hylan Joseph and representatives from the guild discussed how to adapt to the changing business environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic in this special webinar.