Market research and polls continue to try and illuminate the shifting conditions caused by COVID-19: Bloomberg rounds up a variety of market research indicating that the number of coffee shops in the US is set to decline for the first time in the US since 2011, while a recent report from the US National Coffee Association shows that while the pandemic has changed where Americans drink their coffee, there’s a strong desire to return to coffee shops.

SCA members in Sweden cast their ballots in the 2020 elections to select their new leadership. Today, we are pleased to welcome the SCA Sweden Chapter’s new committee.

To dig deeper into the Systems Map and the various connections it explores, we're launching a discussion series organized around the central activities of the map — beginning with farming and processing.

Join us for a brand new discussion series exploring the central activities in the coffee value chain.

As presented to SCA members on September 1, the SCA Board of Directors, led by President Christina Meinl, has nominated a group of eight professionals from a pool of dozens who responded to our annual call for nominations made in June.

Following up on the video The Science of COVID-19 Safety for Coffee Businesses, Professor William D. Ristenpart of the UC Davis Coffee Center will be live for a Q&A on October 15 at 8am PST / 4pm BST.

Three long-term initiatives were announced on International Coffee Day, including the ICO’s “Coffee’s Next Generation,” the IWCA’s “Empowered Voices,” and the launch of the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity; Indonesia’s coffee producers are asking for help with financing as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the demand for coffee; Australian-based Breville Group has acquired the US-based grinder maker, Baratza; a recent feature in Asia Times explores how women entrepreneurs in the Gulf are overcoming the additional hurdles of the pandemic.

SCA members in Austria cast their ballots in the 2020 elections to select their new leadership. Today, we are pleased to welcome the SCA Austria Chapter’s new committee!

In the final part of this video, William D. Ristenpart goes in-depth about four things cafes and coffee businesses can do to increase safety. Building on the first three parts of this video that explain how the virus functions, we now look at how masks, increased ventilation, air purifiers, and limited exposure can go a long way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and increase overall safety.

A new study by researchers at the UC Davis Coffee Center, titled “Brew temperature, at fixed brew strength and extraction, has little impact on the sensory profile of drip brew coffee,” was published today in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports. PETER GIULIANO, Chief Research Officer of the SCA and Executive Director of the Coffee Science Foundation, interviews Professor WILLIAM RISTENPART, Director of the UC Davis Coffee Center, about the newly published article.

This third segment of the second video in our Community Impact of COVID-19 series dives into the data around COVID-19 transmission probability.

Here we share How Does the Virus Get Into the Air? - Part 2 of The Science of COVID-19 Safety for Coffee Businesses. This second segment of the video in our Community Impact of COVID-19 series provides a deeper explanation of the science of airborne transmission of viruses.

Here we share Why Worry About Airborne Transmission - Part 1 of The Science of COVID-19 Safety for Coffee Businesses. This first segment of the second video in our Community Impact of COVID-19 series gives an overview of the basics of airborne transmission.

We are pleased to announce that we have received sufficient nominees to fulfill all open coordinator roles to form the SCA France Chapter Committee for the 2020-2022 term. As each of the open committee positions had only one nominee, there is no need to proceed with the usual voting process. However, we would like to give the community the chance to provide comments on the new Chapter Committee before officially concluding this election cycle.

In the second video in our series Community Impact of COVID-19, we’re joined by William D. Ristenpart to look at the science of airborne diseases and how we can use that information to maximize safety while serving coffee and other products.

Confinement in Mexico due to the pandemic started in the last week of March 2020, with 80% of the country’s population staying home for approximately three months. Only activities and businesses deemed essential continued to operate.

Beyond the current Covid-19 crisis, our industry has known for quite a while that we are facing sustainability issues we need to consider if we want to keep selling specialty coffee in the future. MARIO FERNÁNDEZ, Technical Director of the Specialty Coffee Association, explores the opportunities of specialty C. canephora.

Amid the rise in protectionist trade policies, the International Coffee Organization shared results of a quantitative analysis of trade interventions between 2009 and 2019; coffee berry borer has been discovered on the Hawaiian Island of Kaua’i for the first time; coverage from the UK’s popular press of Neguse Gemeda Mude’s top-scoring lot from the first-ever Ethiopian Cup of Excellence unfortunately focused solely on the per cup price as served by London’s Queens of Mayfair; also recently released: two long-form accounts of challenges facing coffee’s complex value-generating ecosystem and the impacts they’ll have on coffee farmers.

Voting in the 2020 SCA Austria Chapter election is officially open. The nomination stage is closed, and the candidates listed below have accepted their nominations. If you are an SCA member based in Austria, cast your vote for the new committee today by clicking the link in your email from elections@sca.coffee with the subject line “Vote Now in the 2020 SCA Austria Chapter Elections.”

We are pleased to announce that we have received sufficient nominees to fulfill all open coordinator roles to form SCA Sweden Chapter Committee for the 2020-2022 term.