In the final episode of the Systems Map Discussion Series, we look at brewing and roasting with coffee professionals working in these activities. You can watch the video recording here.

The 2021 World Latte Art Championship (WLAC), World Coffee In Good Spirits Championship (WCIGS), and World Coffee Roasting Championship (WCRC) are heading to the Taiwan International Coffee Show.

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has chosen the University of Oregon for a four-year espresso extraction research project, supported by the Simonelli Group, "Towards a Deeper Understanding of Espresso Extraction."

The project is slated to run for two years and is aimed at understanding how packaging affects and influences consumers’ perceptions of specialty coffee quality, attributes, and value.

This week, BRITTANY HORN, co-owner, co-founder, and Authorized Specialty Coffee Trainer (AST) tells us about Pacific Coffee Research’s Premiere Training Campus located in Kailua Kona, Hawaiʻi Island.

“We Were the Punks” traces the early days of the World Barista Championships from a rag-tag group of volunteers looking to raise specialty coffee awareness to a powerful, monetizable stage grappling with questions of scale and professionalism. Along the way, co-host Sonja Bjork Grant leads us through stories of spit buckets, snakeskin boots, backstage woes, intensifying competition preparation, and devastating debriefs through interviews with Tone Elian Liavaag, Emma Markland-Webster, Simi Benzadon, Paul Basset, and Heather Perry.

You may have seen more World Coffee Championships branding on our social media channels this year. As all of the competitions continue to grow and branch into new digital features, we want to make sure they continue to have a cohesive identity.

Meet the six professionals in the slate of candidates for the 2020 CTG Leadership Council elections. In the latest post of the CTG blog, CTG Chair Hylan Joseph presents the technicians selected this year by the Nominating Committee.

Today, it is my pleasure to present the slate of candidates in the 2020 CRG Leadership Council elections. The CRG Election Committee, chaired by Past Chair Sonja Björk Grant, has put forward a list of five professionals after an extensive interview process.

This week, ANA LUIZA PELLICER, originally from Monte Santo de Minas, shares the beginning her journey into specialty coffee and experience with distance learning.

In this week’s episode, Recap explores the recent Communiqué from the International Coffee Organization: Where did it come from? What does it mean? Widely reported as the first time that major private sector actors across the value chain came together to agree to jointly implement solutions to the economic unsustainability of coffee production, the Communiqué and corresponding Annex outlines an ambitious ten-year plan across four areas of action and seven technical workstreams.

“Paint a Picture” traces the history and evolution of the World Latte Art Championship through the medium itself, from early etchings to the innovative realistic pours that grace the competition’s stage today. Along the way, co-host Rie Moustakis leads us through stories about the role of the rules, the value of art, and family dynamics through interviews with Carl Sara, Daniel Acosta Busch, and Um Paul.

Coffee has always been in Licor 43’s roots, going back to the Café Asiatico in Cartagena and the Café Barraquito in Tenerife in the 1950s - there has always been an appreciation for the natural marriage of aromas and flavors between the two.

Last week we looked at all things exporting in episode #2 of our new discussion series. This week it's time to explore the other side of the coin—importing! Join us for the latest episode in our series about the Coffee Systems Map.

As presented to SCA members on September 1, the SCA Board of Directors, led by President Christina Meinl, nominated a group of eight professionals from a pool of dozens who responded to our annual call for nominations made in June. As the number of candidates this year is equal to the number of open seats, there is no need to proceed with a voting process, and the SCA Board has confirmed the eight professionals listed below as members of the SCA Board of Directors, in accordance with Section 7.4(h) of the SCA Bylaws.

“It’s a YES!!” traces the history and evolution of the World Cup Tasters Championship through stories about rule-breakers, phone calls home mid-competition, and backstage ballet. Co-hosted by Gloria Pedroza, this episode features interviews with Alf Kramer, Kim Staalman, José Joaquín Ordoñez, and Chloe King.

Across six weekly episodes, the series will offer a glimpse behind the scenes of the different World Coffee Championships, bringing to light some of the hidden stories woven in and around these annual skill-based competitions that serve as the culmination of local and regional events around the globe.

This week, PASTOR VALERO, a lead barista and production roaster in a café in Buenos Aires, Argentina, shares his experience of distance learning. While living in Venezuela, Pastor fell in love with coffee after taking a course and receiving an SCA certificate in 2013.

“As I am fond of saying, we taste more than what’s just in the food when we eat: flavor, as I and many other believe, is in the mind.” Assistant Professor of Food Science QIAN JANICE WANG shares the results of a live experiment conducted at Sensory Summit EU in February 2020.

Episode #2 of the Systems Map Discussion Series is all about exporting. Through these conversations we hope to better illuminate the various relationships and gaps in our awareness, ultimately leading to a better understanding of how the entire coffee system works and who it works for.