NICOLE LIN and CHARLEY BIDDLE share their view of the Chinese coffee market, tracing its rise through to the unexpected impacts of 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor LOURIVAL CARMO MÔNACO, a geneticist who took part in the coffee journey that identified several coffee varieties we enjoy nearly 60 years later, recalls the mission. As told to JONAS LEME FERRARESSO.

JESSICA HERNANDEZ visits Oaxaca, Mexico.

The Specialty Coffee Association is looking for professionals to apply to open positions in sales, certifications, and marketing and communications. Visit our ‘Work with Us’ page to learn more and apply today.

In 2003, the SCA put forward a Cupping Protocol as a tool to discover a coffee’s value and sensory attributes. We’re revisiting this protocol now and are asking for input from you, our community of coffee professionals and connoisseurs.

We are actively seeking proposals from individuals from all backgrounds to lead virtual workshops in 2021. Our workshops aim to provide a venue for a more in-depth understanding of different topics relevant to specialty coffee.

“Worlds Apart” tells the stories of the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship and the World Brewers Cup, two competitions that take vastly different approaches to growing the specialty coffee community. Along the way, co-host Kimberly Yer leads us through stories of unlikely inspiration, the value of setting expectations, the push and pull of subjectivity and objectivity, and the shape of things to come through interviews with Dave Jameson, Cheryl Lee Su Yin, Nick Cho, Chad Wang, and Kristina Jackson.

Substances from the environment, water treatment, and minerals are dissolved in drinking water. Its exact composition affects the sensory dimensions of water: taste, odor, and mouthfeel. That is why BRITA developed this water wheel.

This week, GOSIA LENSZIOSZEK, Coffee Excellence Manager, tells us about Matthew Algie’s Premier Training Campuses.

“Turn It On” tells the stories of the World Coffee Roasting Championship and the Cezve/Ibrik Championships, two competitions with incredibly close-knit communities at their heart. Along the way, co-hosts Anna Oleksak and Sara Al-Ali lead us through stories about navigating subjectivity, all kinds of development, and the lengths we go to for coffee (and love) through interviews with Trish Rothgeb, Sylvia Gutierrez, Lee Yiming, Yuan Jingyi, Sergey Blinnikov, and Turgay Yildizli.

This week, FRANÇOISE RISBOURG, shares her distance learning experience. Originally from Lille, where she worked as a Head of Consumer Experience at a global fashion company based in Denmark, but once COVID-19 hit, she relocated to the United Kingdom and is now looking for her next challenge.

Although estimates of damage to coffee-growing regions have been slow to arrive due their impact on vital infrastructure, Hurricanes Eta and Iota's sustained winds, flash floods, and mudslides have impacted what was expected to be a fruitful harvest for Central America's coffee-growing communities; the Deputy Chief Executive of Ghana's Cocoa Board has called for cocoa farmers to expand and develop the coffee sector by growing and processing coffee.

“But I Need It!” continues the story of the World Barista Championships from where we left off in Episode 03, nearly halfway through the competition’s journey, to today. Along the way, co-host Rouki Delrue leads us through stories of evolutionary meetings, competitors who played in the grey areas of the rules, wildcards, and the drive to “bring the trophy” through interviews with Carl Sara, Federico Bolanos, María Esther López-Thome, Martin Shabaya, Innocent Niyongabo, and Annet Nyakaisiki.

In this episode, Scott Manley, Technical Support Supervisor at La Marzocco USA, will take your questions on Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) used in determining water quality for specialty coffee. Scott will review the equipment used to measure TDS, demonstrate how to test for and document results, and talk about how you can interpret test results for equipment maintenance and coffee extraction.

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.