🎉 It’s official! The 2020 Coffee Roasters Guild slate selection process has come to an end. CRG members around the globe have confirmed the slate of five professionals presented on November 5 by the CRG Election Committee, chaired by Past Chair Sonja Björk Grant.

We are excited to announce our newly expanded annual awards program, the SCA Awards, recognizing excellence in product innovation, design, and sustainability across the industry. Taking place online for the very first time, the 2021 SCA Awards are open to companies and individuals around the globe, expanding the reach and prestige of these important annual competitions.

In some ways, this issue is all about rebuilding our industry’s foundations.

DAGMAWI I.E. explores the long, obscured history of Ethiopian coffee as told by others, and how owning and changing the narrative can lead it to a more sustainable future.

Postdoctoral scholar SCOTT FROST, PhD candidate MACKENZIE BATALI, Professor JEAN-XAVIER GUINARD, and Professor WILLIAM D. RISTENPART share the results of sensory descriptive experiments at the UC Davis Coffee Center, revealing new trends in brewed coffee that suggest an updated brewing control chart.

LISA ANTOSHAK and EVIE SMITH share the results of an interdisciplinary research project conducted during the summer of 2019 that sought to learn more about the biggest challenges facing coffee producers today.

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.