SCA's new value assessment aims to give everyone in the coffee supply chain a better common language to ease transactions. Seen here, cuppers in action at Bangkok's Bluekoff.
Coffee scoring protocols launched by the Specialty Coffee Association in 2004 helped drive huge growth in the premium coffee segment over the past decades. Based on methods developed in the 1990s, the SCA’s approach to cupping and scoring coffees established a global standard that nurtured the entire value chain. It gave sellers and buyers a shared language that helped the industry improve quality.
Now coffee’s default “operating system” is getting an update. Starting in 2020, the SCA undertook a major effort to re-evaluate and improve its protocol to provide a more holistic and objective way to assess coffee. It surveyed 2,000 coffee professionals, consulted specialists, conducted trials, and delved deep into the details of sensory science.
The new system, launched in April, goes beyond the existing 100-point scoring system to assess each coffee across four different dimensions that provide a far more robust and flexible “report card.” It rates flavor, much as before, but goes beyond the intrinsic characteristics of a bean to include “extrinsic” information such as its geographic origin, processing, environmental and social factors, and other aspects of a coffee’s “story.”
After all, these characteristics can influence a buyer’s esteem for a coffee as much, or even more, than taste alone. Why not record and present this data in an orderly way that allows for easy comparison?
“This tool is about finding homes for coffee, finding buyers for producers. That’s how we build a thriving supply chain,” said Peter Giuliano, SCA’s head of research, at a talk earlier this year at the SCA Expo in Portland, Oregon.
Existing protocol
Cupping has been around for more than 100 years. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that professionals of the SCA’s predecessor, the Specialty Coffee Association of America, developed a cupping methodology, which was published as The Coffee Cuppers Handbook, by Ted Lingle. In 2004, the SCAA updated this with a 100-point scoring system inspired by the system used in the wine industry.
By facilitating a rapid and accurate assessment of green coffees, the methodology lets cuppers collectively and continually identify quality across markets and over time. The current system includes grading and tasting, which provide quantitative and qualitative assessments of a coffee. But it does not delve into extrinsic attributes such as sustainability credentials and producer stories, which have become valuable in the marketplace.
The new value assessment
SCA states that the overall goal of the new value assessment system is to create a collective shift in “mindset” around what specialty coffee is. Thus one outcome of the revamp is the SCA’s new definition of how specialty coffee is set apart and rewarded:
“Specialty coffee is a coffee or coffee experience that is recognized for its distinctive attributes, resulting in a higher value within the marketplace.”
Flavor plays a pivotal role in coffee. It’s what creates that “a-ha!” moment when someone first tries a specialty coffee and becomes interested — perhaps hooked for life. That’s a good customer.
Yet when people along the supply chain share information about a coffee’s sensory attributes, they often do so in connection with data about things like the variety, post-harvest processing, roasting profile, brewing method, etc. SCA’s new system takes account of this to better help buyers and sellers use it as a value discovery tool.
The new system is designed to help assess value in all senses of the term, says SCA: As an aid to economic transactions, a tool to document aesthetic worth, a way to recognize human effort and preference. It does not, however, determine the price of a coffee. Pricing should be still in the hands of the buyer or seller of each coffee. Yet value refers to the worth and usefulness that a coffee has to a buyer, so price discovery is not far away.
Depending on the coffee buyer and their values, the value of a certain coffee can differ a lot from not valuable to highly valuable due to its extrinsic properties. That is, where it has been grown, fair payment of the farmer, grown in a bird-friendly environment, produced with a low environmental footprint, etc. At the same time, the buyer might also be looking to find unique flavor characteristics. So, the new system encompasses all this.
The system currently is in its beta testing phase, and the protocols can be downloaded on the SCA website. Full implementation will come in late 2024 or 2025. In the meantime, the new and old forms will both be used.
Four dimensions
The four assessment categories give the cupper a complete picture of the coffee at a moment in time: Each assessment category has its own form, each to be completed separately to reduce bias.
- Physical Assessment: Intrinsic attributes such as the beans’ color, moisture content, defects, and size.
- Descriptive Assessment: Intrinsic sensory attributes of the coffee’s fragrance, aroma, mouth feel, flavor, acidity, sweetness, and aftertaste. It uses olfactory references from the main categories of the coffee taster’s flavor wheel, a 1-15 rating for intensity, and a check-all-that-apply – CATA – assessment. This should be completed without any other identifying information about the coffee.
- Affective Assessment: The impression of quality, and hedonic preference using a nine-point hedonic scale. This is where sensory defects should be recorded. The form provides the option to take notes about specific attributes. Scoring of the overall impression of the coffee quality is here.
- Extrinsic Assessment: This refers to informational or symbolic attributes that are considered to add value to the coffee. The “story” of a coffee, traceability, and sustainability information of a coffee lot, i.e., where, by whom, and how it was produced, variety, processing, impact on the environment, everyone involved along the supply chain, etc.
SCA will provide olfactory references for the main categories of the coffee taster’s flavor wheel to indicate a flavor/aroma.
The system is intended to allow some flexibility in case separate assessments by category cannot be completed. SCA will therefore provide combined versions of the descriptive, affective, and basic extrinsic assessment compartments. This is especially useful if there’s no time for separate cupping rounds.
One important point: The system is digital first, using only electronic forms or tools. There will be no written paper forms. Calculation of the score will be done electronically, too, potentially using an app, according to SCA.
Potential
The new system will enable a coffee having more distinctive attributes to attain greater value in the marketplace, according to SCA. That is, the attribute-based value system will provide flexibility to allocate value to a coffee according to a specific market. This takes account of the reality that values and subjectivity differ across different geographies, cultures, and positions in the coffee chain. Let each coffee find the right home.
In the past, the subjective and personal perception of a coffee was written down, but it didn’t shape the final score. Using the new four-step assessment, the cupper can produce a more holistic and transparent evaluation of a coffee that goes beyond just a cupping score. It will make it easier to communicate extrinsic attributes to consumers and along the supply chain. It will help producers find buyers.
One very important point: It’s not just for specialty coffee! SCA says that the new system is more useful, practical, and flexible than the existing one in the assessment of commodity coffees since it provides data for a wider range of qualities.
Limitations
There may be a few constraints, however. The new form is not always practical to use, as it takes time to assess each and every coffee. As of now, it is designed for assessing only arabica coffees. It does not take account of the plethora of processing methods that are now widely used in the industry.
The score of a coffee comes solely from the affective assessment. None of the other assessment information goes into the score.
Green coffee traders should do all four assessments in the evaluation of a green coffee for value discovery purposes, according to SCA. However other professionals, such as roasters, might need only one assessment to profile a roast, e.g., the descriptive assessment.
Onward
The new system promises to be more accessible, with greater differentiation that helps everyone along the supply chain of coffee. It will only be discovered in practice, however, which value attributes matter the most when a coffee is assessed. This varies according to who is doing the assessment. Producers and growers at origin need to have access to all the necessary tools and equipment so that they can join the new system, too.