The SCA and CQI announce new partnership
Image credit: JDE Peet's
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) announced a new partnership that will provide better support and more accessible educational opportunities to the coffee industry. The partnership, which was announced during the Specialty Coffee Expo on 24 April, will evolve the content of the Q Grader Program and transition its management. As of 1 October 2025, the SCA will be operating an evolved Q Grader program based on the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), and CQI will no longer be involved in the operations of the Q Grader Program.
The evolved Q Grader license will be the first and only program built on the SCA’s Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), an evaluation system introduced in 2023 that expands coffee assessment to encompass flavour and the many other attributes that make a coffee special.
• Recognised Qualification: Coffee professionals will gain a globally recognised license to assess and communicate quality and value in specialty coffee.
• Inclusive Pathways: Anyone interested in the evolved Q license can quickly update their status. SCA Sensory Skills Professional Certificate holders, and current or lapsed Arabica or Robusta Q Graders, Q instructors, and Q Assistant Instructors may fast-track their evolved Q license by completing the SCA’s CVA for Cuppers course by 31 December 2025.
The program is built on SCA’s Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) and designed for professional cuppers and coffee assessors. Participants will learn practical techniques in sensory evaluation, green coffee defect identification, and quality control in a robust, research-informed curriculum. Upon completion, students will become licensed Q Graders.
“Coffee is more than a score. The partnership between SCA and CQI to evolve the Q Grader program is the latest milestone towards delivering on the SCA’s purpose to MAKE COFFEE BETTER,” said Yannis Apostolopoulos, CEO of the Specialty Coffee Association. “Upon completion of the program, Q Graders holding the evolved, CVA-based license will set the standard for modern coffee evaluation. Through a system that takes a holistic view of value in coffee, they’ll play a key role in driving progress in the global specialty coffee industry.”
“We are proud of the role we have played in the first 20 years of the Q, and honoured by the way it has been embraced in the coffee industry. We created a common, global language of quality,” said Coffee Quality Institute CEO Michael Sheridan at the CQI Luncheon on Saturday, 25 April. “And we are excited to partner with the Specialty Coffee Association to evolve the Q to meet the demands of the industry today.”
Also at the CQI Luncheon, Matthew Mills, chairman of CQI, noted that “passing the baton of ‘Q grader program’ allows CQI to focus on producer programs.”
For more information on the evolved Q Grader license, visit education.sca.coffee/q-grader.
