Specialty Coffee Association Releases Its 2024 Annual Report
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has released its 2024 Annual Report, signed by Chief Executive Officer Yannis Apostolopoulos, highlighting a transformative year marked by new quality standards, record membership growth, scientific advancements, and unprecedented global expansion in education and events — all with a strong focus on sustainability, research, and equitable value distribution across the coffee industry.
According to the report, 2024 represented a pivotal year for the SCA, as it officially adopted and published the new Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) standards, replacing the long-standing 2004 cupping form. This milestone positioned the CVA as the official protocol for global coffee quality evaluation. The association recorded more than 10,000 downloads of the CVA forms, over 1,500 learners enrolled in the “CVA for Cuppers” course, and more than 130,000 views on its CVA educational video series on YouTube. Additionally, the SCA waived course fees for over 500 coffee professionals in producing countries, ensuring broader and fairer access to professional education.
A major achievement highlighted in the report was the introduction of a new membership model offering free access to the SCA’s resources, educational programs, and events. This initiative led to exponential growth, bringing the association’s global community to over 100,000 companies and coffee professionals within just six months — a reflection of its ongoing mission to make knowledge and opportunities accessible to all who contribute to the specialty coffee industry.
The report also emphasized the strong research momentum driven by the Coffee Science Foundation (CSF), which supported six flagship projects in 2024. These included studies on physical defects in green coffee, developing a universal roast measurement system, exploring sweetness perception, analyzing the impact of packaging on consumer experience, and understanding how value is created and distributed throughout the coffee value chain. These efforts underscore the SCA’s commitment to fostering data-driven innovation and sustainability.
Globally, the SCA expanded its footprint through multiple major events. The “World of Coffee” trade shows took place in Dubai, Chicago, Busan, and Copenhagen, serving as platforms for knowledge exchange, business, and innovation. Notably, 2024 marked the first-ever World of Coffee held in Asia — in Busan, South Korea. The year also saw the launch of the Coffee Value Summit in Shenzhen, China, focusing on value creation and the implementation of the CVA. Other initiatives included “Green Coffee Connect,” fostering relationships between producers and importers, and the “Retail Buyer’s Lounge,” designed to enhance business networking during trade shows.
Following a period of financial stabilization from 2020 to 2023, the SCA strategically reinvested in 2024 to expand access to education, fund critical research, and strengthen partnerships. The association maintained a balance between program growth and fiscal responsibility, ensuring its ability to continue serving the global coffee community despite economic uncertainty.
In the area of education, the SCA organized five Educator Summits across Asia and the United States, providing platforms for trainers and educators to enhance their teaching and professional development. Comprehensive multilingual surveys were also conducted to gather feedback from trainers and learners, leading to further curriculum improvements and the development of new systems to support global education in coffee.
Looking ahead, the report outlined ambitious plans for 2025, including the launch of a comprehensive coffee evaluation program in partnership with the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), expanded educational offerings for green coffee sellers and retailers, the creation of online forums to connect the global coffee community, and continued research into equitable value distribution and sustainability across the coffee value chain.
The 2024 Annual Report reaffirms the SCA’s role as a leading global organization uniting research, education, standards, and events to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable future for the specialty coffee industry worldwide.
