SCAA and European Coffee Brewing Centre Renew Home Brewer Program Cooperation

(press release from SCAA. Claims not verified or endorsed by Daily Coffee News)

LONG BEACH, Calif. U.S.A. (January 22, 2014) — The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and the European Coffee Brewing Centre (ECBC) are pleased to renew their cooperation on the coffee brewer certification program through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The ECBC and the SCAA are neutral trade organizations and therefore the ideal stakeholders in the coffee industry to serve as non-biased and reputable evaluators of coffee equipment. Both the ECBC and SCAA stand behind the importance of promoting high quality coffee brewers and believe that this program is the key to growing awareness of proper home brewing practices.

Photo by the European Coffee Brewing Centre

“We are very pleased to be continuing our long standing collaboration with the ECBC on brewer certification, and our recent work together has resulted in an even more well defined and accessible program that identifies those coffee brewers that meet the rigorous standards we have developed for brewing great coffee,” says Ric Rhinehart, SCAA’s executive director.

The ECBC was established in 1975 by the Norwegian Coffee Association, and has since the start been testing and certifying coffee brewing equipment for the Seal of Approval (Golden Cup standard) both for the domestic and professional markets. “Our mission has always been to improve the technical qualities of the brewing equipment. We are delighted to announce the cooperation with the SCAA, and we are looking forward to working together in developing the certification program even further,” says Ole Sønstebø from the European Coffee Brewing Centre, Oslo.

Testing requirements and procedures for SCAA’s longstanding program for certifying home brewers will be updated and improved following this agreement, so interested parties should visit www.scaa.org/brewer-certification for more information on these changes. These certification requirements are based on decades of industry knowledge and research by the Coffee Brewing Center. Brewing machines are evaluated on proper water temperature, brewing time, ability to brew within the SCAA Gold Cup recommendations, and other indicators. If a brewer passes all of the tests as described below and conducted by the SCAA, that brewer will be recognized as an exemplary home brewer and joins the short list of SCAA Certified Brewers.

About SCAA
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), is a non-profit trade organization and the world recognized leader in coffee knowledge development. With over 9,000 members located in more than 40 countries, including member companies and their employees, SCAA members represent every segment of the specialty coffee industry, including producers, roasters, importers/exporters, retailers, manufacturers, baristas and other industry professionals.  For over 30 years, the SCAA has been dedicated to creating a vibrant specialty coffee community, recognizing, developing and promoting specialty coffee by setting and maintaining quality standards for the industry; conducting research on coffee consumption, brewing and perfection of craft; and providing education, training, resources and business services for its members. Visit www.scaa.org.