A banner from the 2024 USCC events in April. Daily Coffee News photo.
The organizers of the Specialty Coffee Association-sanctioned United States Coffee Championships (USCC) are returning to a regional qualifying format while soliciting feedback from stakeholders.
Earlier this week, the group announced that it was doing away with its previous system, which involved numerous sanctioned regional preliminary events and two qualifying events leading to the national championships. An image shared by the group on Instagram showed three regions (West, Central and East).
The USCC currently comprises six event categories, including barista skills, coffee brewing, coffee tasting, latte art, mixology and roasting.
The volunteer-led USCC leadership committee said the new three-region format is designed to create a “more sustainable, accessible, and notable competition structure for U.S. competitions.”
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The regional format actually represents a return for the USCC. In 2015, the SCA (then the Specialty Coffee Association of America, or SCAA), announced it was doing away with a three-region qualifying structure in favor of a more centralized qualifying event.
“The USCC Leadership Committee has been working the past few months to take a candid look at the state of US competitions, what we value, what the community values, and have begun to make strategic changes in order to create a more sustainable, accessible and notable competition structure for US competitions,” the USCC leadership committee announced Aug. 4. “After many conversations within USCC Leadership, past and present, each of the leadership teams for the individual competitions, valued sponsors and previous hosts, and folks in the Coffee Community, SCA, and US Chapter, we have decided to return to a Regional Qualifying Competition Structure to be launched in the 2025 season.”
The group is currently seeking input from any interested individuals regarding competition locations, while hosting two upcoming listening sessions. The first listening session is scheduled for Aug. 7, from 5-6:30 p.m. Central, while the second is scheduled for Aug. 14 at the same time of day.
The group is also interested in hearing from anyone wishing to get involved in the USCC.
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