SCA Advances its Coffee Value Assessment through Colombia FNC Partnership

SCA CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos (left) and FNC CEO Germán Bahamón in Houston. SCA press release photo.

During its flagship North American trade show, executive leaders of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) signed a memorandum of understanding surrounding widespread implementation of the SCA’s official coffee evaluation system.

The agreement between the world’s largest coffee industry trade group (SCA) and the association representing the world’s second-largest Arabica coffee-producing country (Colombia) marks a major win for the SCA as it seeks to advance its Coffee Value Assessment (CVA).

Developed over the past five years and formalized in late 2024, the CVA is a set of forms and protocols for specialty coffee grading that replaces the SCA’s legacy cupping form, established in 2004.

Generally viewed as a potentially useful tool in providing a more holistic picture of a given coffee’s value among different actors in the coffee value chain, the CVA has inspired mixed reviews among professional coffee cuppers in terms of day-to-day practical applications.

The agreement with the FNC — arguably the world’s most impactful national producer group in terms of market reach and governance, representing more than half a million smallholder farmers — may prove a major step forward in the CVA’s practical adoption.

Setup for a cupping at the FNC’s Café de Colombia booth at the SCA Expo in Houston. Daily Coffee News photo by Nick Brown.

According to the SCA, the partnership will first focus on implementation of the CVA methodology within the FNC’s existing processes, including training technical teams, integrating data collection at origin and exploring broader adoption across the Colombian coffee sector.

In addition to supplying technical assistance, training, a customized CVA application and marketing heft to promote the collaboration’s results globally, the SCA will share CVA-derived data on coffee attributes and market preferences with the FNC.

“A key objective of this data is to inform producers about evolving market trends and preferences — ensuring that insights gathered through the CVA directly benefit coffee-growing communities,” the SCA said in an announcement released Saturday during the Specialty Coffee Expo in Houston.

Colombian Coffee Growers Federation CEO Germán Bahamón described the partnership as part of a commitment to improve Colombian coffee farmers’ prosperity.

“Colombian coffee growers are at the heart of the world’s specialty coffee community,” Bahamón said in the SCA’s announcement. “By adopting innovative tools like the Coffee Value Assessment, we open the door to greater recognition, alignment with market preferences, and reward for the diversity and excellence of our coffees.”

The announcement came one day after the SCA said it was taking over the Q program, the flagship education and certification platform of the U.S.-based nonprofit Coffee Quality Institute.

That takeover, which was criticized by many people associated with the Q program, will also include implementation of the CVA, in what the SCA is currently calling the Evolved Q.

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