SCA Officially Launches Q Grader Courses Tied to the CVA

Daily Coffee News photo by Nick Brown.

The United States- and Europe-based Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) officially opened enrollment for the new Q Grader program, saying courses will roll out across regions and languages in the coming months.

The revamped curriculum — which follows the SCA’s controversial acquisition of the Q program from fellow nonprofit the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) earlier this year — is built around the SCA’s official coffee evaluation system called the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA).

The SCA is licensing the Q program from CQI for 10 years for an annual fee of $250,000, executives from both organizations previously told Daily Coffee News. As of today, CQI is not involved in the administration of the Q, which has historically served as a premium professional certification within the coffee industry, signifying deep coffee knowledge and training.

Replacing the SCA’s legacy cupping form — which until today was used for education and evaluation within the Q Grader program — the CVA involves multiple forms designed to provide a “holistic picture” of coffee’s unique attributes based on a research-driven framework, according to the SCA.

Daily Coffee News photo by Nick Brown.

While the SCA officially adopted the system in 2024 following several years of development, and subsequently rolled out to multiple producing countries through institutional MoUs, its adoption has generally been slow in day-to-day practice. Some prominent voices in the industry have questioned the need or efficacy of the CVA. Yet others have recognized a need for a cupping system that more broadly accounts for “extrinsic” qualities — such as post-harvest processing methods or certifications — that affect market value.

After announcing its takeover of the Q, the SCA said it would be offering tiered pricing, dividing the world’s countries into five tiers based on economic realities. The structure is designed to ensure people in lower-income countries are not cut out of the group’s educational programming.

In the lead-up to today’s launch, coffee consultancies and education-focused businesses worldwide have been converting to the new system, and in some cases existing Q Graders have incurred additional training and business expenses.

The SCA continues to offer a “fast track” program for existing Q Graders and other coffee certificate holders to become new Q Instructors, with a deadline of Dec. 31, 2025.

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