✉️ This story was featured in this week’s Coffee News Club
👋 Get the Coffee News Club newsletter in your inbox weekly—sign up.
Over the past few weeks, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has been very active. They struck a series of deals with regional coffee associations to encourage the use of the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), a tool they developed to evaluate coffee quality. They also took over managing the Q Grader training and certification program—a move that has divided the coffee industry.
On May 16, the SCA kept going, announcing a deal with the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia (SCAI) to integrate the CVA within Indonesia’s coffee sector. On the same day, another trade group launched its own evaluation and education framework.
The ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF), a group of coffee associations from 10 Southeast Asian countries, announced the launch of a new evaluative tool called the ASEAN Coffee Appreciation Protocol (ACAP). Reporting for Daily Coffee News, Nick Brown described the new protocol as an alternative to the CVA, “designed by and for coffee professionals in Southeast Asia.”
The program consists of six modules that cover the coffee journey from production to consumption. One module examines cultivation and processing, while another focuses on roasting quality, and another explores consumer perception. Each module results in a score or flavor profile and can be adapted for use in various settings, such as cafes or competitions.
The new protocol was developed by ACF’s education arm, the ASEAN Coffee Institute (ACI). The ACI describes the new protocol as an “overarching and integrated coffee quality framework” that incorporates “regional values, sensory experiences, and craftsmanship.” The ACI is also expanding its education offerings and debuting its own version of the coffee flavor wheel, which integrates fruits, spices, and ingredients familiar across Asia.
The goal of the framework is to introduce a new perspective to coffee evaluation and education, one that has been lacking in existing Euro-centric approaches. “Southeast Asia has long been a coffee powerhouse. With ACI and ACAP, we are now taking ownership of how our coffee is valued and understood on the global stage,” said ACF president Victor Mah in a press release. “This is a proud milestone in our journey to define coffee excellence through an ASEAN lens – and share it with the world.”
Read the full story about the new coffee platform from Daily Coffee News here.
