Wrong shirt, wrong shoes, no service: Thousands of unionized Starbucks workers go on strike over the new dress code. Plus, the SCA announces a new tiered pricing structure to make its coffee education more accessible, and a report from TechnoServe shows that regenerative farming is both environmentally and economically beneficial.
‘SCA Announces Education Pricing Changes’ – via Global Coffee Report
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has announced a new pricing system for its education programs, with a varying price structure based on country. SCA priced its educational programs based on the economic realities of people living in different countries.
The SCA split countries into five groups based on data from the International Monetary Fund and the Purchasing Power Parity per Capita Index. Coffee professionals in Group 1, which includes countries like Burundi, Myanmar, and Yemen, will pay the least—the press release gives the example of $8 for a course or $115 for a yearly Authorized SCA Trainer (AST) license. By comparison, those in Group 5, which includes Denmark, Hong Kong, and the United States, will pay the most—$50 for a course and $975 for the AST license.
According to a press release, the goal of the new model is “to make learning more accessible, affordable, and equitable for coffee professionals everywhere.” Both individual SCA course fees and yearly license fees for trainers will be part of the new pricing structure, which will go into effect later this year, as will the new Evolved Q program. The organization said that trainers and educators who run their SCA-certified classes will continue to set their own rates.
“Education serves as the foundation for careers, leadership, and innovation throughout the value chain,” said SCA CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos. “After years of dedicated work, we are proud to introduce a new model designed to make our education more accessible and widely available.”
In the past few weeks, the SCA has made several industry-changing announcements. During the Expo trade show in late April, the SCA announced an “historic partnership with the Coffee Quality Institute to take over management of the Q Grader program beginning in October 2025.
The SCA has also announced a series of deals with various producing countries to implement its new Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) cupping standards. First, they made agreements with the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation and the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association to use the CVA as their quality evaluative tool.
And on Friday, during the World of Coffee trade show in Jakarta, the SCA announced an agreement with the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia to implement the CVA cupping standards “as the official protocol for evaluating Indonesian specialty coffees.”
‘In Coffee-Producing Uganda, an Emerging Sisterhood Wants More Women Involved’ – via AP News
A Ugandan entrepreneur founded a company that pays a premium for coffee cherries from female farmers. The company hopes to encourage more women to get involved in the business side of coffee production.
Meridah Nandudu grew up on a coffee farm in Uganda’s eastern Sironko district, close to the Kenyan border, and observed how gender dynamics play out during the harvest season.
As Rodney Muhumuza reports for AP News, women in the region often do the bulk of the physical work of tending to the coffee plants and harvesting the cherries. However, men deliver the harvest to washing stations for processing, when money is exchanged for cherries. Nandudu explained that men don’t always return all the money they earn to their families.
“When (men) go and sell, they are not accountable. Our mothers cannot ask, ‘We don’t have food at home. You sold coffee. Can you pay school fees for this child?’” Nandudu said.
To reverse this trend, Nandudu founded Bayaaya Specialty Coffee. The company buys freshly-harvested coffee cherries directly from farmers to process and sell for export. Bayaaya pays women farmers a higher price for coffee cherries and gives them a small bonus during the off-season.
In 2022, Bayaaya worked with just a handful of producers—now they receive coffee cherries from over 600 women. One farmer, Juliet Kwaga, told Muhumuza that she had taken over coffee delivery from her husband. “At the end of the day I go home with something to feed my family, to support my children,” she said.
‘TechnoServe Builds a Case for Regenerative Agriculture Investments in Coffee’ – via Daily Coffee News
Investing in regenerative agriculture could boost smallholder farmer income and coffee exports while reducing carbon emissions, according to a new report released by the nonprofit organization TechnoServe.
In the report, “The Regenerative Coffee Investment Case,” TechnoServe found that investing $560 million per year in regenerative agriculture would increase farmer income by an average of 62%. It would also improve coffee exports by an average of 30% while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 3.5 million tons annually. Regenerative agricultural practices include agroforestry, cover crops, and efficient water use.
The report drills down to provide country-level analysis of farms in Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Honduras, Indonesia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Peru, and Kenya, which produce 70% of the world’s coffee. In Kenya, for example, farmer income could rise as much as 196% by switching to regenerative agricultural practices, while Brazilian farms growing arabica coffee could see a 46% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
“These findings confirm what TechnoServe has observed over decades of working with coffee farmers: regenerative agriculture is not only good for nature, but essential for smallholder livelihoods and the future of the industry,” said Paul Stewart, global coffee director at TechnoServe, in a press release.
Investing in regenerative agriculture would involve providing technical assistance, financing, and direct support to farmers as they transition their farming practices (switching to regenerative practices could impact yields at first). The report writes that the $560 million needed annually should come from public and private funding and include “close collaboration between investors, industry, government and service providers.”
The report was supported by Nestlé and its subsidiary Nespresso, alongside JDE Peet’s and the nonprofit Rudy & Alice Ramsey Foundation. In the press release, representatives of the coffee giants noted their past support for regenerative farming and alluded to future investment, although none committed to a specific amount.
“Over the past 10 years, we’ve championed regenerative agriculture through our Common Grounds sustainability program, working directly with coffee farmers across the globe,” said Nadia Hoarau-Mwaura, global responsible sourcing director at JDE Peet’s. “This detailed study offers a clear, practical path to implementing regenerative agriculture at scale—one that requires industry-wide collaboration.”
More News
‘Brazil Boosts 2025 Harvest Forecast’ – via Global Coffee Report
‘The C Market Just Got Less Confusing Thanks to Futures.Coffee’ – via Fresh Cup Magazine
‘Roast Summit Returns to Portland in 2025’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘US Tariff Impact on Coffee Revealed: ICO April Report’ – via Global Coffee Report
‘Jason Mraz: Not Bad For A Celebrity Coffee Guy’ – via Sprudge
‘Brazilian Port Issues Plaguing Coffee Exports’ – via Global Coffee Report
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
Over 2,000 Starbucks workers at 120 stores across the United States went on strike last week to protest the company’s new dress code.
As Dee-Ann Durbin reports for AP News, Starbucks’ updated dress code went into effect Monday, May 12. It requires staff in its U.S. and Canadian stores to wear a solid black shirt and either khaki, black, or blue denim pants. Its previous policy was more lenient, allowing workers to wear a broader range of shirts.
Starbucks Workers United, representing 11,000 workers at over 570 unionized stores nationwide, said the dress code should be discussed during collective bargaining sessions. Despite being in negotiations with the megachain for over a year, the union has yet to reach a first contract.
“Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of listening to baristas who make the Starbucks experience what it is, they are focused on all the wrong things, like implementing a restrictive new dress code,” said shift supervisor Paige Summers. “Customers don’t care what color our clothes are when they’re waiting 30 minutes for a latte.”
On its website, Starbucks said the update was to “allow our iconic green apron to shine and create a sense of familiarity for our customers.” The move is connected to the “Back to Starbucks” reinvention strategy, launched by CEO Brian Niccol in response to declining sales, and aims to make the company “a welcoming coffeehouse” again.
The new dress code will “deliver a more consistent coffeehouse experience,” Starbucks wrote on its website, letting workers focus on “crafting great beverages and fostering connections with customers.”
However, the dress code places an added burden on workers to purchase new work clothes, union delegate Michelle Eisen said in a statement. “This policy change puts the burden on baristas, many of whom are already struggling to get by, to buy new clothes or risk being disciplined.” Starbucks said it would provide two free black T-shirts to every employee, although it couldn’t guarantee that they would arrive in time for the May 12 implementation date.
In response to the strike, Starbucks told AP News that “it would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table that they’re putting into protesting wearing black shirts to work.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘Tariffs May Come and Go but the Canadiano Seems Here to Stay’ by Daria Toptygina
