SCA’s Coffee Education (next) Reform: Equity or Illusion?
- Krzysztof Blinkiewicz
- 18 minutes ago
- 7 min read
More changes. As I predicted, the Specialty Coffee Association has sorted ASTs and education program students by origin. Meanwhile, they restricted an AST’s right to run courses wherever they want. A step forward—or backward?
A New Division: SCA’s Economic Grouping of Trainers and Students
In line with a new tradition of implementing changes without consultation, the division of Authorized SCA Trainers (ASTs) and their current and future students into five economic categories has been introduced.
Before I explain why I think these changes are a dead end, let me say a few words about what is happening, in case you missed it. This affects both trainers and anyone who wants to learn about coffee through these widely used educational systems. This website devotes a lot of attention to education systems because it is creating its own—The Better Coffee System. But this isn't the place to go into detail about it. Take a look here, for example, to find out more.
You can read the full details about changes on the SCA website. In short: SCA is transforming its education pricing model “to make learning more accessible, affordable, and equitable for coffee professionals everywhere.”
Rising (or Decreasing) Costs and Limited Reach for ASTs
The cost of education under SCA programs—including the Evolved Q Grader program—will now vary by country, reflecting local economic circumstances. Using data from the International Monetary Fund and the purchasing power parity index per capita, trainers and students have been divided into five categories. Each group is assigned different fees for teaching and learning opportunities within the SCA system.
The differences between the groups are significant. ASTs in Group 5 will pay $975 per year of entitlement, regardless of how many modules they teach. Those in Group 1 will pay only $115. Similar differences apply to students, who will pay between $8 and $50 per course (half that for Introduction to Coffee), depending on their country of origin.
What the New Fee Structure Means in Practice
The AST licensing system has also changed. Those who want to teach anywhere in the world must now obtain an extra paid license, which is significantly more expensive than before.
Not everyone knows this, but until now, an AST purchased a license for three years and paid a fee to the SCA for each student. I’ve been an AST since 2019 and last paid $1,500 in 2022, plus $200 per module I teach, for the same three-year period. In total, for four modules, it cost me $2,300 once every three years—or roughly $767 per year.
Since my license is about to expire, I asked for a new invoice before the changes were announced. I was a little confused because, according to what I had, it would cost me $2,670, or $890 per year. The increase applies to both the basic license and additional modules. Having no idea how these amounts were calculated, I asked the SCA administration, and they didn't really explain it, but they suggested that in my case, i.e. AST with a license expiring at the transition point, I could take advantage of a temporary “wait” until July 1 to extend my license under the new terms. That was nice of them.
Either way, I will then be faced with the choice of whether to stay in AST in group no.5 for another year or purchase an extra paid global license.
However, under the new system, if I want the same global teaching rights as before, the cost would now be $1,475 per year. That includes $975 for the regular AST fee, plus $500 for the new global license.
Compared to what I paid three years ago, this is a 92% increase in the annual license fee for me as a global AST. Even with the three-year discount, it’s still 73% more.
If I agreed to teach only in Group 5 countries (which is not an option—Colombia, for example, is now Group 3, I want to teach there still), then I’d “only” pay 27% more than before. That's is similar to invoice, which I got.
The price increases for licenses in group 5 will certainly also lead to an rise in the fees charged by AST for their courses...
Either way, the confusion continues. Program Q, as we can see, was only the beginning.
Accessible for All? The Reality Behind SCA’s “Equity” Model
There are two sides to these changes.
On the one hand, it's great that students from countries with lower purchasing power (such as Ethiopia, Liberia, and Rwanda) will pay less to the SCA. A few dozen dollars difference is always something! Well done, SCA! It's also great that trainers from countries with poorer economies, such as Somalia, Vanuatu, and Kiribati, will be able to access SCA syllabi and teach CVA at a lower cost. Those from richer countries will probably swallow the increase, remaining under the umbrella of the SCA's still strong prestige.
The Hidden Cost of Compliance: Training Venues and Tools
On the other hand, however, this will not change much in terms of access to courses. After all, in order to organize a course, you still have to meet the requirements for the training room in which it takes place and for the tools and samples (not just coffee) that are used during the course. This is expensive, and in some countries even impossible due to the lack of equipment with the right parameters to deliver a course of the right quality.
A completely new standard, SCA-510 Coffee Training Venues, will come into force in 2024. I had the pleasure of being part of the team of experts who worked on it. The restrictions introduced therein reasonably define what training rooms should look like.
Ironically, it was the presence of “AST 5 groups” organizing training in countries from “lower” groups that helped provide education to students from those countries.
Yes, students paid the SCA fee like everyone else, but trainers rarely offered courses because it simply wasn’t profitable. Even the lowest possible prices for the course were prohibitive for coffee workers in many countries. And now, trainers will have to pay an additional $500 just to try to spread these educational programs.
What difference does it make if a potential trainer from a poorer country pays much less to the SCA to become certified if they still have to pay—usually even more than their colleagues from higher-ranked countries—to import machines and accessories that comply with the guidelines for training rooms?
Of course, a cheaper AST license always means savings when setting up a serious and professional coaching business, but let's not be naive – you won't be able to buy a high-end espresso machine, grinder or coffee roaster for your training sessions.
It's also even funnier already that trainers from poorer countries won't be able - without a Global License - to teach in richer countries to share their experience, such as from living in Africa's producing countries.
Fairness or Facade? When Geography Dictates Opportunity
This would only make sense if the Specialty Coffee Association or its partners built properly equipped training rooms in lower group countries (or in all groups) and made them available, free of charge, to all trainers in that area. Then, bravo, cheaper access not to syllabuses but to training rooms would certainly stimulate an increase in the number of educators in a given area, while maintaining the quality of the education provided. As part of The Better Coffee initiative and The Place structures, we would be happy to help the SCA in this task, so please write or call us.
And finally, two more thoughts. While writing this, I felt a sense of discomfort that we are talking about categories. Okay, yes—some of us live in poorer countries, others in richer ones. But just because someone lives in a poor country does not mean that they are not very rich and part of the upper class because they work with coffee as one of the few monopolists, and that someone living in a rich country is not a poor barista on a temporary contract, a roaster burning coffee for minimum wage, or the owner of a coffee company that cannot educate its employees because it is barely making ends meet in a competitive market.
But either way, I don't like categorizing people based on their country of origin and its purchasing power.
The Better Coffee System: Call To Action
And my second thought – I have been trying for a long time to make my The Better Coffee education system open to the needs of participants. I can teach for free, literally—by the way, without covering the costs of the students—for the simple fact that someone will learn, which is my satisfaction as a trainer. With SCA courses, I couldn't do that because there is always a fee, even the new reduced one.
So maybe instead of doing something like, “Hey, AST, we're limiting your area of operation and increasing the price, and we're adding even more instructors, and you have to take a CVA course,” a large and thriving organization could create a place somewhere in the world for the local community to learn and pay the trainers who would go there and teach people for free?
I have no illusions that SCA or anyone else will do this, so I'm doing it myself - proposing a network of The Place, places that can actually respond to the needs of local communities in “low group by SCA” countries by working to improve the quality of coffee and mutual aid communities, rather than just posing.
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