Our roaster is working towards his SCA Roastery Diploma!

What is the SCA?

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is the largest global coffee association who have the goal of improving the quality of coffee by supporting coffee-growing communities. They achieve this by ensuring a thriving and sustainable process is in place for farmers and all parties involved in the supply chain.

Through multiple regulated methods, such as cupping, they are able to pass on knowledge and skills which educate the wider community on how to improve the standard of coffee being grown, which in turn benefits the communities financially.

This has led to a significant increase in the production of specialty coffees, thanks to their leadership and guidance across the coffee belt.

What are SCA Diplomas?

The SCA created these Diplomas to recognise the comprehensive knowledge of specific areas and key roles across the specialty coffee industry. There are currently four Diplomas available:

1. Café Diploma – Creating, promoting and preparing coffee experiences.
2. Coffee Trade Diploma – Handling, evaluating and the trade of green coffee.
3. Sustainable Coffee Diploma – Developing and implementing the best practices to promote sustainability.
4. Roastery Diploma – The development, production and quality of roasted coffee.

Any guesses as to which one Jordyn is going for?

It’s the Roastery Diploma of course!

Once achieved, he will have vastly improved knowledge in roasting coffee and will also be able to apply practical skills to make our coffees better than ever! Get in!

What does Jordyn have to do to gain this Roastery Diploma?

To earn his diploma, Jordyn needs to complete several courses that will help him accumulate points. He requires a total of 100 points, with each course offering different amounts ranging from 5 to 25 points. Below is the breakdown of the courses:

1. Brewing Foundation – 5 points
2. Green Coffee Foundation – 5 points
3. Roasting Foundation – 5 points
4. Sensory Skills Foundation – 5 points
5. Water and Preventive Maintenance Foundation – 5 points
6. Coffee Sustainability Foundation – 5 points
7. Roastery Intermediate – 10 points
8. Sensory Skills Intermediate – 10 points
9. Roasting Professional – 25 points
10. Sensory Skills Professional – 25 points

To complete these courses, Jordyn will be heading down to the London School of Coffee, which runs the above (SCA certified, of course!). During the first week of March, Jordyn kickstarted his coffee school journey with the Roasting Foundation and Roasting Intermediate classes!

So let’s pass over to Jordyn, and he will let you know what he got up to!

Hiya, Jordyn here! Let’s get cracking.

My first class at the London School of Coffee was the Roasting Foundation course. During this session, myself and other coffee enthusiasts spent the day learning about heating control, roasting methods, roasting machines, and coffee evaluation, among other topics!

We were then given three roast profiles to recreate on a commercial roaster, before cupping, tasting, and evaluating the coffee. We also had to complete a written exam, which I did online here at Two Chimps HQ, and I’m happy to report that I passed! Woo!

My next few days were spent on the Roasting Intermediate course, where we were joined by Jamie Banwell, a SCA-qualified roaster with over a decade of experience. He has also been a Diedrich Master Trainer for 12 years, which was extra interesting for me, since I roast on a Diedrich here at Two Chimps HQ!

This class was more in-depth than the foundation one, focusing more on the technical side of the roasting process. This included factors such as how different methods of heat transfer affected the roasting process, and how alternative roast profiles led to different sensory experiences for the same beans (even at the same roast degree).

On the final day, I then completed the SCA Intermediate exam, which was a Triangulation Cupping. This involved wearing coloured goggles to disguise the colour of the coffee, and cupping three coffees. Two of these were identical, and one was different. This put my skills to the test, as I had to find the odd one out, but I managed to pass with flying colours!

Overall, I have now earned 15 points towards my Roastery Diploma and have already started implementing some of the new methods learnt. I look forward to returning to the London School of Coffee in the future to continue my Diploma journey!

Thanks Jordyn! We can’t wait to follow his journey (and of course we will keep you guys in the loop!)