📈 SCAA Scoring Explained: How Specialty Coffee is Graded for Quality and Price
The global coffee supply chain operates with a unique, often confusing, set of rules. Unlike most commodities, much of the world's high-quality coffee is pre-purchased before it's even harvested. This intense competition means buyers often commit significant capital (a $300,000+ container is a high-risk gamble) based on reputation alone.
To standardize quality, mitigate risk, and assign a fair price, the industry relies on a rigorous, quantitative methodology: the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Scoring System.
1. The Necessity of Standardized Coffee Grading
With up to 500 different raw coffees arriving in Australia each year, relying solely on origin and variety (e.g., "Brazil Yellow Bourbon") is insufficient. A raw coffee lot from one broker could score 87 points, while another scores 78 points, resulting in a price difference of double the cost.
The SCAA scoring methodology helps buyers and sellers achieve a common understanding of a lot's taste, quality, and relative value before shipment.
2. The Specialty Coffee Association (SCAA) Protocol
The SCAA system works on a rigid set of protocols designed to ensure consistency of scoring results across numerous samples and evaluators ("cuppers"). The overall goal is to quantify quality by seeking out and scoring down defects.
A. The Evaluation Segments
The cupping process breaks down the coffee's characteristics into four key segments:
| Segment | Attributes Evaluated |
| I. Fragrance & Aroma | Dry grounds and wet grounds evaluation. |
| II. Taste | Flavour, Body, Aftertaste, Acidity, and Balance. |
| III. Uniformity | Sweetness, Uniformity, and Cleanliness (must be uniform across multiple cups). |
| IV. Final Score | Overall score based on the above attributes, typically ranging from 6.00 to 10.00. |
B. Blind Assessment and Defect Scoring
-
Methodology: Evaluation is typically undertaken blind—without any prior information about the origin or data relating to the sample—to remove bias.
-
Defects: The process involves starting at perfection and scoring down every defect discovered in the cup.
-
Processing Weakness: This defect-seeking can sometimes cause disparity, as naturally processed (dry) coffees can be unfairly penalised for notes (like a hint of ferment or winey character) that are inherent to their process and often desirable.
Example: Our MyCuppa Colombian Organic Coffee Lot (2016 SCAA Evaluation)
Cupping Score: 85.5
Fragrance / Aroma: 7.75
Flavour: 7.75
Acidity: 8.5
Body: 8.0
Balance: 7.75
3. Understanding Coffee Grades and Market Strategy
The SCAA score directly correlates to a coffee's designation, price, and market availability:
| SCAA Score Range | Grade & Market Positioning |
| 90+ Points | Exceptional/Rare. Only available in small quantities (often referred to as shopping for caviar and diamonds). |
| 83–87 Points | MyCuppa Range. Superior specialty grade. Sourced to exceed the quality of most cafe suppliers. |
| 80–82 Points | Specialty Grade Definition. The generally accepted starting point for true specialty coffee. |
| 77–82 Points | Cafe Supplier Range. Where 65% of volume is typically sourced to balance cost and quality. |
| 74–80 Points | Volume Brands. Sourced by supermarkets and budget retail outlets, driven by margin pressures. |
MyCuppa Commitment: We source our coffees within the 83 to 87-point range (including all our blends), making our range superior to over 80% of cafe suppliers in the Australian market. We maintain this standard because customer expectations are constantly rising.
4. The Risks of Grading in the Market
While standardized scoring is essential, the industry must remain vigilant:
-
Manipulation Risk: There is a growing practice of "score ramping"—using an inflated score to market a coffee and charge a premium based on flawed fundamentals.
-
Supplier Contracts: Cafe suppliers who rely on lock-in, multi-year contracts have greater freedom to use lower-graded coffees or vary their grades according to market price volatility without immediate loss of business.
-
Objective Consensus: Protocols like calibration (multiple qualified cuppers scoring and comparing results) are necessary to arrive at a consensus view, but even professional tasters can disagree due to variances in samples, roasting profile, or brewing procedure.
For us at MyCuppa, our success is tied to our most recent roasting performance. Our trend must always point toward sourcing higher quality to keep customers satisfied and loyal.
