The
Speciality Coffee Association of Europe SCAE was founded in 1998 in order to create an association composed of coffee quality friends, with a common vision of ‘’a perfect cup of coffee to the consumer.’’ According to SCAE,
Speciality coffee is defined as the art of manufacturing a quality cup of
coffee, which is judged by the consumer to have a unique quality, characteristic taste and personality, better than the common beverages offered. This beverage should consist of
coffee beans which have grown at a designated location and have been processed under the highest quality standards for raw processing,
roasting, storing, and finally the preparation to a beverage. Today
SCAE lists more than 1,000 members in 70 countries. Its members come from all professional areas, producers of raw
coffee, raw
coffee cooperatives, exporters, importers, agencies, media, carriers, shipping companies, warehouses, traders, processing plants and crafts,
coffee shops, cafeterias, baristi, roasting machines manufacturers, espresso and filter machine manufacturers and finally autonomous end consumers. The
SCAE collaborates with many organizations, including governments and other trade organizations worldwide. A powerful lobby that is driven by coffee quality. The SCAE is represented permanently in the International Coffee Organization (ICO). ICO in 1994 left controlling the global coffee trade. After this he has focused on increasing global consumption by, improved quality and assisting the producers with green coffee quality, to increase its value. Besides that, the largest project of ICO is the Gourmet project. Through SCAE members have access to a wide range of educational material, they can attend many educational seminars and speeches and make educational trips to coffee producing countries. The SCAE issues a monthly magazine and organizes exhibitions and tournaments like, World Cup Tasters, World Latte Art, World Coffee and Good Spirits and the World Barista Championship. All that, optimize the professional, so that the market space of real coffee quality, is constantly growing. Nikos Psomas is among the first team that was certified with the SCAE Authorized Trainer and provides specialized training seminars for all the stages of coffee such as green coffee, roasting, blending, cupping, barista skills, grinding, brewing, coffee equipment maintenance. SCAE diplomas like Basic Barista, Barista level 2 and Gold Cup are given by Mokka Training, every month. Also from 2010 Nikos Psomas is the Greek National coordinator.
Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) www.scae.com
International Coffee Organization (ICO) www.ico.org
Founded in 1991, it has been present in major international events related to the specialty coffees. Since 1992, BSCA has attended all Conferences and Shows of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). It has its own booth with a largevariety of Brazilian gourmet coffees, and it organizes lectures and promotional events. Since 1993, the entity is also responsible for organizing meetings in Europe, together with gourmet specialty coffees roasting companies. Representing Brazilian coffees, BSCA has an active participation in congresses and fairs in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Norway. BSCA - Brazil Specialty Coffee Association’s objective is to bring together producers of specialty coffees and to promote Brazilian specialty coffees, also known as gourmet coffees, while stimulating constant technical improvement and more efficient services during their commercialization. BSCA members are companies and individuals directly involved in the production and development of such coffees. BSCA’s purpose is to obtain through research and quality control techniques the standards of excellence of Brazilian coffees offered to the international market. Consider that specialty coffees from Brazil accounts of 40% of the global production. Also specialty coffees from Brazil are the heart of espresso blends and ibrik blends. In these events, it distributes relevant information and promotional samples, as well as it has degustation tests to demonstrate the quality of its member companies’ specialty coffees. while representing Brazilian gourmet coffee producers in the SCAA, in the United States, BSCA became involved in the activities of its operational committees: the International Relations Committee, in which specialty coffee production and its international trade are discussed. BSCA represents Brazilian producers, and is joined by representatives of Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Hawaii, Kenya and Indonesia, and roasting companies and retailers from Europe and the United States; and the Environmental Committee, the main forum to discuss environmental issues, where the entity defends Brazilian specialty coffees producers’ interest and promotes discussions on the coffee industry’s sustainability. BSCA’s activities attracted the attention of roasting companies and importers of the United States, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, France, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Japan, and its representatives attend meetings promoted by BSCA. In addition, BSCA supported the creation of the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), and is present at its events. Today, BSCA is internationally known for its leading edge production of fine coffees, and it is continually promoting Brazilian specialty coffees, distributing promotional materials and samples, and performing coffee degustation tests in Brazil and abroad. Promoting the technical characteristics and quality of different regional types of Brazilian specialty coffees is also one of its priorities. BSCA is always preparing articles for international publications, and lectures delivered by its representatives during their trips abroad. Furthermore, meetings are organized between its member companies, and are usually held in one of their associate members’ farms, to discuss issues related to improving product, harvest and coffee processing. An independent quality control structure certifies the lots that are shipped, an essential procedure to ensure product quality and to preserve BSCA’s image as an entity that represents Brazilian gourmet coffee producers. Mokka is the first Greek company importing specialty coffees directly from BSCA certified farms. Those specialty coffees are primary used for the top sellinf Espresso Fine blend. BSCA organizes regular visits to the Brazilian specialty coffees growing regions of groups of producers, roasters, retailers, i.e., all those involved in activities related to specialty coffee worldwide. The purpose of these trips is to promote Brazilian specialty coffees as well as to exchange experiences, technology improvements and ideas. All this work resulted in the coordination and execution of the Brazilian Gourmet Coffee Project of the International Coffee organization (ICo). This project is being implemented by international consultants in quality and marketing, and it is financed by the Common Fund for Commodities and managed by the International Trade Center, an entity of the world Trade organization (wTo).
