SCAA vs. SCA: What Happened to the Specialty Coffee Association of America?

The timeline

Year	Event
1974	Erna Knutsen coins the term “specialty coffee” in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal (SCA).
1982	The SCAA is established by a small group of coffee professionals (SCA).
1995	The SCAA publishes the Agtron-based Coffee Roast Classification System (UC Davis Library).
1998	The SCAE forms in London (SCA).
2004	The SCAA releases the 100-point cupping form used for two decades (Royal Coffee).
Jan. 2017	SCAA and SCAE become one organization: the SCA (UC Davis Library).

Why people still search “SCAA”

Many guides, reviews and product listings written before 2017 still say SCAA. You’ll see it in:

• “SCAA-certified” coffee makers. Some older listings still use the label. Today the correct term is SCA Certified, and you should check the SCA’s current certification list rather than trust an old product page.
• The SCAA cupping form. The 2004 form, with ten attributes and an 80-point specialty line, is still widely used in trade even after the SCA introduced the newer Coffee Value Assessment (Royal Coffee).
• The “Golden Cup” standard. It was developed under the SCAA’s predecessor standards and is now maintained by the SCA (Moccamaster).
• Roast color tiles. The SCAA/Agtron color classification is the basis for the roast-color references still used today. Even the SCA’s current brewer-testing standard specifies a roast level on the SCA/Agtron tiles (SCA Standard 310).

What changed after the merger

1. One set of standards replaced two regional ones.
2. Guilds merged. The Roasters Guild and its European counterpart combined into the Coffee Roasters Guild, and the Barista Guild was unified in 2018 (Perfect Daily Grind).
3. The expo changed names. The North American trade show, the Specialty Coffee Expo, was rebranded as World of Coffee in 2026 (World of Coffee USA). See From Specialty Coffee Expo to World of Coffee.
4. The Q program moved. In April 2025 the Coffee Quality Institute sold the Q certificate licensing rights to the SCA (Royal Coffee).

Don’t confuse these acronyms

• SCA: Specialty Coffee Association (global).
• SCAA / SCAE: the pre-2017 American and European associations.
• CQI: Coffee Quality Institute, a separate non-profit that trained Q Graders for years.
• BSCA: Brazil Specialty Coffee Association, a national organization.

For the current organization, read Specialty Coffee Association (SCA): What It Is and Why It Matters.

Reading old pages that say “coffee SCAA”

Older reviews, product pages and forum posts often say coffee SCAA or SCAA specialty coffee when they mean the standards of the SCAA, the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Treat those as historical references: the 2004 cupping form, the Golden Cup and the roast-color tiles all began under that name. For anything you plan to rely on today, such as a brewer certification, check the SCA’s current materials instead of an archived page.

Frequently asked questions

Is SCAA the same as SCA?

SCA is the successor to SCAA. The name changed when it merged with the European association in 2017.

Is “SCAA certified” still valid?

The SCAA brand no longer exists. A product that still says SCAA may have been certified years ago, so verify against the SCA’s current list.

When was the SCAA founded?

1982.

Is the 80-point rule still used?

Yes, widely as trade shorthand, although the SCA’s current definition of specialty coffee doesn’t set a fixed numerical cutoff (Open Exam Prep). See What Is Specialty Coffee?.

What does “coffee SCAA” mean?

It refers to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, which became the SCA in 2017. Older pages still use the name.

Is SCAA specialty coffee association of america the same as the SCA?

Yes, in the sense that the SCA is its successor, formed after the 2017 merger with the European association.

Sources

• SCA – About and SCA – History
• SCA – Celebrating Erna Knutsen’s Specialty Coffee
• UC Davis Library – SCAA collection and SCA records
• Royal Coffee – Scoring Specialty Coffee and CQI/SCA change
• SCA Standard 310 (2021)
• Perfect Daily Grind – Guilds
• Moccamaster – SCA certification and the Golden Cup
• World of Coffee USA – San Diego 2026
• Open Exam Prep – SCA-102 and the CVA