A Q-Grader sits at a table with five identical bowls in front of her. She does not know where the coffee came from. She does not know the producer, the country, the processing method, or the price. She knows only what her nose and palate tell her. After twenty minutes of standardized evaluation, she writes a number. That number decides whether a coffee qualifies as specialty or stays in the commercial category.
The SCA score is the only objective line between the two. It is not a self-assigned label, not the producer's opinion, and not a marketing distinction. It is a score given blind, after an international protocol, by a certified evaluator, across ten criteria measured independently.
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- Specialty means at least 80 SCA points in a standardized evaluation, not a marketing term.
- The evaluation is blind: the Q-Grader does not know the origin, producer, or price of the coffee.
- Ten criteria are scored separately, from fragrance to clean cup. Defects are subtracted from the final score.
- Score bands: 80-84 Very Good, 85-89 Excellent, 90+ Outstanding. Below 80 is commercial coffee.
- boabe.ro selects only lots scoring at least 82 points, a stricter threshold than the SCA minimum.
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Browse all coffeesWhat SCA is and why the organization matters
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is the international organization that sets quality standards for the specialty coffee industry. It took its current form in 2017, from the merger of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (founded in 1982) and the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe.
SCA is not a paid certification agency for producers. It establishes technical protocols: how water temperature is measured during cupping, how finely a sample is ground, how long it steeps, how long each cup is evaluated. These protocols are applied uniformly by certified Q-Graders, regardless of country or context.
The SCA score became the industry reference because it is reproducible. A lot evaluated by a Q-Grader in Ethiopia and re-evaluated by a different Q-Grader in Romania should receive close scores. The permitted deviation between certified evaluators is a maximum of 3 points for them to be considered calibrated.
How a cupping session works
The SCA cupping protocol is precise. A lot is evaluated across five identical bowls, prepared simultaneously from the same sample, following the same grinding, weight, and water temperature specifications.
Evaluation happens in two distinct stages. First: the aroma of the dry ground coffee (fragrance) and the aroma of the extraction after adding water at 93 degrees Celsius (aroma). Second: evaluation of the liquid after the Q-Grader breaks the crust that forms on the surface, by which point the coffee has cooled to optimal tasting temperature.
The entire process is blind. The Q-Grader has no access to lot information before writing the score. Origin, producer, processing, and price are revealed after evaluation. This is the condition that makes the score credible: it cannot be influenced by a farm's reputation or price-based expectations.
The ten evaluation criteria
Coffee is evaluated across ten attributes, each scored on a scale from 6 to 10 in increments of 0.25. The maximum total score is 100, from which defects found across the five bowls are subtracted.
The ten SCA cupping criteria
| Criterion | What it evaluates | Max score |
|---|---|---|
| Fragrance | Aroma of ground coffee dry, before water is added | 10 |
| Aroma | Smell of the fresh extraction after adding water at 93C | 10 |
| Flavor | Complete taste of the liquid: sweetness, acidity, complexity | 10 |
| Aftertaste | Length and quality of the taste remaining after swallowing | 10 |
| Acidity | Quality of acidity: whether it is bright and pleasant or harsh and aggressive | 10 |
| Body | Texture and weight of the liquid in the mouth: thin, medium, creamy | 10 |
| Balance | How all attributes work together without any one dominating | 10 |
| Uniformity | Consistency across the five bowls of the same lot | 10 |
| Clean Cup | Absence of any off-flavor or defect in any of the five bowls | 10 |
| Sweetness | Quality of natural sweetness, without added sugar | 10 |
An Overall attribute is added, in which the Q-Grader notes the holistic impression of the coffee, independent of the individual criteria.
Defects are subtracted at the end. A Category 1 defect (a minor off-taste not definitively attributed to a processing defect) deducts 2 points per affected bowl. A Category 2 defect (a clearly unwanted flavor: fermented, mold, rubber, grassy) deducts 4 points per bowl. A coffee with two bowls carrying a Category 2 defect loses 8 points from the raw score, which automatically removes it from the specialty category.
What each score band means
SCA defines four bands for evaluated coffee:
Below 80 points: commercial coffee. This is the category that covers the majority of coffee sold globally. It does not necessarily mean bad or unsafe coffee, but it means defects, lack of uniformity, or weak profiles prevented it from reaching the specialty threshold.
80-84 points: Very Good. The entry point into specialty. A coffee in this band is clean, distinct, and free of major defects. The flavor profile is clear and reproducible, but without exceptional complexity or intensity.
85-89 points: Excellent. Coffees in this band have markedly more expressive characteristics: bright and well-integrated acidity, a long finish, distinct and recognizable flavor notes. They represent a smaller share of global specialty production.
90 points and above: Outstanding. Rare. Evaluated as exceptional worldwide. At major international competitions, few lots per year reach and exceed this score. A coffee at 92 points with a limited run of a few bags quickly reaches a price that puts it outside everyday consumption.
These bands are not arbitrary. They reflect perceptible differences in the cup for anyone who has learned to pay attention. The difference between 79 and 81 points may seem small on paper, but in evaluation it means the aroma is more expressive, the acidity is cleaner, or the finish is more clearly defined.
Q-Grader: who assigns the score and why it is objective
Q-Grader is the title awarded by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), a nonprofit organization affiliated with SCA. Earning the title requires passing 22 separate exams, which test sensory ability, knowledge of cupping protocols, and the ability to calibrate scores with other evaluators.
The program includes aroma discrimination tests, defect identification in blind bowls, blind cupping of coffees with known scores, and verification of calibration against a reference set. It is not an online course with a certificate at the end.
Certification must be renewed every three years through a recalibration session. This ensures that a Q-Grader from 2020 and one from 2026 operate from the same reference point.
The practical consequence: when a lot is marked as evaluated by a Q-Grader at 84 points, the information is traceable. You know who evaluated it, when, and with what result. It is not the seller's opinion.
Why boabe.ro sets the bar at 82 points
The SCA threshold of 80 points is the lower limit of specialty. A coffee at 80.25 points is technically specialty. In practice, the 80-81 band is the closest to the border with commercial coffee. The profile is clean, without major defects, but without clearly distinct characteristics.
boabe.ro selects only lots scoring at least 82 points, evaluated and documented by a Q-Grader at lot level. The chosen threshold is not arbitrary: at 82 points, the cup experience is already perceptibly different from ordinary commercial coffee. The acidity is cleaner, the finish is clearer, the flavor profile is more distinct and more stable across preparations.
The difference between 80 and 82 may seem small numerically. In the cup, it means a coffee does not just pass the test, but has something to say after passing it. The complete selection criteria are on the about page.
How to use the score when choosing coffee
The SCA score does not need to be the first thing you look for on a bag. It is more useful as a baseline filter than as a selection guide. Two coffees with the same score can be completely different in the cup, because the score measures quality, not flavor profile.
What you can do with this information:
When a producer or retailer says "specialty" without mentioning any score or evaluator, ask. The term is not legally protected in Romania. Anyone can use "specialty" on packaging. An SCA score confirmed by a Q-Grader is verifiable. A claim without a basis is not.
When choosing between two coffees at a similar price, a score difference of 3-4 points within the 80-85 band does not guarantee a perceptible difference in the cup. Flavor profile, processing, and origin are more useful information for daily selection.
When you want to explore more complex profiles, coffees scoring 85+ are the starting point. Not all are accessible in price, but when available, the difference from the 80-84 band is usually perceptible even for a recently trained palate.
The full boabe.ro catalogue is organized by flavor profile and intensity, with all lots at a minimum of 82 points. You can filter by origin, processing, or category on the coffee page.
If you want to understand the broader context of the SCA score in relation to what you find on a specialty coffee bag, the article on what specialty coffee is covers traceability, processing, and roasting as a whole.
