Please read this message from the Board of Directors of the Specialty Coffee Association, following the recent Deferred Candidacy Policy announcement.

Since the November 9 announcement of our Deferred Candidacy policy, the SCA Board of Directors have heard a variety of reactions from our members and other stakeholders. Many have been critical. We have listened to and read your comments, and we recognize that we did not communicate our intention clearly and were not as thoughtful as we should have been to the concerns of members.

For that we apologize. We want to be clear that the policy document is still being written, it is not yet defined in detail, and we are open to discussion and suggestions.

Numerous member-organized, local town hall events have been scheduled in the United States and the United Kingdom to discuss this topic. Members of the SCA Board and the Executive team will join these conversations when invited and we will do our best to provide the maximum level of transparency in how decisions are made.

Board and Executive team members attended three town hall events last week and have accepted invitations from organizers to attend the following events to listen to you and take any questions you may have:

Thursday, November 16*
  • Portland, Oregon: Buckman Coffee Factory, 1105 SE Main St., 7:30pm: Learn more.
  • London, England: Origin Coffee, 65 Charlotte Rd., 7:00pm: Learn more.
Monday, November 20
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Joe Coffee, 1845 Walnut St., 7:00pm: Learn more.
  • Los Angeles, California: Cutie’s Coffee, 710 N. Heliotrope Drive, 7:00pm: Learn more.
  • New York, New York: Counter Culture Coffee, 376 Broome St., 7:00pm: Learn more.
  • Emeryville, California: Counter Culture Coffee, 1329 64th St., 7:00pm: Learn more.
Tuesday, November 21
  • Houston, Texas: A 2nd Cup, 1111 E 11th St., 4:00pm: Learn more.
  • Denver, Colorado: Copper Door Roasters, 900 W. 1st. Ave. #180, 6:00pm: Learn more.
  • Durham, North Carolina: Counter Culture Coffee, 812 Mallard Av., 7:00pm: Learn more.
Thursday, November 30
SCA Webinars

For any members who cannot get to a local town hall event and want to participate in a live dialogue with SCA, we will be hosting interactive town halls online on the following dates. The recordings will be made available in this blog post (see the November 22nd webinar below).

Upcoming Webinar

SCA Town Hall #2: Wednesday, November 29, 7am PST / 3pm GMT: Register here.

Past Webinar

SCA Town Hall #1: Wednesday, November 22, 8am PST / 4pm GMT

The SCA staff and members of the Board will continue collecting your feedback at these meetings and via email (dcpolicy@wce2.flywheelsites.com) so that we can consider all viewpoints as we begin working on the new vetting process for future events.

Thank you for your thoughtful comments and feedback. We look forward to meeting you in person and online.

 

Sincerely,

The Board of Directors of the Specialty Coffee Association

 

Updates
  • November 19: Updated headline to provide more clarity. Added Counter Culture town halls in Emeryville and Durham.
  • November 20: Updated with links to Facebook Events for town halls in Denver and Houston.
  • *November 22: Updated list with November 16th town hall events held by SCA UK Chapter and Portland Coffee Social Club, and attended by SCA representatives, two days prior to the publication of this announcement.
  • November 22: Updated with link to and embedded recording of November 22 webinar.
  • November 23: Added Barista Guild of Europe’s Q&A taking place on November 30.