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Looks like you're located outside the continental United States!
While we can't ship Royal NY Line Up boxes to you through our website, your coffee trader will be happy to help place your order and secure the best shipping rates for you.
In 2025, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) announced major changes to their training and certification programs. The biggest change: the Q Grader coffee course. To answer some of your questions and concerns, we put together an updated Q&A. This is designed to help you understand what happened and how to move forward with confidence.
What exactly changed?
As of October 2025, the SCA officially took over management of the Q Grader program from the CQI. With this update, SCA’s Evolved Q Grader certification using the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) framework replaced the CQI Q grader program that used the 2004 CQI cupping form.
Why were these changes made?
CQI & SCA stated that they partnered because they believe they can do more for coffee together. According to the CQI website, “CQI and SCA are working together to evolve the Q because we believe we can better serve the coffee industry through complementary roles, with SCA leading on quality evaluation and CQI leading in post-harvest processing education.”
With these changes, our focus at Royal New York and CoLabOps is to help you move forward with the most accurate and up-to-date information.
What is the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA)?
The Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) is SCA’s sensory evaluation framework that they designed to replace the traditional 100-point cupping form introduced in 2004. The goal of the CVA form is to help you identify what coffee works best for you. At a glance, it appears similar to the ’04 card, as you are still grading fragrance, aroma, flavor, etc. But there’s a catch: the numerical scores are actually based on how well that particular sample suits your needs.
What does this mean for the Q Grader Certification?
For coffee professionals that are aspiring Q Graders, certification now takes place entirely through the SCA’s Evolved Q framework using the CVA.
For existing Q Graders certified under the former CQI system, the original certification remains widely recognized throughout the coffee industry. However, many professionals are now choosing to pursue additional CVA training in order to align with the updated SCA standards and evaluation protocols.
Because the industry is still adapting to the new framework, many importers, roasters, educators, and producers are currently operating with a mix of legacy Q methodologies and newer CVA-based evaluation systems.
What happens to my existing CQI Q Grader license?
If you calibrated before October 1, 2025, then your license will remain valid for 3 years from your calibration date. Once it expires, you’ll need to complete the full evolved Q course through SCA to maintain your certification.
What courses are currently scheduled at the RNY Lab?
The Q Grader course is a six-day intensive and assesses a learner’s readiness to evaluate coffee in a professional setting. Rooted in the Coffee Value Assessment, the curriculum is designed to allow experienced coffee professionals to demonstrate their ability to evaluate coffee by its physical, descriptive, affective, and extrinsic attributes.
We understand how disorienting changes like this may feel. If you have questions, concerns, or need help determining next steps, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our team is committed to supporting you during this transition.
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