2025 Post Show Recap

HOUSTON, TX – April 28, 2025— This weekend's 2025 Specialty Coffee Expo, North America's premier specialty coffee event, welcomed thousands of coffee professionals from 89 countries to the George R. Brown Convention Center to celebrate innovation, culture, and sustainability. Over three days, the event featured a busy exhibit hall with engaging special events, major partnership announcements, the World Coffee Roasting Championship, a dynamic education program, and much more.

The Show Floor served as a central hub of activity, featuring 659 exhibiting companies, including 135 first-time participants, presenting the latest advancements in brewing technology, sustainable solutions, and emerging industry trends. Specialty Coffee Expo was supported by Title Sponsor Middleby Coffee Solutions Group, alongside Diamond Sponsor Sanremo Coffee Machines, Platinum Sponsor Pacific Barista Series, and Official Equipment Sponsors GH Grinding & Brewing Solutions and Pentair Everpure. This year’s program honored Peru as the Portrait Country, celebrating its rich coffee-growing heritage and commitment to quality and sustainability through cultural activations and a dedicated pop-up café. Together, these highlights provided a dynamic platform for innovation, collaboration, and the continued advancement of the global specialty coffee community.

This year’s Specialty Coffee Expo was marked by key announcements that will help shape the future of specialty coffee, including:

• The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding to advance specialty coffee traceability, enhance value differentiation, and strengthen the global recognition of Colombian coffees. With this signing, Colombia became the first producing country to officially adopt the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) as the way to define specialty coffee standards. For the first time, producers are collectively communicating how their coffees should be evaluated giving both producers and buyers a more transparent, aligned system that reflects the true diversity and value of Colombian coffees.

• The SCA and Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) announced a historic partnership to evolve the Q Grader Program— which will now be the first and only licensing program built on the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA). This new program offers globally recognized credentials for cuppers and assessors, practical, research-informed training, and a complete approach to evaluating coffee beyond just flavor. This evolution reflects a major step forward in supporting coffee professionals, producers, and the future of the industry through a common language for quality evaluation.

• Building on this collaboration between SCA and CQI, it was announced during CQI’s 25th Annual Luncheon that SCA has committed to a new grant agreement to support CQI’s development work. Under this agreement, the SCA will contribute a percentage of its annual education revenues to CQI’s Development Fund, helping sustain and expand CQI’s initiatives to improve coffee quality and producer livelihoods in coffee-growing communities.

Specialty Coffee Expo also highlighted a range of activities that showcased innovation and collaboration across the industry:

• World Coffee Roasting Championships: Twenty-three competitors from around the world demonstrated their roasting expertise, with Mikaël Portannier of France awarded first place. Read Press Release Announcing the Winners of the World Coffee Roasting Championship.

• Best New Product Awards and Coffee Design Awards: Recognizing outstanding innovations in equipment, accessories, and branding shaping the future of specialty coffee.

• The Cupping Exchange: Offering opportunities for tasters and traders to explore standout coffees from Peru, Kenya, Brazil, and other origins.
  Education Program: Featuring 208 presenters across 177 hours of workshops, lectures, and sessions, along with 20 coffee research projects presented by the Coffee Science Foundation.

• Roaster Village: A vibrant marketplace where attendees connected with pioneering roasters and explored unique coffees.
  Sustainability Initiatives: Reinforcing SCA’s commitment to offset greenhouse gas emissions from 2025 events through agroforestry and forest restoration projects, a native tree-planting project, made possible by Barista Attitude and Pacific Barista Series, was initiated in Burundi via Sucafina and the Kahawatu Foundation.

• Green Coffee Connect: Now in its second year, Green Coffee Connect moved onto the main show floor to offer education, support, and networking opportunities to buyers and sellers of green coffee in an accessible, visible, and complimentary program driven by the principles of equitable value distribution. Barista Attitude proudly supported this feature.

For photos of the competitions, award winners, and event highlights, click here.

The success of Expo was made possible by the contributions of 340 volunteers representing 18 countries, who helped create a welcoming and energetic environment throughout the event. The SCA wishes to acknowledge their contribution with sincere gratitude and appreciation from the entire organization and events team as this event could not have been possible without their generosity.

Plans are already underway for the newly rebranded World of Coffee San Diego, taking place April 10-12, 2026. Exhibitor booking is now open, and interested companies are encouraged to contact the SCA at exhibit@sca.coffee to secure booth space. For sponsorship and partnership opportunities, please reach out to sponsorships@sca.coffee.