I get it. Change is hard, especially when it affects something you’ve mastered.
But here’s what I’ve discovered after working with both systems: CVA isn’t just different it’s addressing limitations that have been frustrating everyone for years.
The Q Grading system was excellent at what it was designed to do create standardized quality assessment for trade and professional development. But it was never built to connect with consumers or adapt to diverse cultural preferences. That wasn’t its fault that simply wasn’t its job.
Now we have a system that was designed from the ground up for a broader, more inclusive coffee world.
Let me be clear upfront: I 100% understand why Q Graders and especially Q Trainers feel betrayed by this change. That’s real, and those feelings are valid.
I also believe both systems could have coexisted beautifully each shines in different scenarios, and the coffee world is big enough for multiple approaches.
But this article isn’t about industry politics or the transition itself. It’s about something more important: making sure our emotions about CVA as a sensory assessment tool don’t blind us to its genuine potential.
The change is real. The feelings are intense. And the conversation is just getting started.
But here’s what I think: this shift might reveal possibilities we didn’t even know we were missing.
I also believe both systems could have coexisted beautifully each shines in different scenarios, and the coffee world is big enough for multiple approaches.
Here’s what makes CVA revolutionary: it separates what can be measured from what should be celebrated.
The system has two distinct parts working in harmony. First, there’s the objective evaluation measuring the actual intensities and basic characteristics of coffee properties. This part is scientific, measurable, and consistent across cultures. Sweetness intensity is sweetness intensity, whether you’re cupping in Copenhagen or Seoul.
But then comes the magic: the affective hedonistic evaluation. This is where CVA gets exciting and where it welcomes your culture, your philosophy, your personal coffee story into the conversation.
Your subjective experience isn’t a bug to be eliminated. It’s a feature to be celebrated.
Whether you’re a barista discovering your palate, a home brewer passionate about origins, or someone from a culture that values different aspects of coffee than the “traditional” Western approach CVA has space for your perspective. It doesn’t try to homogenize taste; it creates room for the beautiful diversity of how humans experience coffee.
The conversation just got bigger, more honest, and infinitely more interesting.
Your subjective experience isn’t a bug to be eliminated. It’s a feature to be celebrated.
Here’s something that’ll blow your mind: There is no “correct” way coffee should taste.
I know. SHOCKING, right?
All those times you felt embarrassed because you actually enjoyed that funky Ethiopian natural while the coffee cognoscenti wrinkled their noses? You weren’t wrong. They were just… limited.
Your palate is a rebellion against boring conformity.
Maybe you love those wild, fermented flavors that taste like fruit salad had a party with sourdough starter. Maybe you’re drawn to clean, bright acidity that makes your mouth water. Maybe you prefer coffee that tastes like liquid chocolate cake.
Coffee Value Assessment Affective form looks at your preferences and says: “Tell me more.”
Because here’s the truth bomb: Coffee from Korea hits different than coffee from my home town Komarno, Slovakia, and that’s not a bug it’s a feature. Your cultural background, your personal history, your unique neural wiring it all matters. It all counts.
You’re not adapting to coffee. Coffee is finally adapting to you.
Because here’s the truth bomb: Coffee from Korea hits different than coffee from my home town Komarno, Slovakia, and that’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
Quick quiz: What does “84.5 points” mean to you as a non Q grader?
If your answer is “absolutely nothing,” you’re experiencing exactly what the industry has been grappling with. Q scores work brilliantly for their intended purpose trade standards and professional benchmarking, but they were never designed to translate to consumer experience.
Coffee Value Assessment bridges that gap. It doesn’t speak in feelings or fuzzy emotions it speaks HUMAN. And it’s built on the latest sensory science that actually understands how your brain processes taste.
This isn’t touchy feely nonsense. This is cutting edge science meeting real world communication.
Want to know if a coffee will match your preferences? The Coffee Value Assessment translates that using actual research about how humans perceive flavor, not technical specifications meant for commodity trading. Want to find something your Korean friend will love, with all that funky fermentation they’re crazy about? CVA’s backed by science that understands cultural taste preferences aren’t just opinions they’re measurable, predictable patterns.
It’s not replacing professional standards. It’s creating consumer connection.
This isn’t about making coffee evaluation “easier” it’s about making it accessible and scientifically relevant to the people who actually drink the coffee.
It’s not replacing professional standards. It’s creating consumer connection.
Here’s where things get personal (and a little embarrassing).
For years, I handed out coffee scores like a stingy teacher grading on a curve. 84.5 here, 87.25 there never too generous, never too excited. Playing it safe. Playing it “professional.”
The highest score I ever gave as a Q Grader? 93.75. To a coffee from Panama Mount Totumas that I still dream about. Literally. I wake up sometimes thinking about that cup.
But here’s what haunted me: if that life-changing, dream-worthy coffee was “only” 93.75, what would a 100-point coffee even be? What was I saving those extra points for? The coffee gods themselves?
Then Coffee Value Assessment’s Affective form happened.
With CVA you don’t tally up the numbers to get the final score. You evaluate individual attributes like balance, sweetness, acidity etc . Honestly rating what you actually taste. Then you plug those numbers into an online calculator, and the algorithm calculates the final score for you.
It’s completely blind. You have no idea what final number you’re heading toward.
Suddenly, I started scoring coffees I loved at 94, 95, 96 without even realizing it. The calculator showed me something profound: I wasn’t stingy because I had high standards. I was stingy because I was scared of my own enthusiasm.
CVA’s affective evaluation is brilliant at preventing “safe scoring” because you never see the final number coming.
The system made me realize that Mount Totumas coffee? In my heart, it was probably closer to a 99. But my Q Grader conditioning had me playing it safe, holding back, rationing my joy like it was going to run out.
Coffee Value Assessment freed me to score what I actually felt, not what I thought was “appropriate.”
Coffee Value Assessment freed me to score what I actually felt, not what I thought was “appropriate.”
Brace yourself for this one: We’re about to get coffee celebrities, and it’s going to be AMAZING.
Here’s the beautiful part: all of this happens under a unified structure and methodology like the Specialty Coffee Association’s Coffee Value Assessment. We’re not talking about random opinions or Instagram-pretty shots with no substance.
Imagine a world where someone builds a following not because they have the right credentials or passed the right tests, but because they can make you understand why a particular coffee will change your Tuesday morning and they’re doing it using the same systematic approach as everyone else.
They’ll have a TikTok where they cry actual tears over a perfectly balanced Ethiopian. They’ll write newsletters that make you order beans at 2 AM. They’ll make you understand why this specific roast from this specific farm will make you believe in magic again.
And you’ll follow them because they get it. Because they get YOU. And because their evaluations are based on the same scientific methodology you can learn and use yourself.
This isn’t about worship, it’s about connection. About finding your coffee soulmate who happens to have a really good palate, the ability to put feelings into words, and the same evaluation framework that bridges cultures and preferences.
The coffee world is about to have authentic voices with real methodology behind them. Maybe one of those voices is about to be YOU.
The coffee world is about to have authentic voices with real methodology behind them. Maybe one of those voices is about to be YOU.
Here’s what’s happening right now, while you’re reading this:
Someone, somewhere, is discovering that their “basic” coffee preferences actually matter. Someone is realizing they don’t need permission to have opinions about what they drink. Someone is about to fall in love with coffee all over again because they finally found a system that speaks their language.
That someone could be you.
The Coffee Value Assessment isn’t perfect. Nothing is. But it’s honest. It’s inclusive. It’s revolutionary in the most beautiful, messy, human way possible.
The question isn’t whether the CVA will change coffee it already is. The question is: Are you ready to be part of the change?
The question isn’t whether the CVA will change coffee it already is. The question is: Are you ready to be part of the change?
Every great movement starts with someone saying: “This could be different. This could be better.”
Today, that someone is you. Your taste matters.
So here’s your challenge: Taste something new today. Use the Coffee Value Assessment to get a full picture of that coffee. Share what you discover. Connect with someone else who’s figuring this out.
Because the best part about revolutions? They’re a lot more fun when you’re not fighting them alone.
Want to learn SCA Coffee Value Assessment with me? Join one of my courses at Boot Coffee and let’s explore this new world of coffee evaluation together.
Author :
TM CoffeeIs.Me
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