New Cupping Lab
As most of you know, Doma Coffee Company is a member of Cooperative Coffees, a North American coffee buying group that focuses on fairly traded coffees, organic and direct relationships with the farmers. By direct I mean that each member of the Coop is required to go to origin at least once a year and work with our growers on different levels. Sometimes we spend the whole time cupping coffees, other times we’ll focus on roasting and if we’re really lucky we’ll spend a lot of time at the farms participating in what they do best – which is growing great coffee. Drinking beer and sharing a great meal at the end of the day is just a bonus.
More recently the Coop has been working on a SCAA certified cupping lab. As VP of the board of directors, I would like to take the credit for putting this together. I can’t. Thanks to the hard work of Monika, all members of the Coop and more importantly all customers will benefit. I’ve listed our certificate below and we’ll be posting more information a bit later.
The Coopérative de Solidarité du Café Équitable (CoopSol), in partnership with Cooperative
Coffees and Coffee Lab International, is proud to announce its recent certification of the Labo Equitable Montreal as Canada’s first SCAA accredited training laboratory for cupping and quality control.“Under the careful tutelage of Mane Alves, Master Roaster and renowned Quality Control/ Cupping Trainer, we have been able to develop a space that is unique in Canada – bridging the concepts of equitable trade and the professional skills of quality control and high-level cupping,” says CoopSol Manager Monika Firl. “Making this experience available to the broadest possible population – through exchange and formal courses – also strengthens our mission as Fair Traders directly engaged in the development of our cooperative members, partners and the quality savvy, consuming public.”
The Labo Equitable is responsible for sample testing for import approval or refusal of Cooperative Coffees members’ contracts and for non-member sales, quality profile evaluation from regions across the coffee growing world, and the facilitation of information exchange and learning amongst a broad sector of the Specialty Coffee industry, coffee producing partners, and the consuming public at large.
And now, as an SCAA certified learning lab, we can offer specialized courses to help new-comers to the world of Specialty Coffee in demystifying the building blocks of quality; and for seasoned coffee traders and roasters looking to improve their skills and / or qualify, to join the ranks of SCAA Cupping Judges or Q Graders, based upon industry-recognized standards.
Located in Montréal, a city renowned as an international crossroads in North America, we can also offer multi-lingual instruction (French, English, Spanish and/or Portuguese) - as well as a rich cultural experience. Our next Q Grader and SCAA Cupping Judge class is scheduled to take place August 28 to September 3, 2010. Spaces are limited – so don’t wait to reserve your seat at the cupping table!