For twenty years, the 2004 cupping form profoundly shaped the specialty coffee world.

But on the hillsides of coffee farms, some of the form’s byproducts have been disadvantaging producers.

In this episode, we follow two producers whose lives collided with the myth of universal quality. These stories reveal how a single idea of “quality” can close doors for the people with the least power in the supply chain.

The new coffee evaluation form, the CVA, is still young, and with any luck it will keep evolving. I hope for a form that can empower even the smallest producers.

Please support my work directly at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

Other ways you can help:

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story Write a review on Apple Podcasts

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Go deeper into the story of quality:

The original Filter Stories episode about Murray Cooper in Ecuador, Firefly

Specialty Coffee Association's new Coffee Value Assessment

2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America

SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011)

Kenneth Liberman's book, "Tasting Coffee: An Inquiry into Objectivity"

SCA's video series on the CVA presented by Peter Giuliano

If you ask two specialty professionals what makes a high-quality coffee, you’ll likely get a surprisingly consistent answer: clean, sweet, juicy, bright. To an outsider, they would be forgiven for thinking coffee quality is universally defined.

But the truth is more sober.

In this episode, we examine how a simple cupping form helped create a universal idea of quality. We then look at the evidence that, in fact, it’s just the personal preferences of a small group of people masquerading as universal quality.

Please support my work directly at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

Other ways you can help:

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story Write a review on Apple Podcasts

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter

Go deeper into the story of quality:

2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America

SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011)

Cup of Excellence cupping form

Kenneth Liberman's book, "Tasting Coffee: An Inquiry into Objectivity"

SCA's video series on the CVA presented by Peter Giuliano

For the longest time, coffees were dull and bitter. But then a small group of pioneers changed the world.

In this episode, we travel back to the 1960s and ’70s to meet the trailblazers who realised coffees could taste distinctive: sweeter, brighter, cleaner.

We discover how their personal preferences became a movement, then a form, and eventually a global definition of “quality”.

Please support my work directly at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories

Other ways you can help:

Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify Follow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram story Write a review on Apple Podcasts

Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter

Go deeper into the story of quality:

Specialty Coffee Association's new Coffee Value Assessment

2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America

SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011)

Michael Sheridan of CQI discussing the inter-organisational politics behind the Houston Expo announcement on Lee Safar's Map It Forward podcast