The Q Robusta Grader was a Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) license for grading Robusta coffee. CQI ceased administering the Q program in 2025, and since October 1, 2025 the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has operated the Q Grader program on the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) framework. A legacy certificate remains valid until the expiry date printed on it. To pursue the credential now, you book the SCA Q Grader course: six days, nine assessments — eight practical evaluations and one written exam — all of which must be passed for a license valid three years.
What happened to the Q Robusta Grader credential
The Q Robusta Grader belonged to CQI's Q credentialing framework. In 2025 CQI stopped administering the program and the SCA took it over, rebuilding it around Coffee Value Assessment (CVA).
CQI ceased administering the Q program in 2025. SCA has operated the updated CVA-based Q Grader program since October 1, 2025. Current Q licensing is through SCA, with a changed course structure.
The transition FAQ states that the updated license is not divided by coffee species. This does not establish that every historical Robusta assessment or defect standard remains in the current course.
Official sources: About Us — Coffee Quality Institute — Q Coffee System history and 2025 end of program administration; SCA Korea Q Grader transition FAQ — CQI-to-SCA transition, legacy certificate validity, species coverage
Check your legacy certificate and transition route
A legacy certificate stays valid until its printed expiry; confirm your individual route with SCA.
The SCA transition FAQ confirms that existing Q Grader certificates remain valid until the expiration date stated on them. Check your own certificate for that date before planning anything else.
One historical detail to treat carefully: the transition FAQ offered a fast-track to the upgraded license for people who completed the two-day CVA for Cuppers course by December 31, 2025. That deadline has passed, so it is a historical route, not a current booking option. If your certificate is nearing expiry or you want to move onto the upgraded license, contact the SCA and ask which route applies to your specific certificate and expiry date rather than relying on secondhand transition summaries.
Official sources: SCA Korea Q Grader transition FAQ — CQI-to-SCA transition, legacy certificate validity, species coverage
How the current Q Grader course is assessed
The SCA Q Grader course runs six consecutive days and ends with nine assessments: eight practical evaluations and one written exam. All nine must be passed to earn the license.
All nine assessments must be passed. You get two attempts per assessment during the course. From 2026, a third attempt is available for individual practical exams after the course; this does not establish a third written attempt. Confirm the practical retake deadline and fees with your instructor.
The resulting license is valid for three years. Renewal requires continued professional development rather than repeating the six-day course. The SCA publishes a sample day-by-day schedule, but it is an example of typical course structure, not a guaranteed exam-day assignment.
Official sources: Education - Q Grader — Specialty Coffee Association — Course structure, assessments, license and renewal
The four CVA assessment areas and where Robusta fits
The updated license is not species-specific. Confirm current course materials for the physical assessment of your samples.
CVA distinguishes physical attributes, sensory descriptions, quality impressions and information about origin or processing. The official transition FAQ describes CVA as neutral to species and processing method, while noting that its physical component reflects the earlier 2004 system.
The FAQ’s Robusta and other-species additions were announced as future targets. Do not treat those dates as proof that particular additions have been implemented. Check the current materials and instructor guidance.
Official sources: SCA Korea Q Grader transition FAQ — CQI-to-SCA transition, legacy certificate validity, species coverage
A preparation map for the written exam and eight practicals
SCA's official preparation page names every assessment component and what each tests. Build your study plan around that list rather than around remembered CQI modules.
The written exam focuses mainly on CVA, with cupping procedures including setup covered in detail. SCA recommends reviewing the CVA Protocol, Standards SCA-102, SCA-103 and SCA-104, the CVA forms, and practicing the physical, descriptive, affective and extrinsic assessments on real coffees where you work. Each practical exam has a specific target: conduct during cuppings, accurate green grading, recognizing a correct cupping roast by smell and taste alone, descriptive form use and accuracy, affective form use and consistency, olfactory category recognition, triangulation, and detecting main tastes and their intensities.
One caution on materials: the preparation page points green-grading practice at the SCA Washed Arabica Green Coffee Defect Guide. The retrieved official pages do not name a current Robusta-specific defect standard, so use the published SCA resources and confirm with your instructor what applies to Robusta samples in your course.
Practice exercise
Use SCA’s published comparison table as a paper exercise. A supplied record reaches ground Agtron 63 (about 58 whole bean) in half the reference roast’s normal time. A second supplied record has ground Agtron about 55 (about 45 whole bean). Which named comparison category does each record match? What practical ability does this paper calculation leave untested?
Show answer
The first matches “too fast”; the second matches the “too dark” color reference. The exercise does not test recognition of a correct cupping roast by smell and taste, which the Roasting Problems practical assesses.
SCA’s table defines the fast comparison by its standard roast color reached in half the normal time. It defines the dark comparison by the listed darker color values; it does not prescribe a normal roasting time for that row. Matching a supplied record to these references is a reading task. Develop sensory recognition with instructor-prepared samples and the specified protocol; do not treat the table as machine-operation instructions.
- Written exam: CVA Protocol, Standards SCA-102/103/104, CVA forms.
- Cupping skills: professional conduct during cuppings, referenced to Standard SCA-102.
- Physical assessment: green grading practice with forms, moisture and sieves.
- Roasting problems: recognizing a correct cupping roast by smell and taste.
- Descriptive and affective assessments: form use plus accuracy and consistency.
- Olfactory examples, triangulation, and main taste solutions: blind recognition practice.
| Roast profile | Ground Agtron | Whole-bean Agtron | Roasting time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optimum/standard | 63 | about 58 | normal |
| Too light | about 75 | about 68 | Not specified in the preparation table |
| Too dark | about 55 | about 45 | Not specified in the preparation table |
| Too fast | 63 | about 58 | half the normal time |
| Too slow | 63 | about 58 | twice the normal time |
Official sources: How to Prepare — Specialty Coffee Association — Written exam and eight practical exam preparation sections, roast profile table
Career routes a Q license can support
Compare the current assessment tasks and course experience with the work you want to do.
SCA lists potential roles in coffee quality, buying, sensory work and roasting. If these match your goals, assess your existing experience against the nine course components and ask what practice and feedback are available.
Before booking, confirm the course price, schedule, retake terms and how your legacy history affects enrollment.
Official sources: Education - Q Grader — Specialty Coffee Association — Course structure, assessments, license and renewal; SCA Korea Q Grader transition FAQ — CQI-to-SCA transition, legacy certificate validity, species coverage
Official sources
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