SCA Brewing Professional covers advanced techniques, water chemistry and custom recipes in 21 hours of course learning. You need the Intermediate certificate in Brewing. Use this guide to review key measurement concepts and plan supervised practice across all three topics.
What the Professional brewing level covers
CSP Brewing is one of five specialist areas in the SCA's coffee skills program, and Professional is its highest of three levels, focused on advanced techniques, water chemistry and recipe design.
Professional is the third level in the Brewing module. The hours below describe course learning time, not assessment duration.
| Level | Course hours | Published learning topics |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 7 | Use brewing equipment correctly, follow standard recipes, understand extraction basics |
| Intermediate | 14 | Adjust recipes for flavor, measure strength and extraction, work across multiple brewing methods |
| Professional | 21 | Apply advanced brewing techniques, control water chemistry, develop custom brew recipes |
Sources: Education - Courses — Specialty Coffee Association — Brewing course cards; course pricing; SCA Café Diploma: current required courses and levels — CSP Brewing course group
Prerequisite, delivery and assessment
The Professional course requires the Intermediate brewing certificate, runs in person or as a blend of in-person and distance learning, and ends in practical and written assessments.
The current Café Diploma portal requires the Intermediate Certificate in CSP Brewing. Delivery is in person or combines in-person and distance learning.
SCA describes practical and written assessments for its course certificates. The pages reviewed here do not give this module’s question count, timings, passing scores or retake rules. Confirm those arrangements and equipment access with an Authorized SCA Trainer (AST).
Sources: SCA Café Diploma: current required courses and levels — CSP Brewing course group; Education - Courses — Specialty Coffee Association — Brewing course cards; course pricing; Education - Diplomas — Specialty Coffee Association — How to earn your SCA Diploma
How course pricing works
The trainer sets the course price, which bundles tuition with an SCA enrollment fee that varies by pricing group.
When you enroll, the course price is set by the trainer, not the SCA. The total combines the trainer's fee for tuition, materials and delivery with an SCA course enrollment fee — a smaller portion of the total that depends on your pricing group.
The trainer may or may not cover that SCA fee. Ask for an itemized quote so you know what each component costs before you commit, rather than assuming any single published figure applies to your region.
Sources: Education - Courses — Specialty Coffee Association — Brewing course cards; course pricing
Strength and extraction: two measurements to keep separate
TDS measures beverage concentration. Extraction yield compares the extracted coffee with the starting grounds.
Total dissolved solids (TDS), expressed as a mass percentage, describes the concentration of dissolved material in the beverage. Extraction yield describes the fraction of the starting grounds that dissolved into liquid. A dose-and-output ratio alone does not measure either quantity.
Label your recipe convention. Brewing-water measurements differ from collected-beverage measurements. For example, 1,000 g water per 60 g coffee is about 16.7:1 water to coffee; 36 g beverage from an 18 g dose is 1:2 dose to beverage. These are examples, not universal course targets.
Multiplying beverage mass by its dissolved-coffee concentration gives the dissolved coffee mass in that beverage. Dividing it by dry dose gives the share of the dose recovered in the collected drink. That calculation does not include dissolved material in liquid retained with the grounds.
Sources: Water and Coffee Acidity: How to Adapt Your Water for Different Extraction Methods - 25 Magazine, Issue 9 — Specialty Coffee Association — Let’s return to water; An equilibrium desorption model for the strength and extraction yield of full immersion brewed coffee | Scientific Reports — Because of this complexity
Water chemistry: distinguish pH from alkalinity
A pH result alone does not describe how strongly water resists a change in pH.
SCA’s water discussion distinguishes the water’s current pH from alkalinity, which provides information about its resistance to change. Two records that report only pH do not establish equal alkalinity.
As a study task, label pH and alkalinity separately on a water report supplied by your trainer. Identify which measurement is missing before comparing waters. Use the course’s equipment instructions and current water specifications for practical work; this concept does not supply a mineral-dosing recipe.
The brewing control chart and its limits
Keep measured results, sensory descriptions and preferences distinct when using a brewing chart.
SCA’s discussion of the classic chart questions its narrow taste labels and single “ideal” region. The discussion is historical commentary, not proof of the chart edition or numerical targets used in your current course.
For practice, describe what your measurements establish, then add a separate tasting record. Ask the trainer which chart and measurement procedure you will use; do not memorize a numerical boundary as a guarantee of taste.
Worked exercise: dilution, strength and extraction
Calculate dissolved coffee recovered in the beverage, then see how dilution changes concentration.
This original exercise uses a finished beverage separated from its grounds. Its concentration represents dissolved coffee material by mass. Assume the added water contains no dissolved solids and mixing causes no spillage, evaporation, precipitation or further extraction.
Practice exercise
A 20 g dry dose produces 300 g of collected beverage containing 1.30% dissolved coffee material by mass. Calculate (a) the dissolved coffee mass in the beverage, (b) that mass as a percentage of the starting dose, and (c) the new concentration after adding 50 g of solids-free water. Does the dilution extract more coffee from the absent grounds?
Show answer
(a) 3.9 g. (b) 19.5% of the starting dose is recovered as dissolved material in this beverage. (c) About 1.11% after dilution. Adding water extracts no more coffee.
300 × 0.013 = 3.9 g; 3.9 ÷ 20 × 100 = 19.5%. This is the portion recovered in the collected beverage, not a complete accounting of material retained with the grounds. After dilution, the same 3.9 g is present in 350 g: 3.9 ÷ 350 × 100 ≈ 1.11%. The amount already extracted is unchanged because the grounds are absent. These measurements do not determine whether the drink tastes better.
Prepare across all three Professional topics
Give advanced methods, water chemistry and custom recipes separate space in your preparation.
These are study suggestions based on the published topics. Discuss any unfamiliar skill and available supervised practice with your trainer.
- Advanced techniques: select a method taught by your trainer, document its process and review your results against the task’s stated aim.
- Water chemistry: interpret the pH and alkalinity fields in a supplied report and identify missing information.
- Custom recipes: record input water, dry dose, beverage output and tasting results separately; explain your proposed change and check its actual effect.
- Assessment preparation: confirm the format, criteria, retake terms and complete price before booking.
Sources: Education - Courses — Specialty Coffee Association — Brewing course cards; course pricing; SCA Café Diploma: current required courses and levels — CSP Brewing course group
Sources
Facts checked:
- Education - Courses — Specialty Coffee Association
- SCA Café Diploma: current required courses and levels
- Education - Diplomas — Specialty Coffee Association
- Towards a New Brewing Chart (25 Magazine, Issue 13)
- An equilibrium desorption model for the strength and extraction yield of full immersion brewed coffee | Scientific Reports
- Water and Coffee Acidity: How to Adapt Your Water for Different Extraction Methods - 25 Magazine, Issue 9 — Specialty Coffee Association