Using the Coffee Value Assessment - a Workshop for Experienced Cuppers
Workshop Description: The SCA Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) is a tool developed as a universal system of evaluating and documenting coffee quality, and is the most widely used quality evaluation system in the Specialty Coffee industry. The CVA is an evolution of previous cupping systems, like the 2004 SCA Cupping Protocol, but it integrates current sensory science, economics, evolved techniques, and current coffee market dynamics. This 3-hour course will orient experienced cuppers to the system, teach proper use of the CVA, and explore how the CVA can be adapted for use across a variety of business environments.
Learning objectives:
1. Understand the purpose and design of the Physical, Descriptive, Affective, and Extrinsic Assessments of the CVA.
2. Perform a coffee assessment using all four elements.
3. Understand how to use tools like aroma examples and triangulations to improve skills.
4. Learn how to adapt CVA to specific business environments such as the roasting company, the coffee trader, the coffee exporter, etc.
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Room Number: 30 DE
Category: Cupping
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
*Early Bird pricing ends March 1, 2026
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Peter Giuliano
Senior Advisor of Science Communication and Engagement Strategy
Peter Giuliano is the Senior Advisor of Science Communication and Engagement Strategy for the SCA. With 35 years of experience in the coffee trade, he focuses on supporting, promoting, and communicating scientific and economic research that benefits the entire coffee industry.
Filter Builders: An Ion Exchange Lego Lab
Workshop Description: Snap into water chemistry with this hands-on workshop where we explore the compounds and ions commonly found in water—like calcium, magnesium, and sodium. Piece-by-piece, learners will see how minerals move through filters like ion exchange cartridges. We will also talk about why the coffee industry wants to manage minerals in water that is already safe to drink. Whether you are a technician, barista, or just curious about what’s happening inside your water filter, this session helps build clarity—literally. Come ready to stack knowledge and connect the dots on how filters manage minerals.
Following this workshop, attendees should be able to:
1. Identify compounds typically found in tap water
2. Define and list components that contribute to the total hardness of a water
3. Define and list components that contribute to the temporary hardness of water
4. Define and list components that contribute to alkalinity
5. Describe what happens inside of an ion exchange water filter cartridge
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Room Number: 30 C
Category: Science
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
*Early Bird pricing ends March 1, 2026
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Ben Helt
Technical Training Director
Ben Helt has worked in specialty coffee for more than 20 years, with experience spanning roasting, café ownership, and global coffee education. He’s known for making technical and sensory concepts approachable. Ben had a front-row seat to the development of the SCA Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) and has delivered CVA courses to international audiences, helping cuppers and educators engage the system with confidence and clarity. He previously led the Authorized SCA Trainer Program, supporting a worldwide network of educators. Today, Ben brings his expertise to water quality as the Technical Training Director for BWT Water & More US, helping coffee professionals optimize one of coffee?s most essential ingredients.
Intentional Blending: Designing Flavor with Purpose
Workshop Description: Blending is both an art and a science, and intentional design is key to achieving flavor, balance, and consistency. This workshop teaches roasters how to craft blends with clear sensory goals using component tasting, roast-level experimentation, and iterative cupping feedback. Participants explore how origin, variety, and roast interact to influence sweetness, acidity, body, and clarity. Emphasis is placed on co-discovery, allowing participants to hypothesize, test, and refine blends collaboratively. The workshop also incorporates storytelling, helping participants translate blend design into concise narratives for café teams and consumers. Attendees leave with repeatable frameworks, tasting skills, and practical storytelling tools to create blends that are purposeful, repeatable, and memorable.
Learning Objectives:
1. Evaluate individual component coffees for sensory contribution.
2. Adjust roast levels to optimize blend balance, body, and flavor clarity.
3. Co-create blends collaboratively using iterative, sensory-driven experimentation.
4. Use cupping and sensory feedback to refine blend outcomes.
5. Craft concise, engaging narratives explaining blend intention, flavor goals, and origin context.
6. Apply repeatable frameworks for signature, seasonal, or menu-specific blends.
Date: Sunday, April 12, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Room Number: 31 C
Category: Cupping
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Ashley Whelan
Director of Coffee
Ashley Whelan is a coffee educator and operator with experience developing training programs, multi-sensory teaching tools, and flavor communication frameworks for café teams, roasteries, and competition-level baristas. Ashley integrates operational knowledge, sensory science, and creative pedagogy to make coffee education accessible, memorable, and grounded in real café practice.
Beyond the Resume: Interviewing for Values in Specialty Coffee
Workshop Description: In today’s coffee industry, hiring for a cafe or roastery goes far beyond determining whether a candidate can execute the technical requirements of the job. Across the specialty coffee industry, leaders are recognizing that the skills that matter most: hospitality, problem-solving, curiosity, teamwork, and alignment with company values, are rarely revealed by traditional interviews. This session will explore a structured approach to interviewing that helps employers identify not just who can do the job, but who will elevate the team, represent the brand, and grow with the company.
We will discuss how to translate company values into interview questions, how to assess behavioral responses to real-life scenarios, and how to build a consistent, equitable interview structure that reduces bias and leads to stronger hires. By shifting interview focus from task capability to values alignment, you can improve retention, engagement, and strengthen workplace culture.
Learning Objectives:
1. Distinguishing the difference between hiring for technical skills and hiring for values, and understanding the role each plays in long-term retention and team stability.
2. How to design and apply values-based interview questions that reveal motivation, interpersonal abilities, and alignment with company culture.
3. Understanding how structured interviewing and consistent evaluation practices can reduce bias and improve hiring effectiveness across all teams in your business.
Date: Sunday, April 12, 2026
Time: 12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Room Number: 30 C
Category: Business
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Richelle Taylor
Richelle Taylor is the Director of Operations at Olympia Coffee, bringing over a decade of experience across both front and back of house in the coffee industry. A systems thinker and passionate team builder, she has worked with countless teams to strengthen operations, improve collaboration, and drive meaningful change. Her work has supported impactful initiatives, including B Corp certification, Living Wage practices, and Fair for All programs. Known for her thoughtful leadership and people-first approach, Richelle is dedicated to building resilient teams and sustainable systems that elevate both the employee and guest experience.
Recognizing Freshness, Staleness, and Age in Roasted and Green Coffee
Workshop Description: What does freshness in coffee taste like? What causes green coffee to age prematurely? How should you store your beans for optimal shelf life?
This workshop explores what coffee freshness truly means, how it’s impacted, and practical ways to preserve it. Led by Chris Kornman and Isabella Vitaliano from the Crown’s Research Team, participants will engage in guided tastings of both fresh and aged coffees, and delve into recent experiments and findings on coffee storage and shelf life.
Learning Objectives:
1. Recognize key sensory markers of staleness in roasted coffee and age in green coffee
2. Understand the underlying causes of staleness and age
3. Gain actionable strategies for optimizing storage and preservation of freshness
4. Improve the ability to communicate about freshness, seasonality, and the importance of proper storage
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Room Number: 31 C
Category: Cupping
REGISTRATION FEES:
EARLY BIRD Regular* - $250
EARLY BIRD Paid Member* - $210
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
*Early Bird pricing ends March 1, 2026
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Chris Kornman
Director of Education
Chris Kornman is a coffee romantic and educator, and a quality specialist with a history of indiscreet coffee buying, roaster fires, ill-advised travel, and oversharing. He is the author of Green Coffee: A Guide for Roasters and Buyers and regularly contributes coffee-related disquisitions to publications worldwide. He lives and works in Oakland, California.
Isabella Vitaliano
Lab & QC Specialist
Isabella Vitaliano is a Lab & QC Specialist at Royal Coffee. Originally from Orlando, Florida, she worked as a barista and manager of a coffee research and development program in 2020. After moving to SF in early 2022, she oversaw operations of a coffee program at three cafes before coming to Royal Coffee. Her background in biomedical sciences lends a hand to her excitement around education and research in the coffee industry. You will most likely find her reading, hiking, or baking.
Integrating Sensory Science with the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA)
Workshop Description: The Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) is reshaping how the industry evaluates and communicates coffee quality. This workshop provides a practical, sensory-science–driven pathway for understanding and applying the CVA framework across its four dimensions: Physical, Descriptive, Affective, and Extrinsic.
Aimed at cuppers, roasters, quality leads, and sourcing professionals, the session demonstrates how structured sensory practice strengthens CVA-aligned evaluation and supports more consistent, evidence-based quality decisions. Participants will explore key sensory-science principles—including perception, thresholds, attribute recognition, and panel calibration—and learn how these principles can enhance CVA scoring, interpretation, and communication.
A central hands-on component features a guided tasting using FlavorActiV’s GMP Flavour Standards and other globally recognised reference tools designed to align and calibrate human sensory panels. This exercise helps attendees develop sharper attribute identification skills, understand perceptual variation, and apply calibrated sensory outputs directly to the CVA’s descriptive and affective dimensions.
By the end of the workshop, attendees will be better equipped to connect sensory data with coffee value, improve panel reliability, and integrate CVA-aligned practices into their own evaluation processes. The session is designed to deliver both immediate practical skills and a deeper understanding of how sensory science underpins this new era of coffee quality assessment.
Learning Objectives:
1. Apply core sensory-science principles - including perception, flavour thresholds, and attribute recognition to improve alignment with the CVA framework.
2. Enhance panel consistency and reliability by using calibrated reference materials (GMP Flavour Standards) to standardise attribute identification and descriptive accuracy.
3. Interpret and connect sensory outputs to the CVA dimensions, particularly the Descriptive and Affective components, to support clearer and more meaningful evaluation outcomes.
4. Integrate CVA-aligned sensory practices into everyday cupping and quality workflows, enabling more confident, data-supported decisions across sourcing, roasting, and QC operations.
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Room Number: 31 AB
Category: Brewing
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructors
Luis Héctor Valdez
Sensory Specialist
Luis approaches coffee through the lens of sensory. Trained as a brewmaster and chemical engineer, with more than ten years of professional experience in tasting and quality systems, he brings structured sensory thinking to everyday operations. As an international beer judge and trainer, he is used to calibrating palates and aligning language across cultures. In coffee, Luis brings that same discipline and curiosity, focusing on how to taste with intention, align language, and understand what a beverage and its creators are trying to express.
Leandro Fedele
Global Sensory Manager
Leandro Fedele is a Global Sensory Manager at FlavorActiV, a UK-based company specializing in sensory solutions, where he has worked since 2017. With a strong background in coffee sensory science, Leandro has completed several SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) courses, as well as professional training delivered by Sindicafé São Paulo. He is also a qualified Coffee Technologist, having studied at IFsul de Minas, Brazil. His work focuses on sensory evaluation, panel training, flavor standards, and supporting the coffee and beverage industry in building robust sensory programs that ensure quality, consistency, and product understanding.
Roasting for the Retail Coffeehouse
Workshop Description: This comprehensive workshop is designed for coffee retail business owners, managers, and staff seeking to enhance their coffee offerings through strategic roasting and menu development. Participants will learn to source green coffees, optimize blends, and plan production to establish a strong roasted coffee program for both retail and wholesale operations. The workshop also covers quality control, barista engagement, and building a vibrant coffee culture within your business.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the principles of designing a roasted coffee menu for both retail and wholesale markets.
2. Identify key factors in selecting green coffees by region and processing method to achieve desired flavor profiles.
3. Develop blends suitable for various brewing methods.
4. Optimize roasting techniques for single origin coffees and blends.
5. Calculate annual green coffee requirements and implement effective buying strategies.
6. Manage green coffee inventory and storage locally and remotely.
7. Plan and optimize production to ensure consistent quality and supply.
8. Implement quality control measures for roasting and final product evaluation.
9. Engage baristas in roasting knowledge and foster a culture of coffee tasting and education within the coffeehouse.
*Roasting concepts will be taught through theory and tasting exercises. No coffee roasting will take place in the workshop.
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Room Number: 30 DE
Category: Brewing, Business, Roasting
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Ted Vautrinot
Green Coffee Buyer, Production Roaster
Since starting as a barista in 1998 (back when latte art meant a blob with ambition), Ted has brewed, taught, managed, and roasted his way through the coffee world. Along the way, he’s helped lead cafés generating up to $1.8 million a year, apprenticed under Master Roaster Martin Diedrich, become an accomplished roaster, judged global SCA coffee competitions, and worked alongside producers across Africa and Latin America. Today, Ted is proud to craft roast profiles, maintain relationships with producers and green traders, mentor new roasters, and occasionally fix a stubborn roaster with a wrench and a prayer. Coffee has taken Ted around the world, but it still humbles him with every perfect cup.
Advanced Latte Art: Technique, Theory, and Practice
Workshop Description: Join Wenbo Yang, the 2024 US Latte Art Champion, in this intensive 3-hour workshop designed for baristas with prior experience in basic latte art. With a focus on perfecting technique and creating complex patterns, the session combines in-depth professional theory, clear demonstrations, and structured hands-on practice. Participants will refine their milk steaming techniques, like adapting to different steam intensities, followed by key theories of liquid flow, pattern formation, positioning, layout, and pouring control for advanced latte art. Supported by group rotations, real-time feedback, and a dedicated teaching presentation, every attendee will gain practical improvements and real progress in their latte art journey.
Learning Objectives:
Review and refine fundamental milk steaming techniques for advanced latte art.
Understand the theory behind liquid flow, pattern formation, and layout for complex designs.
Identify and apply the key differences in movement, foam texture, and fusion for various advanced patterns.
Develop advanced pouring control and positioning for pattern accuracy.
Gain practical experience through group-based, hands-on practice with real-time guidance.
Prerequisite: To benefit fully from this workshop, attendees should have some prior experience with milk steaming and basic latte art skills. This is not an introductory workshop.
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Room Number: 32 AB
Category: Coffee Preparation
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Wenbo Yang
Wenbo Yang is a three-time U.S. national coffee champion, having won titles in Brewers Cup, Latte Art, and Roasting. Based in Seattle, he is a coffee trainer, roaster, and café owner with years of experience in specialty coffee. His background includes extensive work in café operations, barista training, and competition coaching. Known for combining high standards with practical teaching, Wenbo has helped many baristas build stronger foundations in espresso, milk, service, and sensory skills. Through training, roasting, and hospitality, he continues to share his knowledge with the coffee community while pushing himself to keep learning and growing.
The Business of Building Better Blends: Defects and Commodity are not Dirty Words
Workshop Description: The founders at Anthem Coffee learned the art of blending from their uncle, Vaughn Neblock, the lead coffee buyer at Folgers in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Many of his employees went on to lead major mass market coffee companies and used what he taught them to run their buying portfolios. Using techniques learned working alongside him we hope to give participants a reliable framework for building blends that can remain consistent regardless of market and buying conditions. We will introduce the Category approach and lead participants through the use of the Affective form for gleaning information and data from their own internal team and customers to learn how to use replacement coffees and coffee buying to keep their blends reliable and consistent. A combination of presentation and hands on will give participants practical experience with building blends on a budget. The final hour will challenge participants to match a commercially available blend with coffees that come from the Categories we present.
Learning Objectives:
1. Greater familiarity with the Affective form and how powerful of a tool it can be for roasters when used to collect data at all points in their blend development process
2. Foster in specialty roasters an awareness of the applications lower quality coffees have in their roasting stables and blending practices
3. A greater appreciation for how defects actually affect the cup quality of your blends, i.e. "maybe we CAN blend with 150 defect coffee at X percentage and nobody really will be able to tell the difference.
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Room Number: 31 AB
Category: Brewing
REGISTRATION FEES:
Regular - $275
Paid Member - $230
Booking: To book your place in this Workshop, head to the World of Coffee San Diego Registration & Booking Portal and add a session to your order. Already registered? Simply login using the credentials created at purchase to access your booking and add other paid events to your badge.
Instructor
Russell Thorpe
Director of QC
Russell Thorpe is the Director of QC for Anthem Coffee Imports. Starting as a barista, he arrived at his current position through a combination of curiosity, hard work, and a little bit of 'right place, right time' luck. He has been a quality evaluation roaster and cupper since 2015 and a certified Q grader since 2021. He has a wide skill set primarily focused on the pedagogy of learning and regularly uses that to help a wide array of roasters develop blends and profiles to best fit their needs.
Jacob Burlin