In November 2024 the SCA replaced its 2004 cupping protocol with the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), published as Standard 102-2024. It's the most consequential change to cupping in twenty years. Most of the mechanics stay the same; what changes is how you score and what the scores mean.
What stayed the same
The brewing protocol is unchanged in practice:
- 8.25 g coffee per 150 ml water (1:18.18).
- Coarse grind, 70–75% passing US #20 sieve.
- Filtered water near 93 °C.
- 4-minute steep, break the crust, skim the surface.
- Slurp evaluation starting around 70 °C.
If you knew how to cup under the 2004 protocol, you still know how to brew the bowl. What's different is what comes after.
What changed: descriptive vs affective scoring
The 2004 protocol used a single 100-point scale where every attribute (acidity, body, balance, etc.) was scored 6.00–10.00 in 0.25 increments. CVA splits the evaluation into two distinct frameworks:
- Descriptive assessment — what is the coffee actually like? This is sensory description: intensity of acidity, character of body, quality of aftertaste, presence of off-flavours. No preference is implied. A coffee can have intense citric acidity that some cuppers love and others find aggressive — descriptive captures the fact, not the judgement.
- Affective assessment — how much do you like it? This is preference. Each cupper rates how much they like each attribute and the cup overall.
The two are reported separately. A coffee can have a high descriptive intensity and a divided affective score — that's now visible in the report instead of averaged into one number.
Why split them
The 2004 protocol mixed objective description with subjective preference. A "great" coffee was one that scored high on attributes — but the attribute scores already encoded preference. That's why two cuppers could rate the same coffee differently and the disagreement disappeared into the score.
CVA makes the disagreement visible. If everyone agrees a coffee has high acidity but disagrees on whether they like it, the report shows both signals separately. For roasters and buyers this is much more useful than a single number.
What it means for home cupping
For evaluation at home, the practical difference is small but real:
- Take notes in two columns: "what I taste" (descriptive) and "what I like" (affective).
- Don't merge them. "Acidity 8/10" mixes both. "Acidity intensity: high · liking: medium" separates them.
- This forces you to articulate when a coffee has a quality you can identify but don't enjoy. That distinction sharpens your palate faster than rating.
What's still in flux
CVA 2024 is new. Roasters are adopting it at different paces, and you'll see both 2004 and CVA scores cited for some time. The protocol bowl-side is the same, so a 2004 cupping session and a CVA session look identical from across the room. Only the form changes.
When sourcing or buying, ask which framework the score uses — they're not directly comparable.