RITUAL SPECIALTY COFFEE

What Is an SCA Score?

The global quality system behind specialty coffee — and how professional Q Graders evaluate what ends up in your cup.

Coffee’s Closest Thing to an Objective Standard

An SCA score is not marketing language. It is a professional sensory evaluation performed by certified Q Graders using a globally standardized cupping protocol.

90+

OUTSTANDING

Exceptionally rare coffees with extraordinary complexity and competition-level quality.

85+

EXCELLENT

Distinctive, memorable coffees with refined sweetness, clarity, and balance.

80+

SPECIALTY

The entry point for specialty coffee. Clean cups with defined character and minimal defects.

<80

COMMERCIAL

Most global coffee production falls here — often blended, inconsistent, and defect-heavy.

The Ten Attributes Behind Every Score

Q Graders evaluate fragrance, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, sweetness, clean cup, uniformity, and overall impression.

Defects subtract points. Complexity, clarity, sweetness, and consistency elevate them.

The process is calibrated globally so coffees can be compared objectively across origins and roasters.

RITUAL SPECIALTY COFFEE

The Score Is Not the Story. It Verifies the Story.

Every Ritual coffee is independently evaluated by certified Q Graders and scores between 84 and 87+ on the SCA scale — proof of traceable quality, clean processing, and exceptional Colombian origin.