2019 ANNUAL REPORT

Tina Yerkes, PhDChief Executive Officer

Mario Fernández, PhDSenior Technical Director

Lisa ConwaySenior Director of Operations

Roukiat DelrueDirector of Q Programs

Kristin SchraderDirector Marketing and Communications

Michael Pomerleau, CPADirector of Finance

Emma SageManager Technical Services

Monica Rámirez BolekCountry Manager, South America

Cengcheng (CC) SuCountry Manager, Asean

Kim TaQ Program Account Manager

Kim HirshbergLogistics Coordinator

Nohelani RocheMarketing and Communications Coordinator

Cairie BlaidaQ Program Coordinator

CQISTAFF

A note from our CEO This was a year of reflection as we asked ourselves what more Coffee Quality Institute can do to improve quality and change lives through education, empowerment, strategic focus, and partnerships. CQIs foundational impact on the coffee community was the development and institutionalization of the international language of coffee quality, which we continue to support, improve, and expand upon. We are diversifying and expanding our education curriculum and workshops to adapt to evolving challenges to address needs on the farm and throughout the value chain.

Recognizing that coffee producers do not face a single challenge with a single -or simple- solution, CQI is employing a more holistic approach, while continuing to embrace our core education and certification courses. Through community assessment, CQI combines our current certification offerings with needs-based education and training to enable self-sufficiency, create resilience to market fluctuation, and increase coffee quality. By expanding our educational offerings and growing our partnership base, we will increase on the ground impact. We are excited about what the next decade will bring for the entire coffee community.

In 2019 we saw two new programs become reality.CQIs Q Processing 3 professional education program, known as the master’s degree of processing, exposes students to advanced, state of the art scientific knowledge regarding coffee processing and its impact on quality. We strive for global diversity in forming the cohorts, therefore students come from around the world, and by design they will take lessons learned and new knowledge and apply it where it can have the greatest impact – at home, at origin, and therefore creating a network of global processing experts. Q Cupping Essentials was also launched in 2019. This course is for anyone who is new to sensory descriptors of coffee, might not be familiar with cupping forms or terminology, and/or is interested in expanding their coffee knowledge. This is a certification course that has a wide appeal, from consumers and producers, people interested in starting their path to Q Grader, and ultimately for anyone anywhere in the coffee value chain. Whether we increase demand for specialty coffee or introduce a coffee professional to their first formal sensory training, Q Cupping Essentials is a valuable addition to our suite of courses.

Tina Yerkes, PhD

During 2019, we also had great opportunities to work on projects at origin, on the ground. For example, in Ethiopia, as we work with partners to strengthen the quality system, students were introduced to Junior Cupper Training at Jimma University as an entry level preparation for Q Grader certification classes. We began work in the Philippines and Laos focusing on certification courses, institutional support for producer organizations, market connections and outreach activities. We concluded work in Colombia with producers and best practices workshops, that have evolved into CQIs Good Practices Modular Education. This training program is entirely adaptable to the local challenges, and currently expanding globally. Each year we expand our reach and impact through these valuable partnerships and projects at origin.

We are a mission-focused, forward-looking non-profit with big goals to increase and improve impact on the quality of coffee and the lives of those that produce it. Our standards for assessing quality and processing make us leaders in the industry, and collab-oration is critical to real, lasting impact. It takes a village, and we are looking forward to working with old and new partners alike.

Samantha VeideCHAIR, Forum for the Future

Bridget CarringtonVICE CHAIR, Ecom

Cyrille JanetTREASURER, Keurig Green Mountain

Craig HoltSECRETARY, S&D Coffee and Tea

Aman AdinewMEMBER, METAD

Carlos BrandoMEMBER, P&A International Marketing

Jorge CuevasMEMBER, Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

Kimberly GiroirMEMBER, Starbucks

Felipe IsazaMEMBER, Coffee Resources

Arnoldo LeivaMEMBER, The Coffee Source

Sunalini MenonMEMBER, Tata Coffee Ltd

Shirin MoayyadMEMBER, Independent Coffee Consultant

Juan Esteban OrduzMEMBER, Colombia Coffee Federation

Gloria PedrozaMEMBER, NKG

Ellen Jordan ReidyMEMBER, Global Grounds

Kim RogersMEMBER, Dunkin’

Ric RhinehartMEMBER, Specialty Coffee Association

Kyle NewkirkCHAIR EMIRITUS, S&D Coffee and Tea

CQIBOARD

The way we workSince 1996, Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) has worked to improve the quality of coffee and the lives of people who produce it. Quality is one of the most important variables that influence a coffee’s value. However, many producers do not have access to the tools and support they need to understand the quality of their coffee, improve that quality, access markets that reward that quality, ultimately enabling them to make more informed business choices.

At CQI we bring diverse stakeholders together to solve local challenges. Our customized solutions, shaped by coffee experts and decades of experience, result in long-term solutions that emphasize self-sufficiency. With deep roots in the coffee trade, we aim to facilitate market connections that build healthier supply chains and thriving coffee communities.

Our vision is to work together to ensure quality-focused coffee standards and practices are rewarded by the market, and coffee com-munities thrive. We do so through these five paths to impact:

PROMOTING A COMMON LANGUAGE OF QUALITY

Through Q Arabica, Q Robusta and Q Processing, the

Q Program has become a tool of the trade, bringing specialized

skills to coffee industry professionals around the world.

By setting international standards CQI helps both buyers and sellers benefit

through a shared understanding of quality coffee.

PROVIDING TECHNICAL SERVICES

From production and processing expertise, to cupping training

and market development, CQI’s diverse menu of technical

services helps put knowledge into the hands of coffee

producers in order to maintain a helathy supply chain and

furteer economic sustainability in the coffee sector.

CREATING A GLOBAL NETWORK OF EXPERTS

With more than 20 years in the

industry, CQI has built a network of local and global experts who

share our mission of helping coffee communities become self reliant. Through staff and board talent, Coffee Corps ™

volunteers, and global contractors, our ability to pair need with skill is unmatched.

ACCOMPLISHING MORE TOGETHER

Many of the challenges facing coffee communities are broad-reaching and systemic and can only be addressed

through collaboration. CQI partners with trade asso-ciations, local governments,

private companis, development agencies, and other institutions to innovate and creat long-term

scalable change.

FORMING MARKET CONNECTIONS

CQI connects quality coffee to markets that reward that quality,

facilitating long-term partner-ships between buyers and

sellers that lead to healthier supply chains and thriving coffee communities

around the world.

Projects 2019 Coffee Quailty Institute works globally. Here is a summary of CQI project work and where it is located.

Colombia Project: Microprocessors Certificate Program Evaluation Funded by: United States Agency for International Development - Producers to Markets Alliance Partners: Fintrac, Boot Coffee Consulting

Democratic Republic of Congo Project: Strengthening Value Chain Activity Funded by: United States Agency for International Development - Feed the FuturePartner: TechnoServe

EthiopiaProject: Value Chain Activity Funded by: United States Agency for International Development - Feed the FuturePartner: Fintrac

MyanmarProject: Value Chains for Rural Development Funded by: United States Agency for International Development Partner: TechnoServe

Philippines Project : Promote Green Coffee Industry Funded by: United States Department of AgriculturePartner: ACDI/VOCA

Papua New Guinea Project: Post-Harvest Processing TrainingFunded by: Fairtrade Australia New Zealand

NepalProject: Market-focused trainingsFunded by: Lutheran World Relief Coffeee Support Project

China Project: Marketing and Branding Support Funded by: Yunnan Coffee Exchange

Project SpotlightColombia

Project: Microprocessors Certificate Program Activity

Funded by: United States Agency for International DevelopmentProducers to Markets Alliance

Partners: Fintrac, Boot Coffee Consulting

CQI wrapped up the two-year Producers to Markets Alliance (PMA) program funded by USAID designed to strengthen legal economies in Colombia’s post-conflict areas, including those in the Cauca Department in the southwest of the country. Growing coffee instead of illegal crops was only part of the desired outcome, as producers only realize their full investment into coffee when it is high quality and qualifies as specialty. The post-harvest processing is where much of the quality is imbued, and the PMA program was designed to give producers the tools they needed to generate higher quality coffee, with qualities consumers are looking for and ready to pay a premium for.

The good practices that were part of the training program resulted in more desirable coffee as far as taste, but also has a longer shelf life and is less likely to be contaminated as it complies with food safety standards. Working with Fintrac and Boot Coffee Consulting, CQI developed a certification for smallholders, one that would reinforce the good practices that were improving coffee quality.

The Micro-Processors Certification is for washed coffee micro-producers, earned by compliance with good practices. Working to develop a more sustainable education model, local technicians were certified as CQI Q Processing Professionals, and that cohort not only helped to train smallholders, but also followed up to see if producers were actually applying the knowledge to which they had been exposed.

Project evaluation took place in 2019, and technicians were deployed to check on participating micro-processors to discern whether there had been significant uptake of the good practices designed to improve the quality of the coffee. The evaluators returned reporting that the trainings had been deemed as valuable, and that the greatest value of the 634 smallholder verifications was the guiding recommendation notes for each producer and clear individual analysis of what each farmer can do to improve to quality and value of their coffee. Results of this pilot program will be further evaluated and practices incorporated in future work to support sustainable coffee communities.

Project SpotlightEthiopiaProject Value Chain Activity Funded by United States Agency for International Development Feed the FuturePartner Fintrac

Coffee Quality Institute completed a diverse selection of activities in Ethiopia in 2019 to support the goals of the Feed the Future Ethiopia Value Chain Activity (USAID FTFE VCA) project. The FTFE VCA is part of the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future Initiative and Component Four (Agriculture Marketing and Value Chain) of the government of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Program (AGP II). Under AGP II, FTFE VCA will contribute to the government of Ethiopia’s objective to improve agricultural productivity and the commercialization of smallholder farmers.

CQI’s technical training and assistance under this program supports components to improve agricultural productivity as well as create synergy through the different levels of the coffee value chain to promote better coordination with all players. CQI has worked strategically in Ethiopia for more than fifteen years to strengthen the entire coffee value chain and improve the volume, value, and demand for high quality coffees. Our activities in Ethiopia aim to foster a culture of coffee quality linked to international norms and practices. To assure the ongoing integration of this coffee culture and related quality initiatives throughout the sector, CQI is dedicated to build the capacity of local stakeholders to sustain these activities successfully after the program is completed.

Program accomplishments in 2019 include: Junior cupper training A 3-day basic cupper training designed for Ethiopian university students who have never had the opportunity to cup coffee or exposure to the activities of a professional cof-fee taster. The goal of this targeted training is to enable this group to enter the coffee sector with knowledge of cupping and how to determine quality coffee. In 2019 we trained 62 Jimma University students and faculty. Regional pro iling CQI delivered a concept proposal for an Ethiopian Coffee Regional Profiling Initiative in cooperation with a working group composed of CQI, USAID, Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia Coffee and Tea Authority, Ethiopia Ministry of Trade, Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association, Jimma Agricultural Research Center , Volcafe, Jimma University, and Boot Coffee. This concept proposal will be used by funding partners to determine future work in this area, which is a high priority for the sector as well as the government of Ethiopia. Gender Lead by our colleagues at the Partnership for Gender Equity, CQI implemented two Household Gender Equity GALS (Gender Action Learning System) workshops in Agaro (Biftu Gudina and Duromina Cooperatives) and Mizan (Aman Cooperative). These workshops gave 81 individuals a chance to gain access to education and skills essential to change power dynamics between men and women, thus achieving better farming outcomes, creating community-based trainers and identified champions. Laboratory assessment and infrastructure improvement CQI worked with existing coffee laboratories to provide training and guidance to ensure sites were run to meet international standards, as well as enable new coffee laboratories to be established outside the capital city. Four regional labs were visited in Jima and Mizan in 2019 and one-on-one training in equipment maintenance, cupping and laboratory quality control practices were delivered. Q Grader training Q Arabica Grader classes took place in Addis Ababa for 42 students from ECX, CLU, exporters, cooperatives and the research community. In all, 42 students attend the 6-day sensory training to become proficient in globally recognized standards for specialty coffee, grading protocols and use of the SCA arabica form.Our venue partners included Ethiopian Coffee Exchange and METAD Agricultural Development.Q Processing trainingWe held a Q Processing Level 2: Professional course for 19 students at Horizon Plantation Goma 2, Agaro, Jimma, Ethiopia. Students represented managers and techni-cians responsible for making the critical decisions around processing coffee. CQI instructor Ephrem Sebatigita noted that, “ it is nice to see that young Ethiopians are very involved in the coffee sector and are concerned to do better than their parents in terms of quality processing.”

The PhilippinesProject: Promote Green Coffee Industry

Funded by: ACDI/VOCA, United States Department of Agriculture

Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) launched a new grant in 2019, in partnership with ACDI/VOCA. The Philippines Coffee Advancement and Farm Enterprise (PhilCAFE) grant, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, is an expansion of previous work in the Philippines and includes the three main coffee growing regions in the Philippines.

This program increases coffee production and productivity by improving access to high quality seedlings and other inputs, increasing adoption of good agricultural practices, and facilitating the renovation and rehabilitation of existing coffee farms. It supports research and planning in the coffee sector, including public and private universities, regional coffee councils, and producer organizations. PhilCAFE will expand access to domestic and international markets for Philippine produced coffee and facilitate direct linkages and access to premium markets.

CQI’s role in this program is to design and implement actions to promote state-of-the-art coffee practices and standards, provide technical guidance on coffee training and to develop technical materials. During the first year of this program CQI completed the following activities:

Continuing support for the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC). In its third year, PCQC continues to grow in scope, importance and reputation, both nationally and internationally. CQI provides Coffee Corps volunteers annually to work alongside national cuppers to select the top 12 best arabica and robusta coffees for the year. This competition is connected to market activities and green coffee sales.

Supporting trade and international recognition. At the US Specialty Coffee Expo in Boston, CQI hosted green buyers and coffee influencers at a cupping event featuring the best of Philippine arabica and robusta coffees. Philippine coffee producers representing these stellar coffees were on hand to meet the expo crowd. The interest in, and demand for, specialty arabica and fine robusta from this origin continues to grow.

Cupper training continues across all sectors, with training for both arabica and robusta happening across all sectors: coffee farmers, processors, quality control, traders, roasters, coffee shop owners, and universities and colleges. In the Philippines there are now over 65 calibrated Q Arabica graders and 30 Q Robusta Graders Q Graders working realize economic benefit for coffee farmers and their families.

Q Processing Education to improve knowledge of post-harvest processing methods and technology, instill good practices and provide hands on quality control procedures. The Barista Coffee Academy in Davao hosted Q Processing Level 1; and Level 2 was hosted by the Agroforestry and Coffee Development Center at Mt. Apo, Kapatagan, Davao del Sur. In total, 35 individual received training in tools and resources that can be incorporated into a quality control system.

Project Spotlight

Where are you in the Q?

general coffee knowledge

sensory processing

I would like to learn how to cup

and evaluate

I have cupping experience

I have some coffee processing experience

I don’t have coffee processing experience

Q Cupping Essentials• 3 days• Cupping experience• Introduction to sensory• Use of evaluation standards• Testing• Certification• Appropriate for anyone

Q Grader• 6 days• SCA standards and protocols• Sensory analysis• Defect standards• 19 different tests• Certification• For coffee professionals

Q Processing I• 2 days• Coffee processing and

impacts• Testing• Certification• For growers, traders,

baristas, buyers, shopowners, and others

Q Processing II• 6 days• Hands-on instruction and

testing• Scientific and theoretical

foundations• Good practices & quality

control• Certification• For processing practitioners

There is education and training available through Coffee Quality Institute for those at any point in the value chain.

By the numbers

New Q Processing Professionals in 2019:

273

Total Q Processing Professionals:

522

New Q Arabica Graders in 2019:

685

New Q Robusta Graders in 2019:

92

New Q Arabica Instructors in 2019:

6

New Q Robusta Instructors in 2019:

1

Total courses offered in 2019:

667

Total course attendees in 2019:

5902in 55

countries

In-Country Partners:

21

149 coffee

samples

1719samples

since 2010

evaluated

evaluated

Q Cupping EssentialsQ Cupping Essentials (QCE) is CQI’s newest certification course. After extensive development and introduction to instructors, it was launched for Arabica in August of 2019 as a replacement for the Pre-Q non-certificate course.

This course was developed in the place of Pre-Q because of challenges identified with that course and the desire within industry for a more introductory-level certificate. It is designed to produce and train cuppers with a common language which prepares them for evaluating coffee with the Q system.

Q Cupping Essentials address the assumption that “everyone in coffee knows how to cup.” QCE is a suitable level for any coffee professional along the supply chain, from growers to baristas, who would like to learn how green and sensory evaluation are fundamental tools for quality evaluation of specialty coffee. This course provides an accessible first step for students just beginning their coffee education journey.

Through the QCE course, students will build an understanding of how to accurately and comprehensively cup coffees for the purpose of scoring, identifying, and differentiating individual lots, as well as giving profile descriptors for those coffees. The QCE certificate is earned by students who have demonstrated basic competencies in cupping and quality assessment of specialty coffee.

The course breaks the cupping form down into individual elements - such as varying intensities, descriptive terms, and defects - and then progresses to using the full form. This approach allows candidates to focus on one attribute at a time, allowing for better assimilation and understanding. The course also integrates other elements linked to attributes in the cupping form, including olfactory evaluation and green coffee grading as well as defects.

QCE Arabica has been very well received by instructors and students alike. A total of 16 QCE Arabica courses were taught in the final quarter of 2019, in countries including the Philippines, Italy, the United States, Guatemala, Kenya, Colombia, and Bolivia, proving that demand for this course exists in both producing and consuming countries.

CQI plans to add QCE Robusta in 2020, which will be a valuable addition to the Fine Robusta toolbox.

QCE student n Colombia

There are many important things that I take away from this course...If I still had any doubts if I was doing the right thing changing my career by starting from scratch something new. It was this instructor who made me fall in love with coffee and reaffirmed that I was doing the right thing.

“”-Lilian Gonzlález Arce

Q PROCESSING 3The beginning of something big.

Q PROCESSING 3Q Processing Expert is the most advanced level of the Q Process-ing Program. This course is inspired by University-level education programs and is designed to address a field of knowledge that had been greatly neglected by formal industry education: coffee pro-cessing.

Similar to how CQI led the integration of the global coffee cupping community via Q Grader training fifteen years ago, the Organiza-tion developed Q Processing to develop and professionalize the global coffee processing community. We expect QP3 to impact the coffee world in three ways: through the creation of applied coffee processing knowledge, the formation of a global network high-quality Q Processing instructors, and the dissemination of expertise and knowledge to the global coffee community.

The Expert course is designed to enable students to deeply under-stand the theory and mechanisms that contribute to the impact of processing on coffee flavor and masterfully craft specific results in the cup. After completing this course successfully, students will able to understand the state-of-the-art of coffee processing and be regular contributors to the field.

QP3 […] is a disruptive effort creating new criteria and protocols at the frontier of coffee processing knowledge.“ ”César Echeverry, QP3 student.

Q PROCESSING 3

QP3 is a starting point to unify criteria about coffee processing and create science-based information through the effort of processing experts, who are making that information accessible and understandable by the general public. This is key for the evolution of all the actors along the coffee value chain, as they achieve a better understanding and avoid misjudge-ments of scientific information …

“

”

The Q Processing Expert course consists of three parts:

The first is the Remote Semester, and it involves study through TX A&M University AgriLife Extension online platform. In this remote learning environment, students learn the theory behind practices and review scientific evidence that will aid them in the rest of their QP3 endeavors. Each week, participants study literature on a different topic related to coffee processing, complete homework, participate in group work, and take regular quizzes.

The second is the Field Intensive, a 6-day course located in a producing region. During this intensive, students will gain experience through demonstrations, ac-tivities, cuppings, and special projects in order to see the concepts covered in the Remote Semester. They will learn the basics of scientific experimentation, data collection, as well as many specific processing topics through labs and cuppings. They will also be introduced to the “Topic du jour” of the year, which will be of special focus and continue on into the group experiment and Capstone Project portion of this program. At the end of the intensive, they will take a written test in order to demonstrate their new competencies. They will then return to their home farms/mills with the tools and instructions necessary to complete the third part of the Expert course. The Capstone Project is the final part of the Expert course, in which students are responsible for both group and individual experiments. First, each student takes part in a collective experiment, in which students carry out the same experiment at home, in their various countries of origin in order to help answer a larger question regarding coffee processing. Simultaneously, they propose their own experiment on a topic of their choice, which turns into an individual research project about coffee processing. This work cumulates in a final report.

Each Q Processing Expert course cohort takes more than a year to complete, as timing depends on students’ coffee harvest seasons. This is a distinct group of Q Processing Professionals - the cohort capacity is limited, and admission is by invitation only, based upon instructor recommendations, amongst other factors. In 2019 CQI launched two cohorts of QP3 students: Cohort 1 consists of 24 students from 10 countries. They began in January of 2019 and are wrapping up in mid-2020. The second cohort is 21 students from 14 countries, and they began their journey in November 2019.

With this course, CQI will professionalize coffee processing and increase scholarly interest in processing, fostering a group of scholars and leaders in the field of cof-fee processing. Q Processing Expert course will grow to build and support a global group of coffee processing experts, creating and disseminating knowledge from within the community.

-Darveris Rivas, QP3 student

Coffee CorpsTM

Our Coffee Corps™ program provides training and technical assistance by matching coffee industry experts with producers and others at origin. We thank all of these highly skilled professionals who donate their time and talents in the pusuit of better quality coffee that results in improved outcomes and changed lives.

To date, we have deployed hundreds of volunteers to all corners of the coffee world; in 2019, we sent volunteers to projects in Myanmar, the Philippines, Nepal and Ethiopia.

Ephram Sabatagita Coffee Belt East Africa/Munkaze Coffee

Luz Stella Artajo Medina Consultant

Alin Giriada The Coffee Laboratory

Jesus Salazar Velasco Cafeologia

Craig Holt Atlas Coffee

Paul Kim Paul Kim Coffee Lab

Shaun Ong Bettr Barista

Krude Lin Taiwan Coffee Laboratory

Trish Rothgeb Wrecking Ball Coffee

Daniel Mulu Asfaw Consultant

2019 Volunteers

CQI FINANCIALSC Q I i s a 5 0 1 ( c ) ( 3 ) a n d s t e w a r d s i t s r e s o u r c e s c a r e f u l l y .

Support and revenue:

In-kind/volunteerOther contributions/projects Total support and revenues

Expenses

Program servicesSupporting servicesTotal expenses

Summary of net assets

Net assets, beginningNet assets, endingIncrease in net assets

2019*

53,4502,979,5443,032,994

1,312,1331,567,7072,879,840

351,744504,898153,154

2018**

95,0003,112,7193,207,719

1,599,9811,191,0742,791,055

(64,920)351,744416,664

2017**

96,5002,664,6212,761,121

1,543,7751,060,5072,604,282

(221,759)(64,920)156,839

2016**

117,6331,945,9202,063,553

1,144,993892,327

2,037,320

(247,992)(221,759)

26,233

2015**

59,0001,847,7551,906,755

1,215,131993,839

2,208,970

54,223(247,992)(302,215)

* u n a u d i t e d . * * a u d i t e d .

coffeeinstitute.org 26895 Aliso Creek Road, Suite B-866, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656