A Must-Read for Baristas! Q Grader Certification Increasing in Content and Price Starting 2023!

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat Official Account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, add FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) on WeChat: qjcoffeex

Yesterday, CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) issued a notice about the latest reforms and adjustments to the Q Grader certification to all individuals who have passed Q Grader certification and those who have registered for Q Grader certification courses.

CQI stated that the Q Grader certification has gained international recognition due to its professionalism and commitment to providing consistent coffee quality assessment. Passing the Q Grader certification is not easy, and every certified individual stands out as an elite in coffee quality assessment. Q Grader is an authoritative certification system representing coffee professionalism that the coffee industry trusts, which is why there is demand for Q Grader certification across various sectors of the industry.

New Annual Flavor Calibration Requirement

Therefore, to ensure consistency among all participants in Q Grader courses and those already certified, CQI has decided that starting from January 1, 2023, everyone must complete an additional item annually—Flavoractiv Calibration.

This is an independent course that can be completed on your own. Every Q Grader certified individual must complete the flavor calibration each year, otherwise they will lose their certification status. This also means that the validity period of Q Grader certification will be adjusted from the original three years to one year.

Please note! Flavor calibration is just a new item that needs to be completed independently every year. The coffee cupping calibration, which occurs once every three years, will still proceed as usual, and must be completed in addition to the flavor calibration!

To put it simply, the previous Q Grader system of one major exam every three years has now changed to a minor exam every year, plus a major exam and minor exam in the third year. However, each exam determines whether your certification continues.

Differences Between Flavor and Cupping Calibration

So what are the differences between this newly added flavor calibration and coffee cupping calibration? The difference is that the former does not require a Q Grader instructor to be present. For flavor calibration, you only need to order and purchase food-grade capsules used for calibration from the CQI designated website, then prepare and taste them according to instructions, and upload your answers to the examination website to renew your Q Grader certification.

According to the CQI official website, the annual certification exam will be divided into three periods: January 1st to April 30th; May 1st to August 31st; and September 1st to December 31st. Simply put, you just need to schedule one day for the exam within 365 days of the year! (So why divide it into periods?)

Pricing and Group Options

Additionally, CQI has thoughtfully arranged "packages" suitable for different group sizes to complete calibration together! The prices are as follows:

• Individual portion: $160
• 6-12 people portion: $375 (approximately $31.3 per person)
• 24 people portion: $585 (approximately $24.4 per person)

The contents of each "package" will be different! All you Q Graders, hurry up and find your partners to order together!!!

After reading the email, this phrase came to mind: "Annual renewal fee? The more people, the greater the discount!"

Since we've already taken the exam, we have to continue renewing even if it's expensive, through tears if necessary!

Image source: Coffee Quality Institute official website

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473