SCA ROASTING SKILLS

SCA Roasting Skills Foundation will give you a fundamental understanding of the roasting process, including the roast cycle and how to control sensory aspects of the coffee by roasting light or dark.

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It is designed to introduce the novice into the core skills and equipment required to produce great roasted coffee. Ideal for someone new to the coffee industry or those looking to gain insight into the broad subject matter of roasting coffee.

 

What you will learn:

• Roaster basics: terminology, the elements of a roasting machine, and how to control the roast

• The roasting process: the physical and transformational changes the bean goes through, the critical events in the roast cycle, and the impact of heat

• Producing and using a roast profile, and keeping a roast log

• How roasting light or dark shapes taste and aroma

• Safety in the roasting plant, and roaster cleaning and maintenance

 

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required. SCA Introduction to Coffee is recommended, and SCA Sensory Skills Foundation and SCA Green Coffee Foundation are useful preparation.

This Foundation course has no practical exam. Your trainer assesses your practical work in class and completes a CSP Course Skills Report for you, which you keep and which prepares you for the Intermediate course. The course can be delivered in person, by distance learning, or as a combination of both.

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The course fee includes 1 written exam. A retests will be charged as follows:

• Written retest - ฿1,000.00

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We require a minimum number of 2 learners to run each class. If the number of sign-ups does not meet this requirement, learners will be notified and have their class rescheduled to the next available date.

SCA Roasting Skills Intermediate gives you a more elaborate understanding of the roasting process, introduces you to the core skills for consistently reproducing roast profiles and identifying roast defects.

 

Learners are introduced to different conditions and principles that cause the various physical and chemical reactions introduced at foundation level, and will also be introduced to roastery workspace management and maintenance.

 

Prerequisites

Recommended courses before taking this class are Roasting Skills Foundation, Sensory Foundation and Green Coffee Foundation.

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The course fee includes 1 written and 1 practical test and both exams will be scheduled another day (1-hour time slots). Any subsequent retests will be charged as follows:

• Written retest - ฿1,000.00

• Practical retest - ฿4,000.00

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We require a minimum number of 2 learners to run each class. If the number of sign-ups does not meet this requirement, learners will be notified and have their class rescheduled to the next available date

SCA Roasting Skills Professional is an advanced course so we recommend that you have reasonable experience working in this field before attempting this level.

 

This course is designed to introduce the roasting professional to the core skills and equipment required to produce great roasted coffee. It will teach you about the more subtle aspects of profile roasting and how the different parts of the roasting cycle affects physical and chemical aspects of the coffee. 

 

The Professional course will look at aspects including:

• Green coffee: physical attributes and chemistry, including the causes of ochratoxin A (OTA) and its health risks

• Thermodynamics in coffee roasting: heat transfer modes, heat diffusion, water's role in diffusion, and their effect on roast defects

• Physical changes: expansion, glass transition, internal pressure, porosity, and changes in extractability and solubility

• Chemical changes: the chemistry of colour change, measuring roast colour, and the effects on solubility, acidity, bitterness, aromatics and acrylamide formation

• Sensory analysis: evaluating development time modulations, and quality control methodology

• Wholesale and retail business: customer preference, and price calculations covering the cost of roasted coffee, profit margins and batch size requirements

• Roastery management: production design and optimisation, supply chain management, monitoring the roasting process, blending, and roast degree's effect on cleaning and maintenance

 

Prerequisites

It is mandatory to hold the SCA Roasting Skills Intermediate certification. We also highly recommend that students should have completed the SCA Sensory Skills Intermediate and SCA Green Coffee Intermediate certifications.

Students are required to have all the knowledge and skills from these and may be tested on them during the practical and/or written assessments.

 

In order to sit for the SCA Roasting Skills Professional exam, there needs to be at least a 3-month gap from the date of the Intermediate exam. Experienced coffee roasters who do not wish to take the exams are welcome to sign up for this Professional class.

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The course fee includes 1 written and 1 practical test. Any subsequent retests will be charged as follows:

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• Written retest - ฿1,000.00

• Practical retest - ฿5,000.00

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We require a minimum number of 2 learners to run each class. If the number of sign-ups does not meet this requirement, learners will be notified and have their class rescheduled to the next available date

Updated to the SCA Roasting pack (23 Apr 2026)