The SCA Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), Explained: How Modern Cupping Scores Work

For nearly two decades, one sheet of paper — the 2004 SCA cupping form — decided what a coffee was worth. In 2023 the Specialty Coffee Association replaced it. The new framework is the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA), and it changes not just the numbers on a lot card, but the way the industry describes and scores coffee.

If you buy or roast green coffee, here is what the CVA is, how its scoring actually works, and what changed versus the form you grew up with.

Key takeaways

1. The CVA is the SCA's coffee-evaluation system, introduced in 2023; it supersedes the 2004 SCA Cupping Protocol and Form.
2. It splits evaluation into four assessments: physical, descriptive, affective and extrinsic.
3. Its biggest shift: it separates the objective description of a coffee from the subjective scoring of its quality.
4. The familiar 100-point number now comes from the affective assessment — eight sections rated on a 9-point scale, converted to a score where all 9s = 100 and all 5s = 79.
5. A CVA score is not directly interchangeable with an old 2004-form score.

What is the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA)?

The Coffee Value Assessment is the Specialty Coffee Association's system for evaluating the quality and character of coffee. The SCA introduced it in 2023 and published its underlying standards — including the Descriptive Assessment (CVA-103) and the Affective Assessment (CVA-104) — in 2024. Both standards state plainly that they supersede the 2004 SCA Cupping Protocol.

The reasoning behind the change is simple. The old form asked a taster to do two different jobs at once: to describe a coffee and to judge it, mixed together in a single 100-point sheet. The CVA pulls those jobs apart, on the principle that a coffee's value comes from a stack of distinct attributes — and that those attributes are best measured separately.

The four assessments inside the CVA

Rather than one form, the CVA looks at a coffee through four lenses:

1. Physical — measurable facts about the green coffee: grading, moisture, density, defect count and the like.
2. Descriptive — an objective sensory profile: what the coffee actually smells and tastes of, and how intense each part is.
3. Affective — a subjective impression of quality: how much a taster (or a known market) likes the coffee. This is where the score comes from.
4. Extrinsic — the non-sensory attributes that also carry value: origin, variety, process, certifications, producer story.

For day-to-day cupping, two of these matter most — the descriptive and the affective — and they are the heart of the change.

Describing versus scoring: the core shift

This is the single most important idea in the CVA. Description and quality are now measured separately.

The descriptive assessment (objective)

The descriptive assessment profiles a coffee without judging it. For each section, the taster rates total intensity on a 0–15 scale and then selects descriptors using CATA — "check all that apply" — lists drawn from the SCA / World Coffee Research Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel. It covers fragrance, aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, sweetness and mouthfeel. Crucially, the descriptive assessment does not produce a score: a powerful jasmine-and-citrus profile is recorded as exactly that, not as "good" or "bad."

The affective assessment (subjective → the score)

The affective assessment records "impression of quality" — the answer to "how much do I like this, or how well does it match a market I know?" The taster rates eight sections — fragrance, aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, sweetness, mouthfeel and overall — on a 9-point scale, where 1 is "extremely low," 5 is "neither high nor low," and 9 is "extremely high." Non-uniform and defective cups are noted here too. This assessment is what yields the familiar 100-point-style score.

How the CVA cupping score is calculated

The score is a straight conversion of those eight 9-point ratings. You add the eight section scores together to get a sum, then convert it. The scale is anchored so that:

1. all eight sections at 9 → a score of 100;
2. all eight sections at 5 → a score of 79;
3. all eight sections at 1 → a score of 58.

In formula terms, the score equals 0.65625 × (sum of the eight section scores) + 52.75, with 2 points deducted per non-uniform cup and 4 points per defective cup, rounded to the nearest 0.25. (Sensory defects in the CVA are limited to three named types: potato, moldy and phenolic, judged across the five cups.)

Worked example: eight sections summing to 64 give 0.65625 × 64 + 52.75 = 94.75. One non-uniform cup would take it to 92.75.

You rarely do this by hand — a cupping app, a spreadsheet or a dedicated calculator does it instantly — but the SCA standard also includes a two-way lookup table for when no software is available.

The tools that run the CVA

The SCA points to two digital platforms built specifically for the CVA data structure: the web app Tastify and the mobile app CatadorCVA. Quality-control software such as Cropster also supports cupping and ties the result back to a specific roast, sample and green lot. The common thread is that each one guides the taster through the assessments, calculates the score automatically, and stores the records for later reference.

CVA versus the 2004 cupping form: what actually changed

1. Two jobs, separated. The 2004 form described and scored on one sheet; the CVA splits objective description (descriptive) from subjective quality (affective).
2. A new scale. Quality is now rated on a 9-point impression-of-quality scale, rather than the old quality scale.
3. More than a score. The CVA frames a coffee's value across physical, descriptive, affective and extrinsic attributes — not a single number.
4. Not interchangeable. Because the method and scale differ, a CVA affective score should not be read as identical to a 2004-form score. An 88 on one is not automatically an 88 on the other.

What this means when you buy green coffee

For a roaster or importer, the practical upside is clarity. Ask for both halves of the picture: the description tells you what a coffee is — its profile, intensity and character — while the affective score tells you how it performed for the cupper. Two lots can land on the same score for completely different reasons, and the descriptive profile is what lets you match a coffee to the cup you actually want to sell.

It is exactly how we work. Every lot we offer is cupped and scored in-house by our CQI-certified Q-grader, and the full breakdown and flavor notes travel with the coffee, all the way to your sample. As the CVA becomes the shared language of specialty quality, that transparency only gets more useful.

Learn more about the framework on the SCA's Coffee Value Assessment page and its coffee standards. Or browse our current lots and request samples to taste how our scores read in the cup.