Coffee Quality Institute releases new Q certification marks

Non-profit organisation, The Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), has expanded its work to improve the quality of coffee worldwide by introducing three new Q certification marks. This release includes a new mark for Q Certified Arabica along with the launch of two completely new marks, Q Certified Robusta and Q Certified Blend. The CQI’s Q Certification Marks are consumer facing and indicate an independent, third-party quality certification. They also provide an assurance of quality that buyers can trust. In order for a Q Certification Mark to appear on a promotional item, the coffee has to be vetted through CQI’s Q Coffee System, where it is blindly evaluated by three Q Graders and given an average score on a 100-point scale. It must also pass the green coffee standards for Arabica as defined by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and those of Robusta as defined by CQI.