SCA 2025: Highlights from our time in Houston
April 25-27, 2025 – Thousands of coffee professionals from 89 countries gathered in Houston, Texas to celebrate and connect over their love of coffee. For those who don’t know, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo is essentially a convention hosted for coffee lovers of all natures to geek out over the advancements taking place within the industry.
As proud coffee nerds, every year we are genuinely astounded by the innovation and creativity happening around coffee. Just when you think you’ve learned it all, you head to SCA and find that you only know a fraction of what's out there.
Friday, 4/25, the team headed to the airport with a zeal to learn some more. Upon our arrival in humid H-Town, we headed straight to the SCA Expo!
Q-Graders and coffee experts from our family farms, Lourdes Villeda and Elisa Rivera, joined our Alma Brew Crew members in this venture. They explained that while we didn’t personally have our own booth, Alma Coffee and our farms were represented all around SCA. We hosted tastings with the iconic roaster craftsmen at Loring, the direct trade service Algrano, and the company that prints our classic Alma canisters Planetary Design. We were so honored to be featured at so many booths and to meet so many people who were just as excited about coffee as we are.
“I’m always really excited to meet people as passionate about coffee as I am from all over the world, and letting new people try the coffee I’ve worked so hard on.” -Elisa Rivera
Not only were we hosting tastings, co-owner of Alma Coffee, Al Lopez hosted TWO educational seminars - a presentation on the importance of being a bird friendly farm and a cupping showcasing the different coffee processes and the unique flavors they bring our in our beans. It’s the little things we do, like processing, that make a world of difference in the final cup. We are always ecstatic when we get the opportunity to show this off.
While we were excited to show off what we know about coffee, we were more excited to learn from others in the industry and see what the future holds for coffee. One of SCA’s largest initiatives is to create a space to highlight sustainability and environmentally friendly practices being put in place at the various coffee businesses. Whether this be when farming, roasting, packaging, or serving coffee, SCA wants to showcase how different producers are implementing these practices.
Lourdes and Elisa explained that since our first trip to SCA in 2018, Finca Terrerito and Alma Coffee have become more and more recognizable. As Lourdes said, “At every single show, the Finca T brand is more and more recognizable. People will see our shirts and stop us saying, ‘Oh my gosh! I know who you guys are!’”
Slowly, but surely, we are making a name for ourselves in the coffee industry, and that all starts with you. None of this would be possible without your continued support of our small business and our mission towards making a positive impact through direct trade. Events like SCA remind us that we have the greatest community in the world.
While we absolutely adore getting the chance to educate and form connections with others in the industry, it’s you that we do this all for. What once started as a passion has become our lives, and we are so thankful to you for all you’ve done to get us where we are.
