Community is at the heart of what we do at Acaia. Every year, we support the global coffee industry by sponsoring a range of local and international events. As part of this ongoing commitment, Acaia is an in-kind sponsor of the Coffee Science and Education Summit at ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences) in both 2025 and 2026.

The Coffee Science and Education Summit is a unique event designed for all coffee professionals. It brings together roasters, farmers, scientists, consultants, educators, and innovators. Attendees can explore the latest research and participate in hands-on workshops, discussions, and curated tastings.

To learn more about the summit’s educational approach and the role of precision tools in coffee research, we spoke with Dr. Samo Smrke, Acting Head of the ZHAW Coffee Excellence Center.

This interview has been edited for clarity. ****

Could you briefly describe the mission of the ZHAW Coffee Excellence Center? How do education, research, and applied practice come together in your work?

Our mission is to use the science of coffee to support the coffee industry through research and education. We are scientists working on coffee, but the unique expertise of the Coffee Excellence Center is that we bridge science to the coffee industry and craft. We have developed a unique platform where we can provide research, development, and education programs that are very application-focused.

What does a typical day look like for a student or participant at the Coffee Excellence Center?

Our courses are fully remote and online. We can group the activities of our course into four different types of learning. The first part is self-learning through curated content, educational videos, and reading material. The second type of activity is virtual classrooms. In these sessions, industry experts or our team present a selected topic, followed by questions and discussion. Third are practical assessments. This involves coffee experiments that students do at home with the kits we send. They include cuppings, storage experiments, extraction experiments, etc. After every assessment, we collect the results and discuss the findings and explanations behind the data that the class produced.

The fourth type is the one we are most proud of, which we call “Live Lab.” In this activity, we send students a tasting kit and simultaneously perform chemical analysis on the coffees. We always select different coffees and new ideas, aiming to produce results valuable to the coffee community. During the Live Lab, we taste the coffees and discuss how the chemical analysis data and sensory results relate, and what we can learn from them. This way, taking a CAS in Coffee Excellence course directly contributes to new findings about coffee.

****

How are programs such as the CAS in Coffee Excellence designed to support professional development and long-term goals for coffee professionals?

The main professional development goal is that the course is a complete program, covering all technical coffee knowledge within its scope. The content is designed so that someone with no coffee experience can participate, whilst someone who is a coffee expert will also cultivate new knowledge.

Learning doesn’t end with the course. We also have an active alumni network that meets annually at the World of Coffee Europe. To further support our alumni, we launched the Coffee Science and Education Summit in 2025, where industry-leading experts present current topics in coffee. The event is not limited to alumni; however, everyone from the industry is welcome to join.

During the 2026 Summit, in which parts of the programme will the Lunar and the Pearl be used (e.g., workshops, tastings, lab demonstrations)?

The scales will be used for all weighing needs at the Summit, including sample preparation for tastings and workshops.

How do you see the roles of the Lunar and Pearl scales evolving within the Center’s day-to-day teaching and training activities?

For practical reasons, we use Acaia scales for most of the coffee extraction and roasting work at the Coffee Excellence Center. In the chemistry lab, we also have analytical scales accurate to 0.01 mg and use them as needed. Using Acaia scales was a natural involvement. Over the years, we found that the team prefers Acaia scales for coffee-related work due to their ease of use and robustness.

Do you foresee the Lunar or Pearl scales being used in active or upcoming research or applied science projects at the Center?

Yes, we use these scales in research and ongoing projects. For example, the Pearl scales were used to collect gravimetric extraction data for espresso. This is the weight of the beverage over time as espresso is extracted.

Approximately how many students, researchers, or professionals interact with these scales each year through courses, research, or training at the Center?

I estimate that around 100 people interact with scales yearly at the Coffee Excellence Center.

Thank you for the conversation, Dr. Samo Smrke. You can learn more about the ZHAW Coffee Excellence Center and their Coffee Science and Education Summit on Instagram.