The bean tells the whole story — if you know how to read it. The Green Coffee Foundation course teaches you the language of raw coffee: where it comes from, how it's grown and processed, how it's graded, and how it moves through the global supply chain to your roastery.
Every cup of specialty coffee you roast, brew, or drink begins as a green bean — the unroasted seed of a coffee cherry grown thousands of miles away on a farm you'll likely never visit. For most coffee professionals, that supply chain is a black box. The SCA Green Coffee Foundation course opens it up.
Taught as a private 1:1 or 1:2 intensive at Tasse Coffee Roastery in Shinjuku, Tokyo, this Foundation-level course is the entry point to the SCA Coffee Skills Program's Green Coffee pathway. Over a focused day of instruction, cupping, and hands-on grading practice, you'll build a solid understanding of how green coffee is produced, evaluated, and traded — and earn an internationally recognized SCA certificate.
This post walks you through every module of the course, the specific skills you'll build, and what a green coffee career path looks like beyond Foundation.
Course at a Glance
Level: Foundation (SCA Coffee Skills Program)
Format: Private 1:1 or 1:2
Location: Shinjuku, Tokyo — Tasse Coffee Roastery
Languages: English, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese
Price: From ¥75,000
Certification: SCA Green Coffee Foundation Certificate (5 credits toward the SCA Coffee Skills Diploma)
MODULE 01
Coffee Botany: Species, Varieties & Origins
Green coffee starts long before the bean — it starts with a plant. Foundation students begin with the botany of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (Robusta), the major species that define the commercial coffee world. You'll learn how altitude, climate, soil, and variety influence cup quality, and why specialty coffee almost exclusively focuses on Arabica.
What you'll learn
- The difference between Arabica and Robusta — genetics, growing conditions, flavor impact
- Key Arabica varieties (Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Geisha, SL28, Heirloom, and more)
- How origin geography — Central America, East Africa, Asia — shapes cup profile
- Why altitude, shade, and soil matter for density and flavor development
Hands-on highlight. Compare green beans from multiple origins side-by-side. See and feel how variety and terroir show up in bean size, shape, color, and density — before a single roast.
MODULE 02
Coffee Farming & Cultivation
A specialty cup is built at the farm. In this module you'll walk through the full cultivation cycle — from flowering and cherry development to selective harvesting — and meet the people and practices behind high-quality green coffee. You'll understand what a producer is actually doing, and why it matters to the cup you drink.
What you'll learn
- The coffee growing cycle: flowering, cherry development, ripening, harvest
- Shade-grown vs. sun-grown farming, and how agronomy affects quality
- Selective picking vs. strip picking — why specialty coffee is hand-harvested
- Common challenges at origin: pests, leaf rust, climate pressure, labor
Hands-on highlight. Walk the supply chain from seedling to cherry. You'll understand exactly what producers face each season and how farming decisions translate into the green coffee you eventually buy.
MODULE 03
Post-Harvest Processing Methods
Washed. Natural. Honey. Pulped natural. These aren't just labels on a bag — they're pivotal decisions made at origin that define a coffee's character. This module breaks down each primary processing method, the mechanics behind them, and how each creates signature flavor profiles in the cup.
What you'll learn
- Washed / fully-washed processing and fermentation science
- Natural (dry) processing — how fruit contact builds sweetness and body
- Honey / pulped-natural — the mucilage spectrum (white, yellow, red, black)
- How processing choices interact with origin, climate, and cup profile
Hands-on highlight. Learn to identify processing method from the green bean itself — color, uniformity, and residual characteristics that tell you how a coffee was prepared before it ever reaches the roaster.
MODULE 04
Drying, Moisture & Storage
Once coffee is processed, drying and storage become everything. Moisture content, water activity, and storage conditions determine whether a beautiful green coffee survives the journey to your roaster — or fades, fermented and flat. Foundation students learn the science that protects quality from patio to port.
What you'll learn
- Target moisture content for specialty green coffee (10–12%) and why it matters
- Water activity, bean density, and how to measure them
- Drying methods: raised beds, patios, mechanical dryers — tradeoffs of each
- Storage best practices: GrainPro, vacuum, parchment vs. milled green, aging risks
Hands-on highlight. Use a moisture meter on live green coffee samples and understand exactly what the numbers mean for quality, stability, and shelf life.
MODULE 05
Green Coffee Grading & Defect Identification
The heart of the Foundation course. You'll learn the SCA protocol for grading green coffee — how to evaluate a 350g sample, identify defects, calculate Category 1 and Category 2 deductions, and determine whether a coffee qualifies as specialty grade. This is the language every green buyer, QC professional, and roaster needs to speak.
What you'll learn
- The SCA green grading protocol — sample size, preparation, scoring
- Primary (Category 1) defects: full black, full sour, pod/cherry, stones, sticks
- Secondary (Category 2) defects: partial black, partial sour, broken, insect damage, husks
- How to use the Washed Arabica Green Grading Form and what 'specialty grade' actually means
Hands-on highlight. Grade real green coffee samples using SCA forms — identify defects with a loupe and tweezers, calculate deduction totals, and determine specialty vs. commercial classification on your own.
MODULE 06
The Green Coffee Supply Chain & Trade
A green coffee bean typically passes through a dozen hands before it reaches a roaster. This module maps the whole journey — producer, cooperative, exporter, importer, warehouse, and roaster — and explains the contracts, logistics, and pricing that connect them. Understanding the supply chain is essential for any serious coffee professional.
What you'll learn
- The roles of producer, cooperative, mill, exporter, importer, and roaster
- C-market pricing basics, differentials, and how specialty pricing is negotiated
- Common contract types: spot, forward, FOB, landed, consignment
- Shipping, Incoterms, and warehouse logistics from origin to roastery
Hands-on highlight. Trace a specialty lot from harvest to roaster — read real contract terms, understand shipment documents, and see how price is actually determined in the specialty market.
MODULE 07
Certifications, Traceability & Sustainability
The final Foundation module looks at the systems built around green coffee to promote quality, equity, and environmental responsibility. Fair Trade. Organic. Rainforest Alliance. Direct Trade. Each has different rules and different implications. You'll leave knowing what the labels actually guarantee — and what questions to ask beyond them.
What you'll learn
- Major certifications: Fair Trade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ, Bird Friendly
- Direct Trade, Relationship Coffee, and transparent pricing models
- Traceability standards and the role of lot-level information
- Introduction to sustainability challenges: climate, labor, smallholder economics
Hands-on highlight. Read a real spec sheet for a specialty lot — origin, farm, altitude, variety, processing, score, certifications — and learn what every line tells you about the coffee in front of you.
Who Is This Course For?
Green Coffee Foundation is for anyone who works with coffee and wants to understand what's actually in the bag before they roast, brew, or sell it. That includes:
- Roasters who want to buy green more thoughtfully and read spec sheets with confidence
- Baristas and café staff who want to speak credibly about origin, variety, and processing
- Quality control staff beginning a career in sourcing or green buying
- Shop owners and importers who want to evaluate samples and negotiate with producers and exporters
- Serious enthusiasts who want to understand specialty coffee from the ground up
No prerequisites are required. The Introduction to Coffee course is recommended but not mandatory.
What Comes After Foundation?
Green Coffee Foundation is the first of three levels in the SCA Green Coffee pathway. Each level builds deeper expertise:
Foundation (this course) — 5 credits
Understand the specialty coffee supply chain, grade coffee using SCA protocols, and identify defects. Perfect for building a solid baseline.
Intermediate — 10 credits
Deepen your grading skills, learn to build and evaluate coffee portfolios, and develop the decision-making skills of a working green buyer.
Professional — 25 credits
Master the full green coffee profession — risk, contracts, logistics, finance, and sustainable sourcing strategy at origin.
Together, the three levels make up 40 of the 100 credits needed for the SCA Coffee Skills Diploma.
Ready to See Coffee Differently?
Once you understand green coffee, you never look at a bag of beans the same way again. Every roast curve, every cupping score, every sourcing decision starts making more sense — because you understand the raw material.
Book your private SCA Green Coffee Foundation course at Tasse Coffee Roastery in Shinjuku and start your journey into the world of green coffee.
Book Green Coffee Foundation →
Tasse Coffee Roastery is an SCA Premier Training Campus in Shinjuku, Tokyo. We deliver the full SCA Coffee Skills Program — Barista Skills, Brewing, Green Coffee, Roasting, and Sensory Skills — as private 1:1 and 1:2 courses in English, Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese. All certificates are issued directly by the Specialty Coffee Association.
