From Perception to Pipeline

Coffee quality is a primary driver of consumer preference, brand identity, and commercial value in today’s global industry. As overall demand grows, markets pursue increasingly differentiated products, and the climate crisis reshapes the growing environment, breeding programs face new challenges. To remain relevant and effective, breeding programs run by World Coffee Research (WCR) and those of partners in WCR’s global breeding networks must develop new varieties that align with market expectations.

To do this, network breeders must define, measure, and improve quality traits that matter to the industry. To establish breeding targets related to quality, a critical first step is to map industry perceptions related to quality and identify key quality drivers. Breeders can then use this input to align breeding efforts with market needs. To this end, WCR engaged its member companies to provide feedback through interviews and surveys on critical drivers of quality.

This report identifies both consensus and diversity in how quality is defined across the industry, and identifies several specific positive and negative attributes that could become important breeding targets.

This report is confidential for WCR members only at this time and our organization requests that you do not share it externally.