Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, the Specialty Coffee Association’s Board of Directors has decided to suspend Russia’s participation in the World Coffee Championsips.
The news came in a statement penned by SCA CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos, posted to the SCA’s official website as well as Instagram. The statement declares the SCA’s position in solidarity with Ukraine and condemns the “Russian regime’s invasion.” In deciding how to respond, the Board of Directors “held an extraordinary meeting yesterday” in order to “find ways to support members of the Ukrainian coffee community.” In that meeting, the board decided to “donate 100% of the revenue from ticket sales for World of Coffee Warsaw toward supporting relief efforts for Ukrainian coffee businesses and coffee professionals” impacted by the conflict.
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In the same statement on Instagram, which has comments limited, the SCA announced the “difficult decision” to suspend Russian participation in the upcoming World Coffee Championships while also noting that the Russian coffee community has nonetheless “called for peace and against division and has expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian coffee community.”
The full statement is as follows:
The Specialty Coffee Association stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian coffee community whose homeland has been under attack for the past few days by Russia. We strongly condemn the Russian regime’s invasion of Ukraine and the violence and displacement being inflicted.
The SCA Board of Directors held an extraordinary meeting yesterday to find ways to support members of the Ukrainian coffee community. We have also spoken directly with the volunteer leadership of the SCA Ukraine Chapter to express our solidarity and commitment to helping them endure this senseless war.
The SCA will donate 100% of the revenue from ticket sales for World of Coffee Warsaw toward supporting relief efforts for Ukrainian coffee businesses and coffee professionals. We have also made the difficult decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the World Coffee Championships.
The European coffee community has quickly pulled together with innovative ways to support the Ukrainian coffee community. The Russian coffee community has called for peace and against division and has expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian coffee community. We will be working with local SCA Chapters and other partners to share resources on our Instagram page for displaced Ukrainian coffee people and for those who want to support from around the world.
—Yannis Apostolopoulos, CEO of the Specialty Coffee Association
The first event impacted by the SCA Board of Directors ruling is World of Coffee Warsaw, scheduled for June 23rd, 2022.
This story is developing…
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
