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27 September 2022How to become an AST, Authorized SCA Trainer
Do you want to become an Authorized Trainer to take the Specialty Coffee Association courses on coffee? Today we explain how to do it and what is the path to follow to undertake the career of AST.
If coffee is a product that has played an important role in nutrition and human sociality for centuries, it is especially in recent years that the precious bean has begun to have importance, a fascination also at a cultural level; to become, we could say, a product worthy of being known and appreciated as an experience in itself, beyond the caffeine with which it wakes us up or the bar chatter to which it is linked.
Interest from a cultural and experiential point of view on the part of a large audience also means the request and need for training, to transmit knowledge through teaching. A need felt all over the world judging by the many people, from every nation, who contact us to become trainers, trainers of coffee.
But how do you become a coffee teacher?
Becoming a trainer, becoming a coffee teacher, or a barista, is not a path regulated by law; there is not (I believe in any nation) a degree, a title without which you cannot teach how to make latte art or sorting green coffee. Anyone who believes they have the necessary competence can propose themselves to this role.
In the absence of rules some structures, some associations, have imposed themselves as the most credible. Nowadays the most famous among them is certainly the SCA, Specialty Coffee Association. In no country (that I know of) it is necessary to be authorized by SCA to teach the technique and the science of coffee, but it certainly can be an excellent element of credibility.
Becoming an authorized trainer of this association means becoming an AST, an Authorized SCA Trainer. But how do become a SCA AST?
THE SCA COURSES TO BECOME AN AST
Of course, the path to becoming an AST starts from the knowledge of coffee and proceeds by choosing the area you want to teach.
As many will already know SCA divides its training in six areas:
- Green coffee
- Sensory
- Roasting
- Brewing
- Barista skills
- Introduction to coffee
Of course, you can follow the training in various areas (indeed, in some cases it is recommended, to have a more complete knowledge) and in the same way you can become a trainer in several areas, but do not give in too easily to this temptation, engage yourself just in areas you know well and that you will often teach. The ability to teach also comes from doing it often, from being really familiar with the subject.
Well, having chosen the area we will explore, we must begin, before becoming SCA trainers, to train ourselves as students,
SCA training is divided into three levels:
- Foundation
- Intermediate
- Professional
The levels correspond to as many courses and exams, even if SCA allows you to skip the Foundation level in case the trainer evaluates that the student's skills, perhaps acquired with experience and job activities, were already sufficiently high. In any case, three months after passing the intermediate level, the student will be able to take part in the three-day course / exam of the professional level.
Once this last complex exam has been passed, we will have to apply to SCA to become AST. The association will process our request, also asking our curriculum as a trainer and asking other ASTs for references about our competence and ability.
Once the application is accepted, we will be required to participate in a two-day course, recently also available in an online version. This course will not necessarily focus on coffee, but on teaching techniques and workflow, on SCA procedures, and on how the trainer interacts with the association.
The last step will be the payment of a three-year fee. At that point, we will receive a code such as AST and we will be authorized by SCA to be able to examine and certify students. Your career as an AST has begun.
