In the world of coffee education, innovation often takes the form of reimagining traditional approaches. Jennifer Stone, a certified CQI Q Grader, Lecturer, and founder of jstonecollective—a versatile platform encompassing coffee-related services such as education, podcasts, and coffee consulting—has undertaken a novel venture.
“CQI has been known for big, intense courses for a long time,” Stone offered. “The Q Grader course is six days, and it is extremely challenging. There is a professional-level post-harvest processing course that is similarly demanding. When CQI started offering shorter units that were still the quality curriculum of the higher-level courses I was really interested. I started imagining ways that I could get that knowledge in the hands of people who could put it to work.”
The professional-level courses that CQI offers are industry standards, but there had long been a call for similar quality education that could be delivered in less formal locations or for coffee people who had restrictions on time. Amidst the pandemic, the dedicated CQI staff embarked on a mission to create classes that contained with practical, real-world knowledge applicable to everyday professional endeavors. This endeavor played a pivotal role in inspiring Jennifer Stone's exploration of the concept of continuing education.
“I have been in coffee education for a long time, I’m a certified Q Grader, and a firm advocate of the mission of CQI. I looked at these classes and thought that they were exactly the sort of modules that might be valuable for people who needed continuing education credits to maintain their own certifications. There are many hospitality professionals who don’t interact with coffee daily, but with an added understanding of quality, can increase their value to clients and employers. I reached out to Foodservice Consultant Society International (FCSI) to let them know about the classes I was teaching and they granted approval to this three-day program for continuing education units.”
FCSI is a global membership organization that represents restaurant and hospitality industry consultants. They are required to earn continuing education credits every year to maintain certification.
“We are excited that our educators continue to find innovative ways to get CQI education to new audiences,” said Emma Sage, Director of CQI Education Resources. “Jennifer is similar to all of our educators in that she is creative and passionate about sharing our curriculum with people who would benefit from it, and we are excited for her to share our classes with the culinary field. Our classes are not only useful for our traditional coffee professionals but also can be accessible for those who are working in adjacent industries. Understanding the language of coffee quality is useful in lots of ways – especially in the culinary world.”
The inaugural class takes place November 7-9, 2023 (prior to Coffee Fest Orlando) at Zaza Coffee Roasting, Orlando, Florida. For more information contact Jennifer Stone at jstone@jstonecoffee.com
