What We Promised — The CBI Approval Pledge

You have probably just scanned a sticker in a window or on a bag. Here is exactly what that business promised in order to display it — in full, in their own undertaking, confirmed in writing and re-confirmed every year.

CBI Approval is free. We take no payment, commission or sponsorship for a place on any list, and we do not sell coffee. The only thing a business gets from us is the right to say they meet this standard — and the obligation to actually meet it.

See every approved roaster →See everywhere serving approved coffee →

If the business whose sticker you scanned is not on the relevant list, the mark is being used without approval, and we would like to know. Tell us here.

The Roaster Pledge

Carried by the Approved Roaster seal. Every CBI Approved Roaster has confirmed that all seven of these are true of their roastery.

1. We buy and roast current crop-year green coffee. Nothing held past its harvest year, however it is described. “Aged”, “vintage”, “rested”, “mature” and “cellared” are marketing words for old coffee, not a style of it.
2. We roast specialty-grade 100% Arabica — 80 points or higher on the original cupping system.
3. We do not blend Robusta into anything we sell as specialty, in espresso or in filter.
4. We print a roast date on every bag — the day it was roasted, not a best-before or expiry date.
5. We do not sell flavoured coffee under our specialty line, whether the flavour was added after roasting or introduced during processing. A coffee carrying a taste the coffee itself never had is a different product, and we sell it as one.
6. We can tell you where a coffee came from, and we do so honestly rather than through marketing language.
7. We roast on our own equipment. We are a roaster, not a reseller of someone else's coffee under our label.

The Serving Pledge

Carried by the Approved Coffee seal — in a café, a bakery, a restaurant, a bookshop, a corner store, anywhere coffee is served. Every approved business has confirmed that all eight of these are true.

1. We serve specialty-grade 100% Arabica — 80 points or higher on the original cupping system.
2. We buy from roasters who publish roast dates and source current-crop green coffee.
3. Our espresso is made with coffee roasted within roughly 3–14 days, adjusted by taste.
4. Our filter coffee is made with coffee roasted within roughly 3–30 days, adjusted by taste.
5. We grind on demand. We do not brew from pre-ground coffee.
6. Any retail bags we sell carry a visible roast date.
7. We do not serve flavoured coffee as part of our core offering, whether the flavour was added after roasting or introduced during processing.
8. We train our staff to serve customers with care, and treat hospitality as part of the craft.

A word on co-fermented and infused coffees

Point five is the one that gets argued with, so here is where we actually stand. Green coffee soaked, dosed or co-fermented with fruit, syrup or added cultures — until the cup tastes of watermelon or bubblegum — is flavoured coffee with a better word on the label. Fermentation has always been part of how coffee is made; adding something that is not coffee, in order to put in a taste the coffee never had, is a different thing.

We are not telling anyone not to make them. Producers are often paid more for these lots, and that is a real argument we take seriously. What this standard asks is simply that they are sold as what they are, rather than slipped into a specialty line unlabelled. Make it, name it, price it — just don't call it plain specialty coffee.

How this is kept honest

Approval is ongoing rather than time-limited. Once a year we ask every approved business to confirm that every line above is still true. If it is not, the listing comes down.

We also act on what we are told. If you believe a business on one of our lists is no longer meeting this standard, tell us. We never publicise rejections or complaints — everything is held in confidence, and removal decisions are made by a committee of coffee professionals by formal vote.

Nothing on this page is a claim we make about a business. It is a claim the business made about itself, to us, in writing — which is the part that makes it worth checking.

Roast coffee, or serve it?

If every line above is already true of your business, you are most of the way through the application. It is free, it takes about four minutes, and we review every one by hand. Read the standards and apply.