World Coffee Research is a non-profit research and development program. The organization was founded with participation or funds from thirty coffee industry groups including the Specialty Coffee Association of America, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Counter Culture Coffee, the coffee importers InterAmerican Coffee, and specialty coffee providers Coffee Bean International.
Geneticist Timothy Schilling is the Executive Director of the organization which is part of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University. The organization funds and facilitates research relating to enhancing and protecting varieties of coffee as a commodity. For example, in order to preserve biodiversity the organization is collecting wild and cultivated varieties from Ethiopia and South Sudan.