What is Specialty Coffee?
According to thespecialtycoffeecompany.com “The term ‘Specialty coffee’ or ‘Speciality coffee’ is used to refer to coffee that is graded 80 points or above on a 100 point scale by a certified coffee taster (SCAA) or by a licensed Q Grader(CQI).
Typically, specialty coffee is grown at high altitudes, with much care and attention from the farmer. From there, it is sold at a premium to coffee traders, or direct to roasters.
The roasters then create custom profiles for each coffee, enhancing and highlighting their natural flavors.
Baristas then use the carefully grown and roasted coffee to produce quality beverages, often with high precision and specialized equipment.
All this translates into some of the most exciting and tasty coffee in the world.”
What Does Single Origin or Single Estate mean?
Single Origin denotes coffee that comes from one area or region, which will have a distinct climate and soil for each crop, and therefore affect the coffee's final flavor profile. Single Estate can be considered coffee beans harvested from a single farm. Not only micro-climates affect coffee bean flavors, the different varieties of drying processes (which are continually changing and advancing, bringing even more diversity to specialty coffee), along with vast roasting possibilities, have opened the floodgates of coffee potential to most of the world.
Where does coffee come from?
From the store of course! That would have been my answer in earlier days. Many of us don’t give much thought to where our products actually come from, or the processes and logistics involved with getting something that we want into our hands. Coffee goes through various stages of development from many different people during the journey from cultivating to crop to cup. It starts with planting, then sprouting- growing- flowering- fruiting- harvesting- processing- roasting- and ends with brewing the same thing; a coffee seed…or bean.
Coffee Tastes and Aromas Chart
Coffee Grading Spider Chart
Coffee Cherry Layers