Coffee has become a big deal in the past few years. Specialty coffee is now available at many cafes, and if you’re one of those people who frequents coffee shops, you probably hear this term more often than not when it comes to your coffee.
So what exactly is specialty coffee? It’s a phrase that refers to coffee that scores higher than 80 points on the standardized 0-100 coffee grading scale by a panel of testers known as “Q graders.” Green Coffee is visually inspected and then cupped to taste. The visual inspection takes 350g of green coffee, which is then evaluated for color, smell and eliminates damaged or defective beans. To remain “Specialty Coffee,” each sample must have no more than five defective beans and no “sour” beans. Cupping is preformed by roasting a small sample and simply brewing with hot water in a cup allowing the grounds to steep for a few minutes before breaking the crust and beginning the process of figuring out what the sample has to offer. Each taster would then score the coffee based on flavor, acidity, body, aroma—to name just a few qualities—before deciding whether or not it deserves the title “Specialty Coffee.” Only about 10% of all coffee produced around the world reaches specialty grade.
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South and Central Americas, Asia and Africa are typically where specialty coffee is grown at high altitudes in rich coffee growing environments. This areas are know to be in the “Bean Belt”. The 3,200 miles long coffee Bean Belt lies 23.5 degrees north and south of the equator, between the Cancer and Capricorn Tropics and it passes through more than 70 tropical countries; though only 40 out of the 70 countries produce significant amount of coffee.
The most important aspects of Specialty Coffees is the quality, sourcing ethics and transparency. Understanding the journey each bean gives you a sneak peak behind the scenes of the long process from farm to cup. From the growing environment, to the farmers, to the sourcing, to the redistribution, to the roast, then lastly to your cup.
The next time you’re enjoying a great cup of coffee stop and take a moment to envision everything that had to happen for that moment to become reality.
