What is specialty coffee?
We use this phrase often, but we don’t often discuss its definition explicitly.
Surely if we use this term as frequently as we do, it would be helpful to make sure we were all talking about the same thing. As such, I think it would be helpful to discuss what we mean when we talk about specialty coffee.
Where does this phrase come from?
The term “specialty coffee” was initially coined by Erna Knutsen in 1978 to describe coffees from geographic microclimates that produce beans with unique flavour profiles, with an underlying assumption of quality and freshness from growing to brewing.
In two words: uniqueness and quality.
Every coffee has a unique history that influences its inherent potential for flavour. This flavour is primarily determined by a few key things: variety, terroir, and processing.
Variety: The species and variety of the coffee tree(s) from which the cherries were picked.
Terroir: Where the coffee was grown, the unique climate of that region, the soil in which the coffee was grown, the elevation at which it was grown, the amount of precipitation in a given season, etc.
Processing: How the coffee seed was removed from the coffee cherry, fermented, and dried.
Changing any of these factors can noticeably alter coffee’s flavour.
On top of this, each coffee’s distinct characteristics can either be preserved or lost (or potentially enhanced). To preserve the unique qualities of each coffee, care must be taken in the growth, harvesting, processing, drying, storing, shipping, roasting, packaging, and brewing of a coffee. When these steps (and potentially more) are handled well, the unique character of each coffee can be preserved.
Any practice that preserves the unique flavours of each coffee might be considered a quality practice. Quality preserves a coffee’s inherent qualities, ensuring that we experience the coffee’s unique characteristics once brewed. We often refer to this type of quality as transparency.
It is the unique sensory qualities in each coffee that makes it special. Appreciating a coffee’s unique flavours relies on transparency, which relies on quality, and therefore we can’t have specialty coffee without quality.
Any practices that hinder transparency are considered detrimental to quality. Usually these issues contribute generic flavours to a coffee. This is problematic, as generic flavours can be created in any coffee and are contrary to uniqueness. These generic flavours tend to distract from or hide a coffee’s unique flavours. The absence of quality harms transparency and therefore our ability to appreciate a given coffee.
Specialty is an approach to coffee that seeks to discover, appreciate, and enjoy the unique qualities that make each coffee special.
What Are We Trying To Achieve?
It is interesting to lay these ideas out explicitly and systematically. I doubt any of this is even slightly controversial, and I’m sure many coffee professionals would nod along in agreement with these statements.
It is important to understand what our goals are. If we define our goals clearly then we can measure how well we are achieving them. If our goal is to make specialty coffee, then defining specialty coffee can help us evaluate how well we are doing.
Do the practices in our specialty coffee service intentionally highlight the unique flavour characteristics of each coffee for our customers? Do our customers leave us having gained an appreciation of the unique flavour characteristics of the coffee they bought? Are we serving our customers something special, or just charging them more for higher quality green coffee?
I view specialty not as a grading system for quality (as seems to have become common) but as an approach or philosophy for appreciating each coffee for its unique sensory qualities. Yes, this appreciation relies on quality, and grading systems can be helpful, but specialty coffee doesn’t end at green coffee scoring. What we do with that high-scoring coffee is important and distinguishes one approach from the next.
Have we prioritized meeting baseline coffee scores over the appreciation of coffee? Do we lose the uniqueness of our coffee somewhere along the way? If we don’t appreciate each coffee’s uniqueness, then is our approach special? Is green quality enough?
Maybe it is not your goal to serve specialty coffee. That is fine! There is room in the world for many approaches to exist, and I’m sure there are markets for all sorts of approaches.
I just want to ask: what do we mean when we talk about “specialty” coffee?