What is Specialty Coffee?

When we call ourselves a Specialty Coffee Company, we don’t just mean “good.”

“Specialty,” like other terms (“gourmet,” high quality” “craft” even “fair trade”) can sometimes just be words we use to say the same thing, “we like this coffee, and we think you will too.” Coffee is so subjective that quality doesn’t always mean the same thing for every coffee drinker. Everyone knows where to find the best coffee, and while that’s probably never true, its also probably always true. What’s best for them is the coffee that brings them the most enjoyment, that’s the beauty of coffee.

Some background…stay with me

A few decades ago the Specialty Coffee Association was created. One of the things they set out to accomplish, was to create a standardized grading system to evaluate coffees and highlight the outstanding ones. This would become the 100 point scale that we still use today. It evaluates things like green coffee aroma, bean size, color, body, flavor and clarity. Trained coffee tasters called “Q Graders” first inspect the green coffee for defects, then cup the coffee after its roasted. Anything that scores about an 80 on that scale is considered “Specialty Coffee.”

Here’s the important part

When we say we’re a Specialty Coffee Roaster, what we mean is that we buy specialty coffee. Only 10 percent of all coffee produced is specialty grade and is rewarded with a score of 80 or above. To us, those coffees are the most enjoyable.

That’s an important start, but it also means that we are choosing to partner with the most dedicated and passionate coffee producers on the planet. Coffee prices, like all prices, are effected by a lot of factors. For the producer, one of the most helpful is quality. For them, one of the best ways to get the most out of their efforts, is to produce higher quality coffee. Better coffees bring in more money. In purchasing those coffees exclusively, we are choosing to jump in with the people focusing on the industry as a whole, growers, buyers, roasters, and others down the line. More on that another time.

Thanks for reading