Growing, roasting, and brewing coffee is a beautiful art. It is a process that involves so much more than just the beverage. But what are the key factors that differentiate mass-produced coffee from specialty coffee?
We will avoid the general definitions of specialty coffee as given by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), globally renowned commercial and specialty coffee trading houses and any other such institutions. Instead, we will share our own perspective on the matter and shed light on what our views are on the differences between a regular cup of coffee and a specialty one. In many ways, our perspective will perhaps more reemphasize rather than redefine many aspects of the understanding of specialty coffee by large institutions.
So, let’s get started! The coffee farmer plays a major role in initiating this grand ritual at the farm level and he is later assisted by the roaster who with the aid of chemistry, sensory perception and perpetual experimentation does justice to the hard work of the producer. At the farm level, several dimensions of attention elevate the status of a particular lot of coffee to “specialty”. A great deal of attention goes into nurturing the soil and planting the right varietals of coffee at the right altitude and location to ensure a healthy lifecycle for each plant. Picking needs to be done in a sophisticated and selective manner to ensure cherries are picked at their ripest following which they are arduously sorted to separate the best from the rest. And then we move into the magical world of post-harvest processing where producers turn into scientists and experiment with all kinds of methods to influence fermentation and drying which greatly influences the end flavour.
Once post-harvest processing is complete and the coffees are well rested, they are sent off to the mills where they cured before getting shipped off to roasters. A tremendous series of activities including cupping and profiling take place at this level which differentiates specialty coffee from its commercial equivalent. Roasters ensure that they develop roast profiles to bring out the most impactful flavours unlocking all the potential present in each lot of coffee.
There are no strictly set standards to test the efficacy of specialty coffee. However, the SCA has a sophisticated scoring system for quality and they establish that according to this system, coffees that score above 80 on 100 points (typically graded by certified Q-Graders for Arabica and Robusta) can be deemed as specialty.
There are several different classifications of specialty coffee. Some countries produce specialty coffee more than others. The origin of specialty coffees varies by region, but they tend to originate in the tropical “Bean Belt” region of the world.