What is Specialty Coffee?

“A Concise Journey Down the Specialty Coffee Rabbit Hole”

I’ll never forget my first experience with a specialty coffee; it’s seared into my memory, ranked just behind the birth of my son and just ahead of my wedding day. After ordering a cup of Ethiopian from a local coffee shop, the tasting notes made me question fundamental truths about my existence. What is this madness? Surely this wasn’t “coffee”? It tasted like blueberries and blood oranges. I gathered the courage to double check my order with the barista.

“Is there anything in this?” I asked in a hushed whisper, careful not to blow my cover as a mass market garbage coffee drinker.

“Nope. Just a single origin Ethiopian—it’s specialty,” the barista replied, handing me a laminated paper with tasting notes and details of the region.

I had so many follow up questions, but I didn’t want to hold up the line. Specialty Coffee? Single Origin? What’s a tasting note?

Look no further, Folgers converts, the answers to these questions lie below.

 What is “Specialty Coffee”?

“Specialty Coffee” defined as such by the Specialty Coffee Association when it meets a few specific criteria. The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is a non-profit trade association that seeks to “make specialty coffee a thriving, equitable, and sustainable activity for the entire value chain.” This organization has standards and metrics for different facets of the coffee production process with several links in the supply chain being assessed. Simply put, for a coffee bean to be defined as specialty, there must be a minimum of 5 defects per 12 ounces, it must score above 80 on the SCA cupping form, and it must be handpicked by selective picking of mature beans.

The SCA’s core values help to define and oversee the specialty coffee space with emphasis on education and research, sustainable practices, diversity, and ethical operations. So, a bean isn’t specialty just because it scores well on the cupping form or gives you a nice jolt after a long night out. Criteria for harvesting ensures that beans are farmed using the selective picking process. This occurs early in the supply chain and involves hand picking only ripe coffee cherries as opposed to using diesel fueled heavy machinery to harvest. This criterion is imperative as it ensures coffee is being harvested by people, which encourages better labor practices for the farms and better relationships with the communities they support. When specialty coffee houses mention buzzwords like “communal responsibility” or “sustainability” in the value chain, this is what they’re referring to.

 Why “Single Origin”?

“Single Origin” just means that a coffee bean’s origin can be tracked back to a single region, or more specifically, a single farm. A coffee blend, on the other hand, is two or more beans blended together in an effort to achieve different tastes or flavors. Most mass market coffees are blends, which is why it’s difficult to find distinct tasting notes in a cup of Maxwell House.

 What even is a “Tasting Note”?

Distinct tasting notes in your cup of coffee come from a few different factors. In addition to the processing method or how the bean is roasted, the environment the coffee is grown and harvested in have a profound influence on the aromas and flavors in your morning cup of joe. For example, a fruity Ethiopian coffee is going to be very distinct from a chocolatey Papua New Guinea. Differences in altitude, humidity, or soil content all effect the notes in a coffee bean, so different regions have different flavor profiles. I personally prefer single origin for this reason, as I like to explore the different notes from specific regions or farms.

So, the next time you venture out to that trendy coffee house, where all the cool kids hang, you can order that specialty coffee with confidence. You can look for distinct aromas and flavors from different regions and sound smarter than your friends. Follow my lead and throw that giant bucket of Folgers in the trash.  Or, if you’re environmentally conscious, recycle the can or repurpose it; it will make for a better DIY drum for a toddler than a satisfying java for a coffee connoisseur like you.