What Specialty Coffee Really Means

Specialty coffee is not defined by one good cup. The term, first used by Ms. Knutsen in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, was a response to an era when merchants blended large amounts of Robusta into their lots to raise profits and overall quality kept falling. Judging specialty coffee requires a full chain: green bean quality, roasting craft, and extraction method, plus whether that chain can operate healthily.

A single aromatic sip is not enough. The Specialty Coffee Association of America and producing-country bodies set evaluation standards that extend from green bean grading to cupping and roast profiling. As Knutsen argued, soil and water conditions at each origin shape flavor, so good green beans, good roasting, and good extraction are all indispensable. Coffee quality is therefore an industry-chain question, not just a cafe claim.

These days many cafés emphasize freshly ground specialty coffee, treating a rich aroma and a full-bodied taste as the hallmark of specialty coffee. Yet judging specialty coffee is far more than the simple experience of a single sip. It involves a complete chain from green bean quality and roasting craft to extraction method, and it also carries a deeper proposition about whether the industry chain can develop healthily. This article begins with the origins of specialty coffee, sorts out the evaluation standards of the Specialty Coffee Association of America and producing countries, and explains why good green beans, good roasting, and good extraction are all indispensable. It also touches on Front Street Coffee's practices in bean selection and output, to help readers build a systematic understanding of specialty coffee.

Today, many cafés promote the concept of freshly ground specialty coffee. Compared with brewing directly from coffee powder, freshly ground specialty coffee does indeed have a more pronounced aroma and a fuller body. But the question is: does freshly ground pour-over coffee equal true specialty coffee?

The answer is not necessarily. While the flavor and aroma of coffee are certainly important bases for judging specialty coffee, the conditions specialty coffee must meet go far beyond these, and drawing a conclusion from a single sip is clearly not comprehensive enough.

What specialty coffee points to is not merely the quality of the coffee itself, but also whether the entire industry chain can operate healthily and sustainably.

Good Green Beans + Good Roasting + Good Extraction

Specialty coffee is a concept defined in contrast to ordinary coffee. The term was first proposed by Ms. Knutsen of the United States in the magazine Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. At the time, Ms. Knutsen was working as a buyer in San Francisco for a coffee company. In that era, the coffee industry was quite lax about quality control of green beans, and many coffee merchants would blend large amounts of Robusta beans into their blends to earn higher profits, causing overall coffee quality to decline continuously. It was against this backdrop that Ms. Knutsen proposed the concept of specialty coffee, with the aim of pushing the entire industry to improve coffee quality.

Knutsen believed that coffee, due to differences in the soil and water conditions of each origin, displays a unique "taste of place"—differences in soil, variety, climate, and terroir create distinctly different coffee flavors, and this is precisely the soul of specialty coffee. Without this unique taste of place, it can only be classified as ordinary coffee.

If one must define specialty coffee, the wording of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA, later merged with the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe, SCAE, to form the SCA) is fairly apt: carefully select the most suitable varieties, plant them at the altitude, climate, and soil and water conditions most conducive to the development of coffee flavor; carefully carry out washed and sun-dried processing, select the highest-grade green beans free of defects, and deliver them to customers with zero flaws in transport; through the roaster's superior skill, bring out the richest taste of place, then brew a delicious coffee using a recognized extraction method.

In summary, specialty coffee should be high-quality coffee of "good green beans + good roasting + good extraction," which can also be summarized by the "4321" theory. In its bean selection and output, Front Street Coffee also consistently follows this approach, striving to stably present the flavor of place from green bean screening to extraction parameters.

A Win-Win Path of Sustainable Development

There is another difference between specialty coffee and ordinary coffee that many people do not understand.

Looking back at history, the coffee industry in the past mainly obtained high profits by exploiting coffee farmers, and then by blending in inferior coffee (also a profit-seeking practice) to meet taste requirements.

Specialty coffee, by contrast, advocates that every participant in the industry chain should receive legitimate benefits rather than being exploited. This way of doing business allows the coffee industry to develop healthily, and also encourages each link to keep finding ways to improve quality. The result is that participants at every stage gain greater benefits—this is also a path of sustainable development.

Criteria for Judging Specialty Coffee

At present there is no unified international standard for judging specialty coffee. We can refer to the standards of the Specialty Coffee Association of America as well as the evaluation standards of producing countries. The details are as follows:

Standards of the Specialty Coffee Association of America

1. Rich dry aroma. Dry aroma refers to the aroma of coffee after roasting or grinding.

2. Rich wet aroma. Wet aroma refers to the aroma of the coffee extract.

3. Rich acidity. Rich acidity combined with sugar can increase the sweetness of the coffee liquid.

4. Rich body. Body refers to the concentration and heaviness of the coffee liquid.

5. Rich aftertaste. Aftertaste refers to the evaluation of flavor after swallowing or spitting out.

6. Rich flavor. Flavor refers to the aroma and taste of the coffee liquid perceived on the upper palate.

7. Balanced taste. This refers to the balance and integration among the various flavors of the coffee.

Evaluation Standards of Producing Countries

1. Variety. Arabica's inherent Typica or Bourbon varieties are preferred.

2. Whether the altitude, topography, climate, and soil of the planting site or farm are clearly defined. Generally, coffee from high altitudes is of higher quality, and fertile volcanic soil is preferred.

3. The harvesting method and processing method used. Generally, manual harvesting and the washed processing method are preferred.

4. Having been evaluated by a Q-Grader, with a cupping score above 80.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.