Specialty (or “Speciality”, depending on preference) coffee has been around in South Africa for little over a decade now, a delicacy known only to a very intimate, almost exclusive group of coffee-drinkers. Today, the term Specialty Coffee is fast becoming a buzz-word in many different circles, and we even have coffee social clubs popping up.
Many of us have been exposed to specialty coffee during this time, without even knowing it. Many of us have been served a “lighter-roasted” specialty coffee and sent it back because it was so different, we did not understand it: “The milk is sour!” or “This doesn’t taste like coffee’s supposed to!” were comments from customers at some of our friends’ coffee shops.
Nowadays, more and more people have easy access to specialty coffee. We are beginning to distinguish what coffee “flavour” we enjoy, and which ones we don’t… which roast profiles we prefer, as well as the proper name of the drink we are ordering… We are beginning to notice which barista we prefer at our favourite spot (and which one to avoid!) and which coffee to buy for home-brewing. Some of us even know which Regions produce coffees which agree to our palette.
But wait… we haven’t answered the main question!? WHAT IS SPECIALTY COFFEE?
What classifies coffee as being “specialty coffee”?
It’s a coffee where the focus (from farm to cup) has been placed on quality, consistency and transparency. Simple enough… or is it?
Specialty Coffee Grading
Quality
The Specialty Coffee Association is an international trade association which provides guidelines on best practices in specialty coffee. Here is a crash-course on how they measure quality:
Quality at the farm is measured on green coffee defects per 350g
- Specialty Grade: Five or less defective beans per 350g
- Premium Grade: Eight or less defective beans per 350g
- Exchange Grade: Between 9 & 23 defective beans per 350g
Lower than this, well… we don’t even want to know about it. Defects can be anything from bug bites, to stones in the coffee. The list is extensive. Cupping is the next form of quality control, starting with a standardized roast method (sample roasting).
The Scoring Pyramid
Cupping
Cupping is the next form of quality control, which focuses on roasted coffee. It starts with a standardized roast method (sample roasting), coupled with a complex scoring system which evaluates the aromas, flavour, uniformity of the cup, amongst other categories.
Specialty Coffee Roasting
There are a number of guidelines around roasting specialty coffee, but this would be a whole article on its own!
Now that you have a feel for what happens before the coffee gets to the brewing point, will you appreciate it more? Let us know your thoughts. 😊
