What is specialty coffee?

There’s a lot involved in defining specialty coffee, but in a nutshell, specialty coffee is the best quality coffee that a farmer produces and sells. From growing, to harvesting, to processing, it is ultimately the “cream of the crop”.

The Specialty Coffee Association defines specialty coffee in its green stage as coffee that is free of primary defects (there are standards for what a defect is), has no quakers (beans that don’t turn brown when roasted), is properly sized and dried, presents in the cup free of faults and taints (yes, there are standards for this), and has distinctive attributes. Still confused? Don’t feel bad.

Let’s simplify things, because let’s face it, most people don’t care about long definitions. Put simply, specialty coffee means (when roasted right) it’s damn good coffee!