What Is Specialty Coffee? Searching for Clarity

It’s always the same with trends: They start as an excellent idea in a small niche, conquer the mass market, become a money-printing machine, lose their actual definition and eventually become their own satire.

Since every coffee roaster, no matter how small, and every big player in the coffee industry now talks about specialty coffee, one might think that it’s the same for this subject. Especially since I always find myself shuddering slightly at the word “specialty.”

However, specialty coffee is more than just a license to print money. Not only the word, but the requirements and principles behind it are shaking up the market for coffee beans.

That’s because specialty coffee represents:

All with fair prices for coffee farmers, careful roasting and the right preparation.

In this guide we’ll explore which standards apply to specialty coffee, who sets them and how coffee can pick up this title. Incidentally, my Coffeeness Espresso Blend belongs in this category, so pick up a bag if you want to test your new knowledge right away!

Where Does the Term “Specialty Coffee” Come From?

One might think that a hip barista invented the term “specialty coffee” to justify the prices in their café.

In general, we associate this designation with third wave coffee and the hype surrounding extra-light roast profiles, which began in the late ’80s and boomed in the ’90s.

Suddenly, beans were no longer allowed to convey classic intensity, but had to present delicate aromas and tea-like acidity. Plus, you had to employ as much effort as possible when brewing. At least that’s the superficial impression.

Behind this trend was a new commitment to the purity and quality of coffee – which was actually not so new. Because the term “specialty coffee” and the standards behind it were coined as early as 1974 by Erna Knutsen.

This Norwegian pioneer is considered the undisputed “godmother of specialty coffee.” Interestingly, she started out as the secretary at a U.S. coffee importer. Countless lots of green coffee went through her hands and she quickly learned to distinguish excellent beans from the mass-produced stuff.

Using this knowledge, she went on to found her own coffee shop, providing her customers not only with the highest quality beans, but also all the associated information about the origin and history of her specialties.

Although these newsletters were only distributed on paper, the term specialty coffee – and the attitude behind it – quickly gained momentum, laying the foundation for everything we understand today.

Is it any wonder that not only coffee cherries were in mourning when the creator of a global movement died in 2018 at the age of 96?

What Constitutes Specialty Coffee?

Although specialty coffee is not actually defined by roast profile or tasting notes, it is precisely these factors that play the main role in its evaluation. This also makes it so difficult to explain the far-reaching raison d’être of the concept without becoming entangled in contradictions. I’ll try anyway.

At its core, Specialty Coffee stands on three legs:

None of these points can be considered in isolation, even if they aren’t on an equal footing in the official (or currently valid) definition. The official classification, to which practically the entire coffee world adheres, comes from the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).

The SCA is a global non-profit organization that, following Erna Knutsen’s model, is committed to maintaining quality in coffee.

The Special Coffee Association was formed in 2017 from a merger of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), and today spans the entire coffee world.

The SCA is our top quality watchdog and organizes competitions and training sessions, as well as researching new strategies for coffee initiatives around the world. However, one of its most important tasks is the evaluation of coffee.

The SCA trains coffee graders and has developed a standardized procedure for coffee tasting, from which the classification as specialty coffee can be assessed in the form of a cupping score.

When Can Coffee Be Called “Speciality Coffee”?

Coffees with a cupping score above 80 points are considered specialty coffee. Everything below is simply “coffee.” On the other hand, really high scoring beans display extraordinary quality and are usually among the most expensive coffees.

Unlike in my coffee bean reviews, the tasting and scoring of coffee according to SCA rules is surprisingly standardized. While I find metaphors and comparisons for the intensity of a roast or the character of acids, the official testers work with a sober scale.

This scale is recorded in a cupping protocol (according to SCA specifications) and added to the overall rating at the end. Several testers should ensure that the coffee is actually evaluated as “objectively” as possible. The categories in the SCA protocol include:

“Cleanliness” is a somewhat vague concept in which the taster is supposed to record their impression from the first sip to the final aftertaste.

Burning rubber or similar notes are a no-go and disqualify the respective cup. Of course, this can have a very negative effect on the overall score.

In order for tastings in Paris to theoretically produce the same results as tests in a coffee lab in New York, the SCA has also established standards for roasting and preparation that should be identical for each coffee.

As we can see from this approach, it makes no difference whatsoever which region or farm the beans come from when classifying them as specialty coffee according to the “almighty” SCA formula. In fact, this assessment put the cart before the horse.

If the green coffee was carefully grown and processed on the respective farm and the beans were then refined with the correct roast profile, this is guaranteed to be reflected in the cup. No matter what the cultivation areas are called. That’s why all coffee beans have the chance to become classified as specialty coffee.

What About Coffee Blends?

According to the SCA definition, it is logical that blends from different regions and varieties cannot be declared specialty coffees in the sense of the Specialty Coffee Association. Although they can easily represent several microclimates and properties perfectly, they do not produce a pure picture.

Since the SCA criteria for cuppings dominate the specialty market, a blend often comes off as less refined than a single origin. Of course, this is nonsense in the end.

The roasting and perfect composition of several coffees often unlocks completely different flavors with an exciting intensity. And if you look at it this way, two or three single origin coffees make double or triple top-quality coffee, so to speak.

The fact that coffee professionals see it differently than the end consumers is not only the case with coffee. And ultimately it does not matter for total coffee enjoyment in the café or at home – does it?

Specialty Coffee Needs To Be Learned: How Do You Become a Coffee Grader?

Can you distinguish acids and fruit notes down to the micro-molecule and do you know a thing or two about roasting? Then nothing stands in the way of a career as an official coffee taster. Although there is (as yet) no state-recognized diploma or similar, there are standards that are just as firmly established as for the tasting itself.

Every training institution that offers appropriate courses and certificates trains according to the SCA standards. At least that is the case if the certificate is to be worth something in the end. Theoretically, anyone can enroll in such courses. But they are expensive and require a lot of prior knowledge.

If you can’t reproduce the Flavor Wheel for coffee beans in your sleep and don’t understand in detail what happens to coffee when roasting, you don’t really need to bother.

Because at the end of the training, multi-stage exams and tastings await, in which you must be able to judge coffee according to flavors, intensity, etc. You also have to take care of the roasting and all other preparatory steps yourself.

The training for Q-Grader (Q like Quality), offered by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) as a spin-off of the SCA is very well-known. The courses are held all over the world.

But that’s not all: Because quality is so important for specialty coffee and all the standards that exist around it, you have to recertify every three years.

Therefore, it is somehow logical that coffee roasters in particular go through this complex process. And this in turn is another advantage for us as end consumers:

If coffee roasters from Seattle to Miami have a professional taster in their ranks, this roaster theoretically buys better coffee than a shop without. And better coffee usually leads to an even better end result when roasting.

Specialty Coffee From the Supermarket? How the Coffee Industry Is Turning the Concept of Quality Into a Commodity

My detailed explanation of the SCA process and the understanding of quality behind it should make it clear that specialty coffee is more than just a fancy word for fancy beans.

However, this term is not protected or trademarked. Of course, the SCA watches over its use like a hawk and the scene itself would immediately call out frauds.

I don’t want to trash supermarket coffee for the umpteenth time. I mean, it can do that on its own. Just look at the ludicrously low prices with a ludicrously large market share and incredibly dubious quality.

I’m more interested in the concept of specialty coffee’s perceived quality and how it’s exploited for advertising, marketing and so forth. And not only from industrial brands like Tchibo.

It should be obvious that no coffee sommelier in the world would award a specialty score to a can of Folgers for its quality.

First, because it is usually an undefined blend. Secondly, because it has hardly any distinguishable flavor notes. Finally, because it’s not just about intensity and taste, but about the whole rat’s tail from farm to the cup, which is so crucial when it comes to coffee.

However, since the dawn of third wave coffee, the term has gained more and more currency, and “specialty coffee” as a label commands higher prices than the average bag of coffee.

However, in order to avoid making themselves vulnerable, many providers at supermarket level stay close to the concept without crossing the shitstorm line.

Look for terms such as “Premium Coffee” “Select” and “Specialties” (without “coffee” behind it). Perhaps mixed with “Barista.”

As soon as you see these words, you should run away.

They are a similarly hollow attempt to jump on a supposed trend bandwagon as the qualitative classification of Arabica as “Highland Coffee.”

How to Buy “SCA Coffee”

I use SCA vocabulary or the term “specialty coffee” usually either subliminally or with slight irony. That’s intentional. Even if the requirements of the Specialty Coffee Association are a perfect indication of quality, we should not necessarily be impressed by cupping scores or labels.

What counts are only the coffee beans, which are perfected via excellent roasting for a given preparation method.

For me, there is no point deduction if the fruit notes are a little unbalanced or the cleanliness doesn’t live up to the coffee taster’s claims. As long as notes of burning rubber or wet dog are absent from the cup, I am satisfied.

In my opinion, SCA quality is above all reflected in the transparency and intensity with which a coffee roastery tries to balance the negative fundamentals of coffee value creation.

This goes far beyond labels such as Fair Trade and revolves around sustainable coffee cultivation, an environmentally friendly harvest, direct procurement without intermediaries (direct trade) and fair pay for coffee farmers and roasters.

That’s why it doesn’t matter whether a single origin from Ethiopia or a blend from Costa Rica and Brazil ends up in the coffee bag. As long as the origin can be traced back directly to the tree and the roasters tell me exactly who earns what, the coffee is good quality. Period.

Factors to Consider When Buying Coffee

If we take these requirements for transparency and sustainability as a basis, we will end up on the SCA scale anyway, even if the coffee beans don’t comply with the strict regulations. That’s exactly what I meant by the confusion that the term creates.

If you go to buy coffee beans, you should therefore not look for SCA buzzwords, but rather focus on the actual characteristics of specialty coffee:

Of course, I try to lead by example. That’s why I took all these points into account when developing my Coffeeness Signature Espresso Blend.

Digitalization: New Shores for Specialty Coffee?

I won’t write a long treatise on cryptocurrencies and blockchain as the new torch of digitalization. I also don’t claim to understand every aspect of this development.

Still, the fact remains that the coffee value chain is already experimenting with it and could benefit in the long term.

The basic idea is as follows: In the blockchain, there’s no single gatekeeper who brokers transactions and can be paid for doing so. The database is public, the transactions are visible and traceable for all participants in this chain.

Because everyone can see everything, completely new market access is created, for which all that is needed is Internet access and a little knowledge of the process. Of course, this can also be used for trading in commodities such as coffee.

We already know the principle in physical form from direct trade: if there are no middlemen, they don’t have to be paid. This means that (theoretically) more money stays in the country of origin and with the farmers. Coffee roasters can procure and pay for their beans transparently and securely via cryptocurrencies such as Coffee Coin.

The relationships between all players on the specialty coffee map could therefore be strengthened even further and, above all, become fairer if no one can hide behind traditional trade structures. In this respect, specialty coffee (and coffee in general) can only benefit from digitalization.

We’ll have to see whether this promise is fulfilled. However, it is already clear that specialty coffee must (and will) find its way out of the hipster niche if we still want to drink it tomorrow. After all, transparency in retail also means that bad coffee from dubious sources can be exposed more quickly.

So it won’t be long before “specialty coffee” simply means “coffee”.

Specialty Coffee FAQ