What is specialty coffee?
If you're wondering what specialty coffee is and why choose specialty. The answer follows in the next few paragraphs.
Behind the world of specialty coffee, there are actually a whole range of factors, but before that, we want to tell you a few things you may have always wondered about.
- Yes, coffee is a fruit and it grows as a shrub
- Its fruits resemble cherries in appearance
- Inside the ripe fruit, there are two coffee beans that are yellowish-white
- After drying, the coffee beans take on a greenish-brown color, and only after the roasting process do they take on a brown or dark-brown color that most people are familiar with.
Everything starts from The Farm
production and workers who diligently care for the fruits.
We know that there are two main types of coffee beans, namely arabica and robusta. Each of them has hundreds of subspecies and varieties, and specialty coffees are mostly from the arabica family, however, even robusta or the third type can be a specialty.
Farms where such coffee is grown are mostly family-owned and have been perfecting the approach to cultivation for generations, caring for the quality of the soil and ultimately, for the fruit itself. In most cases, farmers who grow specialty coffee decide to dedicate their lives to the cultivation of this coffee and work to bring the fruit to perfection. For them, quality is more important than quantity.
Only beans that have no defects and that are picked at the peak of ripeness will be sold and reach the hands of the buyer and those who will further shape them.
For such beans, farmers achieve a better selling price.
Roaster
The person who roasts coffee. Their task is to extract the best from the green coffee beans.
Roaster is the one who must approach each bean uniquely. Not every bean can be roasted at the same temperature and for the same period of time. These coffee beans are most commonly roasted lighter in comparison to commercial coffees. What does that mean? There are three main roasting grades: light, medium and dark. Specialty coffees are mostly roasted light or medium, while the vast majority of commercial coffee is roasted at much higher temperatures and for a longer period, so they are medium-to-dark or dark and tend to sit heavily on the stomach and are much oilier. Similarly, specialty coffees have a much more complex and interesting flavor.
The final link is You
Without you, dear consumers and readers, this chain would not be complete.
Thanks to all of you who take a little more time to find a place near you where specialty coffee is served, and to all of you who will do so in the future. Also, thanks to those who support the specialty coffee community and will continue to support and spread the word about specialty coffee in our country.
