You’ll often hear people referring to ‘specialty coffee’. However, many people are confused about what this means.
Specialty coffee is a quality-focused term. It’s a coffee that is roasted for a shorter amount of time at a lower temperature, which highlights the beans’ unique flavors. The beans are then brewed using specific methods to enhance their flavor profile.
It’s a sensory experience
The experience of tasting a really good cup of speciality coffee is unlike anything else. It’s a sensory explosion that leaves you feeling completely satisfied, like fireworks lighting up your taste buds!
The best specialty coffee is consciously sourced, expertly roasted and carefully brewed. It has to be of the very highest quality if you want to taste its full flavour potential. Speciality coffee is a great way to discover the amazing range of aromas that come from different countries and regions. You can also learn more about the culture, history and social impact of the coffee farms that grow it.
To be labelled as speciality, the coffee must score 80+ out of 100 in a taste test called cupping. This is done by complete coffee boffins who sniff, sip and score the beans based on 10 different principles including fragrance/aroma, body, balance, acidity, mouthfeel and sweetness. This means that the farmers have done a stellar job at growing, harvesting and processing their coffee.
The resulting bean is then roasted to perfection by a master artisan roaster. This is what we do at New York Gourmet Coffee, bringing you a superb selection of year-round and single origin speciality coffee. All of our coffees are sourced ethically, and you can find out more about them by reading the detailed tasting notes on each product page.
It’s a treat
With all the care that goes into growing and producing speciality coffee, it’s no surprise that it’s a treat for the taste buds. It’s also a very socially responsible drink. Speciality coffee is sourced from farmers who are committed to fair trade and ethical standards. This ensures that the farmer is receiving a good price for their beans. The industry also pays close attention to the roasting process and the preparation techniques used. This allows the unique flavour notes of each coffee to shine through.
Unlike commodity coffee, which is usually low quality Robusta beans and tastes bitter and flat, speciality coffees are graded above 80 by a qualified Q-Grader (coffee’s answer to the sommelier). They are also roasted lighter, allowing the complex flavours to shine through. The flavours you can experience vary from subtle milk chocolate to blueberries, mangoes, and star anise.
When you visit a specialty coffee shop, you can try many different flavour profiles and learn about the history of each bean through conversations with fully trained baristas. You can also purchase beans and make your own cup of specialty at home. There are several brewing methods you can use to bring out the best flavours in your coffee, including the cafetiere, French press, Chemex, and V60 pour over. The key is to choose a brewing method that suits the flavour profile of the coffee you’re trying.
It’s a conversation
There’s nothing quite like the elation you experience when you sip a cup of specialty coffee. It’s like fireworks in your mouth, a truly remarkable sensory experience. But what is it that sets the coffee we serve at The Proper Coffee Co apart from the stuff you’ll find in your local high street chain?
Specialty coffee is coffee that has been sourced through a supply chain involving a number of rigorous quality checks. These start with the cultivation of the beans, and continue throughout every stage of the process, including roasting and preparation. It also requires that the beans meet specific criteria in terms of their origin, climate, and flavour. This means that when you visit our shop, you can expect to be served exceptional, high-quality coffee that has been brewed using specialist techniques.
The coffee we serve at our shop is sourced by carefully selected suppliers that share our passion for great coffee. They are able to offer a wide selection of different coffees, so we can always ensure that our customers have something new and exciting to try.
There’s a lot more to speciality coffee than meets the eye. It’s about much more than the beans that end up in your cup of joe, and it starts at the source, with farmers that care about the quality of their harvests. This is why they are paid more for their produce than what you’ll find in the supermarket – to ensure that their efforts pay off with an excellent product.
It’s a way of life
Specialty coffee is a way of life that reflects in everything from the sourcing of beans to how they’re roasted, and the preparation of each cup. This approach is rooted in global conscious ethics and a rich appreciation for quality and diversity. It also relies on the expertise of master artisan roasters.
A good specialty coffee must be made from high-quality beans that have been roasted for a shorter time at a lower temperature, so they can develop their full flavor potential. The brewing method used is another important aspect, as different methods bring out different characteristics in the bean. Some of the most popular brewing techniques include the cafetiere, French press, Chemex, and V60 pour over.
Lastly, the coffee must be carefully crafted and brewed to create a memorable experience for the customer. In order to do this, the coffee must be well-balanced and exhibit the right amount of acidity and sweetness. In addition, the coffee should be poured with great care to avoid over-saturation.
Specialty coffee is made from quality beans that are sourced using fair trade practices and meet certain ethical standards. For example, a coffee must be grown and harvested in accordance with the laws of its country, and it must be free from environmental hazards. It must also be sourced from a farm that meets certain social and economic criteria, including the availability of safe working conditions.