WTF Is Speciality Coffee?
Caffeine|April - May 2018

Every barista gets asked the question, but how do they answer? Karolina Kumstova from European Coffee Trip finds out

Karolina Kumstova
WTF Is Speciality Coffee?

If you want to get technical about it, any coffee that scores 80 points or above out of 100 by a Specialty Coffee Association-certified coffee taster or Q grader is defined as “speciality”. But the term has always meant much more than that. When I asked my colleagues for their best answers to the common customer query “What is speciality coffee?” not one of their answers was straightforward.

For Philipp Reichel, co-owner of Berlin’s Isla Coffee and roaster at Café Neun, it is to do with his duty towards the customer. “The idea behind speciality coffee is the ability as a café – and even more so as a roastery – to showcase what the coffee you are drinking is about,” he says.

This story is from the April - May 2018 edition of Caffeine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April - May 2018 edition of Caffeine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM CAFFEINEView All
The Future Of Decaf?
Caffeine

The Future Of Decaf?

A US company claims its pouch extracts caffeine without harming flavour

time-read
1 min  |
Issue 42
Great Coffee Shouldn't Cost The Earth
Caffeine

Great Coffee Shouldn't Cost The Earth

Caffeine’s editor-at-large Tim Ridley explains how to lower the environmental impact of your coffee-drinking habit

time-read
4 mins  |
Issue 42
What The F**k...Is Honey Processing?
Caffeine

What The F**k...Is Honey Processing?

Apart from natural and washed coffees sits a whole other category, as Sierra Wen Xin Yeo explains

time-read
3 mins  |
Issue 42
The grind
Caffeine

The grind

SEASONAL COFFEE

time-read
1 min  |
Issue 42
Tea with purpose
Caffeine

Tea with purpose

Michelle and Rob Comins explain how tea can be a force for good

time-read
2 mins  |
Issue 42
Ten years on
Caffeine

Ten years on

We celebrate the London Coffee Festival’s first decade with a look at its successes

time-read
3 mins  |
Issue 42
Chocolate and espresso pavlova with fennel roasted grapes
Caffeine

Chocolate and espresso pavlova with fennel roasted grapes

This year I’m giving coffee centre stage on the Christmas dessert table. I firmly believe coffee shouldn’t just be an afterthought to accompany dessert, it should be the dessert – but aside from that, it just makes sense.

time-read
2 mins  |
Issue 42
Bitter Barista
Caffeine

Bitter Barista

Latte art competitions have been milking it for too long – they used to be fun, but now their focus on the wrong things is harming barista skills, says our cantankerous columnist

time-read
3 mins  |
Issue 42
What The F**k ...Is The Maillard Reaction?
Caffeine

What The F**k ...Is The Maillard Reaction?

It’s just one of the elements you need to know about if you’re going to roast coffee successfully, as Edgaras Juška explains

time-read
2 mins  |
Issue 41
Work Wonders
Caffeine

Work Wonders

Coffee gets people through the working day. So it stands to reason that better coffee produces better work – and in some places the two are in perfect harmony, says Phil Wain

time-read
4 mins  |
Issue 41