Does Specialty Coffee Enhance
The Coffee Experience?

The Specialty Coffee Association of America (the premier trade association that focuses on quality coffee) has this to say about specialty coffees:

The term "specialty coffee" refers to the highest-quality green coffee beans roasted to their greatest flavor potential by true craftspeople and then properly brewed to well-established standards. Specialty coffee is not defined by a brewing method, such as the use of an espresso machine.

The definition of specialty coffee begins at the origin of coffee, the planting of a particular varietal into a particular growing region of the world. But the definition cannot stop there. The concept of specialty includes the care given to the plant through harvest and preparation for export.

Specialty coffee in the green bean phase can be defined as a coffee that has no defects and has a distinctive character in the cup. It is not only that the coffee doesn't taste bad; to be considered specialty it must be notably good.

The next phase is roasting, and there is a lot of opportunity here to continually define specialty. Every coffee in combination with every roaster has a potential to express itself in a way that will be most satisfying for every customer. Bringing out a coffee's distinctive character is the roastmaster's challenge. If he comes close to succeeding then it is still specialty if it started out in the green form as specialty.

In roasted coffee, most agree that freshness is a part of the definition for specialty. If the coffee is not highly aromatic then it no longer deserves to be called "specialty."

Then there is the brewing phase. There are many different methods, and all are capable of brewing beverages that can qualify as specialty coffee, but only if done correctly. The right ratio of coffee to water, the right grind suited to the method and the coffee's physical characteristics, the proper water temperature and contact time, a good preparation of the coffee "bed" or "cake" are all fundamentals that must be satisfied to produce a specialty cup of coffee.

Specialty coffee is, in the end, defined in the cup. It takes many steps to deliver that cup into the customers' hands. Each of those steps can uphold the classification of specialty if quality has been maintained throughout all the preceding steps.

These are some specialty coffee facts, also provided by the Specialty Coffee Association of America:

• Specialty coffee is defined as a coffee that has no defects and has a distinctive flavor in the cup.
  
• Specialty coffee, a term that refers to the highest-quality green beans roasted by true craftspeople, is surprisingly affordable. One cup costs about 24 cents (based on 50 cups/lb @ $12/lb) - making it cheaper than bottled water.
  
• Everyday, Americans drink more than 300 million cups of coffee; 75% of those cups are home-brewed.
  
• In 2005,15% of the adult American population enjoyed a daily cup of specialty coffee.
• Like wine and honey, specialty coffee has a unique flavor thanks to the micro-climates that produce it.
  
• In 1683, one pound of coffee in New York was worth as much as four acres of land.
   
• To be considered truly fresh, coffee should be ground right before brewing and brewed within three to seven days of roasting.
  
• Surprisingly, a 1 oz. espresso contains less caffeine (approx. 40 mg) than a regular 8 oz. serving of drip coffee (approx. 85 mg). In fact, in the espresso brewing method, water is in contact with the grounds for only 20 to 25 seconds and extracts less caffeine than methods that put water in contact with the grounds for several minutes.
  
• Strong-tasting coffee has no more caffeine than its weak-tasting counterpart. Caffeine contributes no taste; it's a product of the type of bean, water-to-coffee ratio, and brewing method.
  
• Seventy percent (70%) of the world's coffee production is the Arabica species.
  
• Thanks to some popular commercials, most of us believe that coffee originated in Colombia or Brazil. Not so; it originated in Ethiopia.
  
• The global coffee industry employs more than 20 million people.
  
• It takes approximately 42 coffee beans to make an average serving of espresso.

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New York Coffee Papua New Guinea 1 Lb Bag Coffee from Papua New Guinea which lies just north of Australia is particulary sweet, full bodied with an almost perfectly balanced coffee flavor. These coffees are not as popular in the specialty coffee world but are truly excellent.