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.

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

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