What's so Special About Specialty Coffee?

When talking about our coffees we often refer to them as specialty coffees. It would be fair to ask what makes a specialty coffee special. This is a thorny topic and one that many in the coffee business have only a partial understanding of.

One of the most obvious differences between specialty coffee and non-specialty coffees is the availability of information about the coffee. A number of places, for example, offer 100% Colombian coffee. What can be said of such coffees? Colombia is the second largest producer of coffee in the world with over a million hectares in production. Coffee sold generically as Colombian are often what is known in the industry as MAM. This is a blend of coffees from three different growing regions called Medillin, Armenia, and Manizales which together include most of the coffee grown in central Colombia.

Wilson's also offers a coffee from Colombia, but we can provide more information about the coffee than that it happens to come from Colombia. Our Colombian comes from farms around the town of Pasto in the Nariño province. The beans are dry processed, come only from the Caturra and Borbon varieties of arabica coffee, and are at least 18 screen sized.

Coffees that can be described as coming from a very specific geographic area tend to be more distinct than more generically specified coffees for two very important reasons: the climate in which the coffee is grown and the care taken in the production, harvesting, and processing of the coffee.

The flavor of a given coffee greatly depends on the conditions in which it is grown. Soil composition, rain patterns, shade, and altitude are all parts of the microclimate of a growing area. With larger areas, there is more potential variation in all of these variables. The result is a coffee that is not as distinct.

It is possible to obtain poor quality coffee even from land with a climate very favorable to the production of top quality coffee. A great deal depends on the care given to the coffee plants. The skill and expertise of the farmers growing and maintaining the coffee is every bit as important as the climate in which the coffee is grown. We have worked and continue to work on identifying coffee farms and cooperatives that consistently produce coffees that are among the most delicious in the world. The farmers producing these coffees are constantly learning about coffee and refining their growing practices. This includes pruning, water and soil management, the special care of nursery plants, knowing what other plants are needed to provide shade and nutrients to the coffee, and many other things.

The care taken in production does not end at simply growing and maintaining the plants. Care must be taken in harvesting the coffee so that only the ripe coffee cherries are picked and that the coffee tree is not damaged. Once picked, the processing of the coffee must begin as soon as possible. Processing coffee to ready it for export involves many stages at which the quality of the coffee can be diminished if not performed properly. When fermenting the pulp of the coffee cherry away, it is possible to introduce defects to the coffee. Drying the coffee also provides challenges. Sun dried coffee relies on favorable weather conditions. During the day the coffee must be raked constantly to ensure uniform drying. At night the coffee must be covered to protect it from the morning dew. Coffee dried mechanically must be carefully monitored so that the air used is not too hot and that the coffee is not overly dried.

Regardless of the care taken in picking, there will always be some variation in the quality of the beans. It is important that the beans are sorted to separate the highest quality beans from others that would diminish the quality and character of the cup.

Even with coffee grown in a favorable climate and produced to the highest standards, it is still possible to produce a coffee that is anything but special. The coffee must still be properly roasted. Different coffees, even coffees from the same farm processed to the same standards in different years, will have different properties that affect how that coffee reacts in a coffee roaster. A roaster of specialty coffees will look for the way to roast a given coffee such that it tastes as good as possible. This often means looking for the feature that makes the coffee special or different from other coffees. The overall degree of roast, the time allowed for particular categories of chemical reactions in the roaster, and control over how heat is transferred to the beans all greatly influence the final quality of the bean. The specialty roaster must understand how these variables interact. It is necessary to cup coffees and gain an understanding of the potentials of each coffee if those coffees are truly to become specialty coffees.

Specialty coffee then, is special because of the skill, passion, and expertise of coffee professionals on the coffee farm, at the processing beneficio, and at the roastery. All of these people must strive toward the goal of producing the best possible coffee; a coffee that is special in origin, quality, and cup. This is what we mean in saying that our coffee is specialty coffee.

—Neal Wilson