What Does Specialty Coffee Mean Today?
Why specialty coffee should no longer be explained solely by an 80-point threshold.
For a long time, specialty coffee was explained in everyday terms primarily through a score: 80 points or more meant specialty, while anything below was commercial coffee. This simplification is no longer sufficient.
A Broader Definition
Specialty coffee can be described through recognisable distinctive attributes and the additional value they create in the market. These include not only flavour and aroma, but also information such as origin, processing, producer and traceable practices.
Coffee Value Assessment
A differentiated assessment considers several perspectives:
- physical: characteristics of the green coffee
- descriptive: sensory characteristics that can be described objectively
- affective: the impression of quality and preference
- extrinsic: information beyond the cup
A score can still play a role, but it should not be presented as the sole truth. Claims such as “below 80 points is ordinary supermarket coffee” or “over 90 points represents less than one per cent of the world harvest” require a specific, current evidence base and are not used here as blanket statements.
Quality Along the Chain
Specialty coffee is created through care and value generation across many stages. Transparency is just as important as sensory evaluation: who produced the coffee, how was it processed and which qualities can actually be traced?
Technical editorial: Stefan Anzinger, SCA AST
Photo: Paulo Evangelista · Unsplash License.
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