All about the waves of coffee - what is specialty?

First wave (1800s) being coffee becoming a commodity, and people started drinking it. This is the mass-produced, commodity coffee found in powdered forms, often termed convenience coffee.

Second wave (1970s) saw the shift from powdered coffee to freshly ground coffee from bean to drink. Quantity to quality. Starbucks is viewed as one of the giants who led this wave of coffee.

The third wave (2000s), it seems, is when there was a greater emphasis on purchasing of single origin coffee and direct trade with farms, method of production, light roast profiles, different brew methods. Many describe the coffee as having sweetness, citrus notes and depending on the region there is distinctiveness in the cups brewed. Good coffee is no longer accepted as just "bitter". This highlights the efforts the farmers make to increase the quality of the harvest, and in turn the industry is willing to pay more for a better cup, hoping to improve the lives of these farmers and their families. 

Specialty coffee - what is it? 

The farmer, the green coffee buyer, the roaster, barista and you - play a part in the coffee chain to appreciate the taste of the coffee. All that contributes to the experience of drinking specialty coffee, but what makes specialty coffee primarily starts with the coffee bean.

Coffees have cupping scores. Grown at different altitudes and picked at their peak ripeness, coffee of the arabica species are scored through cupping (a process to observe various aspects of brewed coffee) and a score of over 80 on the 100-point Speciality Coffee Association (SCA) scoring scale determines if they are specialty grade coffee. Coffee that scores this high (80-100) very often comes from producers around the globe who are very precise with their cultivation and processing of their coffee in ensuring their beans are premium quality and free of defects. These producers usually also offer high levels of transparency into the details of the coffee plants: their variety, elevation, processing methods.

While third wave refer to the movement of elevating coffee (its preparation, presentation, service), specialty coffee refers to the grade of the coffee beans themselves. Without specialty coffee, there wouldn't be a third wave of coffee. Without the third wave of coffee, specialty grade coffee would have no market for consumers. They come together, hand in hand.