What is the definition of fine coffee? Is hand-brewed coffee a fine coffee?

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What is boutique coffee?

What on earth is boutique coffee? How can it be called a "boutique"? If you want to understand boutique coffee, you must first start from the source of coffee. The source of a cup of coffee can be roughly divided into three parts: congenital conditions, acquired treatment, and end technology.

Congenital conditions ── soil conditions endow the producing areas with characteristics

It refers to the growth conditions of coffee or raw beans, including variety, climate temperature, altitude and so on. Coffee grown in different regions and growing environments will have different flavor performance. Just like red wine, the climate of different varieties, different producing areas and the current year will affect the harvest, sweetness, aroma and so on. Coffee fruit will also be affected by local conditions. Interestingly, coffee bred in a particular area almost always shows a consistent flavor, so we can figure out which producing area a cup of coffee comes from.

Postnatal treatment ── treatment affects flavor level

It refers to the harvest, processing, exposure, etc., coffee bean treatment methods are varied, basically can be divided into water washing method, sun treatment method, semi-washing method, honey treatment method. Different treatment methods can give different flavor performance to coffee with the same "congenital conditions".

Terminal technology ── cooking technique determines the final flavor

As the name implies, it is the end of the whole supply chain, including baking technology, appliance selection, brewing skills and so on. Although the coffee flavor is roughly offset in the first two stages, the end technology still has a far-reaching impact on the coffee flavor and even plays a key role.

The third wave of coffee

The coffee wave refers to the popular form of coffee in various generations. The first wave of coffee was around 1940-1960, when "instant coffee" and "three-in-one coffee" prevailed. In 1966, Italian coffee based on espresso (espresso) appeared, and Italian specialty coffee such as latte and cappuccino became popular. During the second wave of coffee, there were a large number of cafes. And the popularity continued until 2000, and even today it is still hot.

In the 21st century, as people drink more and more coffee and have a greater demand for coffee, they begin to pursue a more detailed taste in a more scientific way, and gain an in-depth understanding of the source of each unique flavor. As we become more and more curious about these brown liquids, we are also announcing the arrival of the third wave of coffee.

The significance of the third wave of coffee is that people begin to study the flavor of coffee and deeply understand the great influence of local conditions on the flavor of coffee, which is reflected in the selection of brewing forms and utensils of coffee. In order to taste the most primitive flavor, people not only pay attention to the origin of coffee, but also gradually change the habit of adding sugar and milk, and savor the fine coffee in front of them in the form of pure black coffee.

So-called boutique coffee

Boutique coffee is defined as "Special geographic microclimates produce beans with unique flavor profiles.", that is, "coffee beans with regional flavor are cultivated under the unique microclimate and geographical conditions of the producing area." In addition to this general principle, several criteria need to be screened:

Water content of raw bean

Size uniformity of coffee beans

Defective bean / defective bean monitoring

Basic grade sorting of producing areas

Test the flavor of coffee in cup

After strict testing of layers of standards, the "boutique" can be screened out and become the boutique coffee in our hands, which is not easy to get. Boutique coffee has not only a perfect flavor, but also an eternal connection with the producing area, which allows us to taste the unrestrained sweetness of tropical fruit and the rich and mellow flavor of baked nuts in the cup. Take a sip of coffee and wonder how this cup of coffee was bred locally in a certain producing area.