What is specialty coffee? Why is coffee so special? Definition of fine coffee

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The "excellent flavor" boutique coffee is not magic, it has a lot to do with the making of the whole coffee industry. That is, coffee people often talk about "from seed to cup" ("from crop to cup"): variety (Species), planting (Growing), harvesting (Picking), processing (Processing), shelling (Milling), storage (Storage), baking (Roasting), cooking (Brewing) each process expertise, quality control and defect control. "Fine Coffee" does not just pop up from a certain link of hard work, it is the child of the whole coffee industry from top to bottom, from the ploughing of farmers, the blood of bean bakers to the careful preparation of baristas.

In general, boutique coffee is grown in Arabica (Robusta Robusta, which is better grown and cheaper than the average commercial coffee bean). Arabica coffee beans have many layers of flavor and are more mellow and delicious. But the planting process is very fragile, it must be planted in high-altitude areas, so it must be carefully taken care of for fear of insect pests. Beans that have suffered from insect pests are easy to taste with strange flavors such as iodine and salt. In addition, the planting area with large temperature difference between day and night at high altitude can increase the number of layers in the process of coffee bean growth, resulting in more flavor and higher sweetness. Interestingly, coffee is actually a fruit that looks like a cherry. After harvest, the red flesh must be removed by a post-processing process to preserve raw beans to avoid fruit decay. The processing of coffee fruit (Coffee Processing) must be familiar to all of us, which can be divided into Natural Processing method, Washed Processing method and Semi-washed processing method. According to the water supply condition and sunshine time of each producing area, the processing methods used will be different. The coffee flavor caused by different processing will also be slightly different, such as sun-cured beans are usually rich in layers, soft acidity, obvious sweetness, with flower and fruit aromas and wine aromas. However, poorly treated sun beans are easy to produce overfermented flavor. On the contrary, the washed beans are cleaner, sour, refreshing and bright.

If the raw beans are scratched inadvertently in the process of going to the valley, the coffee is easy to taste tart, earthy and fermented. Poor storage of raw coffee beans will be moldy and fermented, moldy and bad for health. As for the effect of roasting on the flavor of coffee beans, it is also necessary to pick out the missing fish that make defective beans before baking, and bake them to an appropriate extent according to the regional flavor of the producing areas. "shallow culture" beans from Africa are usually treated by shallow culture, and the baked beans have the aroma of flowers and fruits and a slightly sour feeling of fruit. The taste of "Zhongpei" beans is more uniform, retaining the flavor of the original producing areas of beans and caramelized nutty aromas and glycols after baking. The "deep" beans have the aroma of caramel chocolate or even a slightly bitter taste, and are usually suitable for blending espresso with milk. As for coffee, there are many ways to cook coffee, and they all have their own professional standards and guidelines. Coffee that is overextracted will appear bitter, while coffee that is not extracted will appear tasteless.

After a long list about the production process and spirit of boutique coffee, everyone must wonder if there is an internationally recognized standard for such a standard. In fact, there is, according to the boutique coffee association SCA (Specialty Coffee Association), which is formed by the merger of the United States (SCAA) and Europe (Specialty Coffee Association), the fairest and simplest way to distinguish is that the coffee with a cup test score of more than 80 points is fine coffee. In fact, boutique coffee represents the professionalism and persistence of coffee professionals, which is different from ordinary commercial coffee beans, regardless of the producing area and the characteristics and quality of coffee. Boutique coffee is concerned about the strict control of the production and production process, controlling the defect rate within an acceptable range, and roasting appropriately according to the flavor of the region. Boutique coffee not only represents a cup of delicious coffee of good quality, but also symbolizes the spirit of coffee culture and respect for the coffee industry chain, and even strives for hard work and fair remuneration in the original areas.