Key points of coffee raw bean knowledge: the concept of high-quality coffee Specialty Coffee (2)

In fact, another reason for the gradual rise of the concept of boutique coffee Specialty Coffee is that in order to increase production due to increased consumer demand, coffee producing countries have replanted some coffee trees with strong resistance to diseases and insect pests and high yield per plant, but forgot that the taste of coffee beans produced in this way has changed, that is, they are pursuing the improvement of quantity, but forget to pursue the improvement of taste and quality. Under the same grading mark in the past, but without the taste of the previous coffee beans, buyers have to seek another objective grading, evaluation method and standard.

For example, the highest quality beans of SHG (Strictly Hard Grown), which used to be Typica and Bourbon, were later changed to Robusta hybrids, which may have a bigger appearance and a more glossy surface, but the actual baked taste is not the original taste. Before 1967, Colombia was full of Typica trees, but then 80% and 90% of them were converted to Caturra or mutant Colombia, making it almost impossible to find pure Tibica beans in the Colombian coffee market.

Note: Typica is the closest native species of Arabica bean (Arabica), and all Arabica bean varieties are derived from this. (please refer to the previous post: coffee Doudou) the shape of beans is long and has excellent aroma and sour taste. However, it is not resistant to leaf rust, and it is necessary to cover more trees when planting to make the yield low. Bourbon is a mutant of Tibica, and both are the oldest varieties of coffee.

For this reason, taste testing is becoming more and more important, so some people say that the essence of fine coffee Specialty Coffee lies in the cup test (Cup Testing or Cupping), that is, the evaluation of coffee taste, and the traditional evaluation criteria, which only pay attention to whether the appearance of coffee beans is defective, and begin to pay attention to the essence of coffee. This is gradually integrated with the concept of wine tasting and appreciation.

In the future, we will introduce in detail the evaluation and grading of cup test (Cup Testing or Cupping) and boutique coffee Specialty Coffee.

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