What is boutique coffee? What is boutique coffee? The characteristics of fine coffee the mouth of fine coffee

Many veterans disapprove of this concept, but when you want to say it in a few words, you find that few of them can explain it clearly. Most people will say that the beans are good, the baking is right, and the extraction is in place. It's fine coffee. This is just a description, not a definition.

In other words, the American Fine Coffee Association (SCAA) rating system, up to 80 points is fine coffee. This only reflects the planting conditions. Of course, this quantifiable, quantifiable scoring system is something that takes time and money to learn. The definition of SCAA is an industry definition, first of all, there is no flaw in the cup, that is, there are no residual beans. No one wants to drink musty, bitter, boring coffee. This is also the place with the highest consensus at present. Meticulous planting, careful treatment, strict evaluation and grading. Secondly, emphasize the flavor of region. There is a lot of debate about this area, what on earth is the flavor of region? What are the different flavors of the same tree species planted in different regions? Or does each particular microenvironment have tree species that are particularly adapted to this microenvironment? If the planting environment of the same tree species changes, will the flavor be completely different, or do they have something in common? For example, "Iron cards are called Blue Mountains in Jamaica, Moka in Ethiopia and Yemen, Mantenin in Indonesia and small grains in Yunnan" (Lao Li's summary). Don't they have anything in common? If not, how to explain it? many unscrupulous traders change Yunnan small grains for vests and sell them as Blue Mountains!

Paradoxically, why does boutique coffee (SCAA system) directly take off at 7 points? If you think about it, you will understand that this is entirely an agreed result, aiming at the planting conditions (Terror) and the treatment process. The scoring system comes from red wine, and the scoring of red wine is also the result of the agreement, which is nothing wrong, but the score is directly linked to the taste. Coffee is different, the score only represents whether there are defects, planting conditions and processing technology. It does not mean that the difference in baking and extraction, or even the water quality, will greatly affect the presentation of this coffee flavor spectrum.

What is even more paradoxical is that from the very beginning, boutique coffee is a concept that all parties in the industry want the public to accept. If the above connotation, it is estimated that the public will not buy it all the time.

Yes, the American Erna Knutsen (totally unknown and didn't even get a wiki entry) first mentioned the concept of specialty coffee in the Tea and Coffee Magazine in 1974. But new things do not come out of thin air, nor do they appear all of a sudden, with the background of the times or regions.

The historical background of fine works

The background is the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Vietnam War was fought abroad. The civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the anti-cultural movement, the Hispanic movement, the Indian Aboriginal movement and the environmental movement are in full swing. The general atmosphere of demanding all kinds of rights in the United States has prompted foodies to launch a special food (specialty foods) movement. The American people have the right to enjoy elaborate high-quality food, willing to spend more money on this cultural symbol, of course, it will also nourish my spleen and stomach. These delicacies include caviar, cheese, beer, chocolate, foie gras, stinky tofu, truffles and so on. In this context, it is natural to propose boutique coffee. Of course, the pursuit of more delicious coffee, as early as the 1950s, peets has already started, Starbucks (early) also took over the bar of peets, continue to fight against the popular market of Luodou. These pursuits lay a solid foundation for brewing the so-called third wave (Third wave).

However, with the development of fine coffee along the stricter line of thinking of the industry, the pursuit of delicacy accepted by the market no longer belongs to the category of fine coffee and is no longer the inner essence of fine coffee.

Special cuisine emphasizes handicraft, micro-batch and high quality. As the Chinese saying goes, it means opening a small stove, private customization, special supply and so on. The special supply in the United States is in the face of the focus market, and our special supply is in the face of the privileged class (our privileged class does not have much culture and taste, so the special supply is limited to eggs, rice, pork and so on). The concept of the third wave (first mentioned in 2012) is exactly the same as specialty cuisine, emphasizing peer-to-peer trade from manor to roaster, shallow roasting (better regional flavor), micro-batch roasting, coffee extraction, and flower extraction. The inner logic all points to the same purpose, high-quality things produced by superb manual craftsmanship. This purpose itself embodies the tide of anti-industrialization. It is the embodiment of western postmodern sports in the catering sector.

So boutique coffee (specialty coffee) under the concept of specialty cuisine (Specialty foods) is a niche market from the very beginning. From the very beginning, we are faced with a contradiction with extremely strong internal tension, that is:

The contradiction between minority aesthetics and mass consumption

The subject of these movements, the subject of the awakening of rights consciousness. China is obviously not in the climate. Chinese mainland does have an aesthetic subject, which believes that it can buy the greatest aesthetic experience at the most cost-effective price. This means that boutique coffee in China, is theoretically not feasible, there is no main consumer. The current stage in China is still the stage of popularization of coffee, so it is what we should do at this stage to let the public have more access to and recognize coffee. Do not rule out individual micro-environment, there are some places where consumers are concentrated, but generally not feasible is a common sense that can be intuitive. How to make it feasible is a question that coffee drinkers have to think about, and it is also a topic that I am working hard on at present.)

The evidence that there is no main consumer of fine coffee in China is also reflected in the internal consumption behavior. Just look at the coffee training that has sprung up everywhere. It is the internal consumption of coffee lovers (the only remaining minority consumers). After completing a series of courses, I did not face the mass market, but opened another training institution based on the internal market of the boutique coffee industry. Not only that, boutique raw beans, equipment manufacturers, the so-called boutique cafes are built on such a small group of self-cultivation.

Return to the original intention of the boutique

Specialty cuisine and boutique coffee intersect at first, then break away, become an industry concept, and finally move towards a closed ring. Cut off the public. But created a legend, let the public look up, was mercilessly hit by the market.

I think boutique coffee should no longer be an industrial chain, a narcissistic term in the middle and upper reaches. But go back to the mother set of special delicacies. Perger said that the coffee that allows customers to pay more for quality is boutique coffee. I think this definition is to follow the tradition of special cuisine. For example, don't always let the violin solo, or go back to the symphony orchestra and play the food symphony together.

Mr. Taguchi has four points about good coffee: flawless, high-quality raw beans, freshly roasted, roasted correctly, fresh and correctly extracted (see Coffee Collection for details). It only emphasizes three points, high quality, freshness and proper handling (baking, extraction). This goes back to the description at the beginning-high-quality raw beans are defined by the SCAA or COE scoring system and are objective. Freshness, on the other hand, is a matter of attitude and subjective. And the correct treatment is oriented to the audience market.

In other words, in addition to adhere to high quality, adhere to fresh, should be more market-oriented, out of the industry consumption, return to the characteristic food system, for the pursuit of delicious leisure class to provide a package of specialty food, including coffee.