Have you come across "Specialty Coffee"? The term Specialty Coffee was coined in the early 1970's as there began a push for single origin arabica high quality coffee crops as opposed to Robusta blends through non-transparent transactions. The movement spurred an entire new industry and allowed farmers and growers to enjoy fair wages and grow quality products.
Nowadays, specialty coffee involves several organizations such as the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), and the World Coffee Research (WCR) who standardize what can be considered Specialty Coffees.
These organizations utilize the help of Q Graders, who similar to sommeliers, undergo a challenging and rigorous certification process in order to accurately determine, describe, and rank the 10 qualitative categories of specialty coffee. This point system allows Q Graders to evaluate each category on a 1-10 scale deeming a variety as "Specialty Coffee" with a minimum of 80 points.
