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C Illustration / Hanna Liu
CUTTING
THROUGH
THE NOISE
H ave you ever felt like you’re constantly being
bombarded with news about the “latest and
greatest” in one industry or another? It can
be hard to cut through the noise and figure
out what’s true and what’s just a passing trend. When it
comes to specialty coffee, I decided to take a closer look
and ask a question that has been in my mind for some time:
has specialty coffee become just another trend?
To get the answers, I decided to explore this topic
through the celebrity lens, as well as the perspectives of
experienced coffee farmers, experts, and roasters. The
driving force behind my inquiry was to find out if special-
ty coffee is just a passing trend or if it has the potential to
stick around for the long haul.
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tion in the first place is the very definition of specialty coffee. to finish. This is no easy accomplishment, and yet because of
The reason why I wanted to find the answer to this ques-
these dedicated professionals, there are numerous specialty
around the corner from you.”
coffee that scores above 80 points on a 100 point scale. This is
In the coffee industry, specialty coffees are defined as any coffees available right now, across the globe, and likely right
based on an evaluation of a wide range of variables by profes- Words such as “dedication”, “quality” and “excellence”
sional sensory analysts to determine the quality of the coffee. highlight the meaning of specialty coffee, which goes beyond
The Specialty Coffee Association epxands on this defi- the cupping score. Of course, the cupping score is the result
nition on their website, “Specialty coffee can consistently of the hard work of everyone involved, however, what I would
exist through the dedication of the people who have made it like to focus on is the culture behind this score.
their life’s work to continually make quality their highest
priority. This is not the work of only one person in the life-
cycle of a coffee bean; specialty can only occur when all of
those involved in the coffee value chain work in harmony and
maintain a keen focus on standards and excellence from start 71