What Is Specialty Coffee?

I thought I would give my humble opinion (for those that are interested) in what I consider Specialty Coffee to be and it probably isn’t what you are thinking.

For me specialty coffee is simply buying better, fresher, locally roasted beans and producing the best espresso that you can make on equipment designed to get the best from these beans, simple! I’m not talking beans offered by the big brand names, they are not specialty coffee they are mass produced roasted ages ago and branded giving you the impression that they must be better or speciality. The rub is that it is very difficult to produce the best espresso with beans that are mass produced, whatever the brand tells you! We sell a few coffee machines here at The Coffee Shack and people generally have it set up by us to use Roastworks The Truth coffee beans, roasted up the road in Willand yet we rarely see them again for coffee beans. My guess is that some of they have succumbed to the ease of the supermarket and are now running their beautiful espresso machine on sub standard beans and adding sugar to their coffee to compensate and convincing themselves that it’s good coffee…..wrong I’m afraid.

I make an espresso based drink, normally a flat white or cortado every day. I use beans that we sell, either Roastworks or Triple Co. Roast and every day I create a delicious, smooth, oily espresso and polish my milk to a silky smooth yet sweet texture and enjoy what I consider to be the best coffee that I can make. Do I have an expensive espresso dual boiler system with a grinder costing £1000’s? No, I have a Sage Barista Express, but I have freshly roasted Aribica beans that I grind to an espresso consistency that provides double the amount of espresso than ground coffee in 30 ish seconds and that really is the key to specialty coffee. Not branded coffee beans but a freshly roasted quality bean on equipment capable of getting the most from them.

I know some people class specialty coffee as say a single origin light roast that is difficult to grind unless you spend £2500 on a grinder and hand press your espresso on a designer system that costs twice as much and then tastes nothing like coffee as it has hints of rhubarb, strawberry and guano (yes I know what that is) and if that’s what you enjoy knock yourself out. However I think this view puts people off going down the specialty route, which is a shame.

So think of specialty coffee as delicious locally roasted beans that were roasted just a few weeks or even months (if stored correctly) ago prepared correctly and shot correctly on quality espresso equipment and that will be the best cup of coffee that you can make. To all those that have spent a reasonable sum of money on an espresso quality coffee machine then put supermarket coffee beans through it I hate to say this but you have wasted your money. A bit like buying a Rolls Royce and running it on supermarket fuel, you will never get the best from it. I couldn’t get my espresso quality grinder to grind supermarket beans fine enough, it just ran through the puck like…..actually let’s just say it wasn’t good.

I’m sure you have questions regarding the above and that is what we and all of your local coffee roasters are here for, to help you get the most from your quality specialty coffee system so come in and ask. As for The Coffee Shack we have a plethora of espresso quality machines, grinders and accessories for you to come and try and have a demonstration on to ensure that you get the right start to your Specialty Coffee experience. Call us today on 01626 834233 to arrange your Specialist Coffee Experience and we will ensure that you get the most from this delicious drink not just when you buy the system but for always!