Specialty Coffee & The Omar Difference (Part 1)

Beginner’s Guide to Specialty Coffee - and the Omar Difference

A delicious cup of coffee doesn’t happen by accident. In fact, there are so many people and processes involved in getting our beloved coffee to us, it’s a privilege that we get to enjoy it daily. The coffee chain is so complex and full of confusing jargon that we’ve had to work so hard to grasp. Now we understand it, we can explain it to you simply.

We know, and love, our place in the industry, and we appreciate all the hard work that has been done to get the coffee to us. The coffee chain includes many links; farmers, agricultural advisors, pickers, processors, buying agents, exporters, importers, marketers, roasters, consumers and more. Coffee can be compromised at any point in this chain. 

We want to ensure that we aren’t the part of that chain that ruins the hard work of those before us. We can do this by understanding the importance of each part of the process, which we hope motivates all of us to take great care when selecting and brewing a cup of coffee. 

Over the coming days and weeks, we will begin to build a catalogue, a glossary of terms that we hope helps you choose a coffee perfect for your taste, and just as importantly, to brew it simply.

What is ‘Specialty Coffee’?

Specialty is a term used to describe coffee with minimal faults or defects. An industry standard cup scoring system will determine that any coffee that scores over 80 points is deemed to be of Specialty Grade. Various international and organisational systems vary slightly from each other, but consistently take into account factors like; 

• fragrance/aroma

• body

• flavour

• acidity

• sweetness

• uniformity

Any coffee that scores below 80 via these metrics is, in our opinion, unpleasant to drink. However, scoring and cupping evaluations are of no benefit to a consumer. They aren’t designed to be as a way to enjoy coffee, but rather to analyse it for defect.

The term ‘specialty’ is often used as a marketing tool. In fact, the term is so over-used that it’s lost its substance. The scoring of coffees, although designed to be objective, is subjective, and people selling coffee often score it higher to inflate its perceived quality. Furthermore, coffee is usually scored only at its peak, then when it has aged and started to fade, it is still sold with its initial score.

At Omar and The Marvellous Coffee Bird we never score coffees, but rather select them because of flavour characteristics that we, and hopefully our customers, enjoy.

Would you like to find out more? Please come in and talk to us. We are a space for everyone to learn about, and be excited by, all things coffee.