What is Specialty Coffee?

The SCAA defines specialty coffee in its green stage as coffee that is free of primary defects, is properly sized and dried, presents in the cup free of faults and taints and has distinctive attributes. In practical terms this means that the coffee must be able to pass specific grading and cupping tests. Specialty coffee is coffee that has achieved a score of 80 or higher out of 100 on a standardized score sheet by a panel of expert coffee tasters known as Q-Graders. Only around 10% of all coffee produced reaches the level of specialty grade.