A Quick Note Getting into specialty coffee can seem incredibly daunting at first glance. From seeing thousands of dollars of equipment online to nuanced (and at times, pretentious) flavor descriptors, specialty can appear as something of a walled garden. This guide has been written with the express purpose of tearing down those walls. It does not assume any experience with coffee or sensory assessment, and aims to demystify the world of specialty in an approachable and friendly way.

Coffee - the plant In a strictly literal sense, brewing coffee is the steeping of a roasted seed harvested from a plant in the genus coffea. This genus contains several cultivated species, most commonly coffea arabica and coffea canephora, known as Arabica and Robusta respectively. Rarer are species such as stenophylla, liberica, and eugenioides, but coffea contains over 120 known species. Historically, Robusta has been the staple of coffee consumption world-wide due to the higher yield, easier cultivation, and climate-tolerant genetics.

The Language of Specialty Flavor Descriptors The wold of specialty coffee is riddled with descriptors, from cocoa nibs to stone fruit to honeysuckle. These descriptors can…

Words are important Coffee Roast Levels and Strength In the broader world, it is common to describe coffee roast levels (light, medium, dark, french, etc) with a “strength” value, associating darker roasts with stronger brews. However, the term strength is a misnomer - in the world of specialty coffee, strength refers to a measurable property of the brew unrelated to roast level. Specifically, strength describes the concentration of coffee compounds in water.