What Even Is "Specialty" Coffee Part 2/2

Part II

Once the coffee enters the custody of the roaster, he must recognize the potentials inherent to each specific lot of coffee that he receives, and then draw upon knowledge, experience, and some trial and error. Evaluations must be conducted scientifically whereby the roaster strives to control all variables and change only one thing at a time. If all of this is done properly then the roaster has a chance of developing all of the nuances inherent in the green coffee. Again the roaster has no way of adding value or quality to the coffee only a chance of preserving what is already extant.

Assuming all of the steps in this orchestration are successful from seed to mill to patio and dry mill, across oceans and through ports, assuming that a capable roaster succeeds in developing the coffee to its greatest potential, there is still plenty of opportunity to degrade and destroy specialty coffee in the next step: brewing.
Whether brewing the coffee in a poly atmospheric environment such as the nine bars of an espresso machine or with a single atmosphere as in pour over or drip coffee, or via a steeping method like a French Press, it is essential that the coffee is ground properly (too fine = over-extraction. too course = underdeveloped). Also it must be brewed with suitable water at the proper temperature (again too hot = over-extracted. too cold = underdeveloped) and with the proper ratio of ground coffee to water to dissolve the proper amount of soluble material in the coffee. The definition might be something like this:

Specialty coffee is coffee brewed using the proper balance of variables to extract the optimum amount of soluble matter in the correct water to dissolved solids solution relative to brewing method being used.

...whew

So what this circuitous evaluation leaves us with is something along the lines of:
Specialty coffee is coffee that contains no primary defects and when properly roasted and brewed produces a distinctive and aromatic cup. Hmm, that seems too simple and I know from research that it doesn’t cover all of the aspects of specialty coffee. For some more in depth analysis check out this article by Don Holly or this article by Ric Rhinehart both of whom are from the SCAA and know way more about this than me.

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