All of our coffees here at Flat Cap are classed as Specialty Arabica Coffees. If that is a term that you are not familiar with, let us try to explain…
In technical terms, Specialty Arabica Coffee is graded following strict guidelines from the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). The green coffee is visually inspected to ensure that it is almost free of defects and then the coffee is roasted and brewed in a process called cupping. The brewed coffee is tasted and scored on different principles such as flavour, body, acidity and aftertaste. The scale runs from 1-100 and anything that scores above 80 is classed as a Specialty coffee, making these coffees some of the finest in the World.
To go more in depth, Specialty Coffee is a whole process that involves many different people.
First and foremost, the Farmer of the coffee. Specialty Coffees are grown with so much care and precision that it can take many years of trial and error before the first successful harvest. Many of the coffee farms around the globe have been in the producer’s family for generations and they dedicate their whole lives to perfecting their crops.
Coffee that is traceable, ethical and sustainable, from Farm to Cup
The coffees that we offer have excellent traceability, are ethical, sustainable and the farmers get a good profit which then supports them, their families and their further communities.
Next, comes the part of the green coffee buyer, who carries out the cupping process as explained above. They also play a big part in helping the farmers get a fair deal, whilst distributing these high-quality coffees to Roasters who appreciate their value.
Our job as the Roaster in the process is to carefully roast the green beans, in small batches, to a point where we can enhance the natural flavours and highlight the best qualities of that particular coffee.
The final part of the process comes down to the person who makes the coffee. There are many different brew methods and ways to consume coffee and ultimately, the most important thing is to have your coffee the way that you enjoy it. Taking a little time to have a look at how to get the best from your preferred brew method can really make all the difference when it comes to getting the best flavours from the coffee. Grind is also really important when it comes to getting the best of the coffee, but we will talk more about that in another post!
In a nutshell, Specialty coffees are some of the best coffees in the World!
To summarise, Specialty coffees not only taste much better than commodity coffees; they are of a much higher quality. They are more ethical, sustainable, mostly traceable and have had passion and care injected throughout every part of the process.
