What is Specialty Coffee?

What is Specialty Coffee?

Most coffee tastes like coffee.

Specialty coffee tastes like a place.

It can remind you of strawberries, peaches, jasmine, tropical fruit or dark chocolate. Not because flavours are added, but because coffee is an agricultural product shaped by variety, terroir, processing and roasting.

Not All Coffee Is Equal

Coffee is one of the most traded agricultural products in the world. Yet only a small percentage of all coffee produced qualifies as specialty coffee.

The difference starts at origin.

Specialty coffee is grown with greater attention to variety selection, harvesting, processing and quality control. Cherries are picked at peak ripeness and handled carefully throughout the entire journey from farm to cup.

The 80-Point Standard

To be classified as specialty coffee, a coffee must score at least 80 points on the Specialty Coffee Association scale.

Professional tasters known as Q Graders evaluate coffees based on aroma, flavour, sweetness, acidity, balance and overall quality.

The higher the score, the more exceptional the coffee.

Why SQR Looks Beyond 80 Points

At SQR, we focus on rare origins, experimental processing methods and competition-level coffees.

Many of the coffees we source score well above the specialty threshold and are selected because they offer unique sensory experiences that challenge expectations of what coffee can taste like.

Why It Matters

When coffee is treated with the same care as wine or fine chocolate, extraordinary flavour experiences become possible.

The goal is not simply to drink coffee.

The goal is to experience origin, craftsmanship and flavour in every cup.

Next: Why Coffee Tastes Like Fruit →