Is Arabica a Specialty Coffee? (Solved & Explained!)

Arabica is a specialty coffee. But, it’s not due to the fact that Arabica is specialty. It refers to the quality of the overall bean that includes cultivation, harvesting, size, processing, roasting, packaging and taste, among many other factors. Therefore, any coffee bean varietal can be a specialty coffee.

That said, Arabica has the largest distribution all over the world and is therefore the most common type of specialty coffee you can find. But, it stands to note that specialty coffee doesn’t mean rarity, although it can. Therefore, Robusta and Liberica varieties are also specialty because of rarity and maintaining standards of a “specialty coffee.”

What Classifies a Specialty Coffee?

Specialty coffee has many aspects and components to classify it as such. This definition is slightly different depending on where you are in the world. But, this is high-quality coffee that a farmer handpicked through the process of selection, incurred a score of 80 or higher and have no more than five defects per 12 ounces of beans.

Beans undergo scrutiny for defects such as irregular size, blemishes, uniformity in shape and overall perfection. But, other coffee organizations, such as the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), include roasting and taste in their scoring. The following is a list of the scores and what the rating means:

• Outstanding: 90 to 100
• Excellent: 85 to 89.99
• Very Good: 80 to 84.99

Anything rated below “very good” falls beneath the classification of being a specialty coffee. But, there are additional standards by the CSC, which is the Italian organization that puts their stamp of approval on only the best and highest grades of roasted coffee.

CSC Requirements

To date, the organization only hands out 11 of these to roasters, so the requirements to get approved are stringent. All stages of production are subject to testing and evaluation. Some of these include:

• Farmer must prove land ownership along with proprietary rights to the machines used
• The farmer must be the one who also exports the bean, no middle men
• CSC Technical Commission reviews each and every harvest for quality assurance
• The farmer must send samples from the crops for annual evaluation
• The samples go into brews for taste testing, also known as “cupping”
• Once certified, all beans undergo testing during transport and upon arrival to their roaster

How Do Farmers Grow Specialty Coffee?

Every farmer gathers together a small highly skilled team to help sow, grow and harvest their coffee beans. They put in vast amounts of time and effort to achieve the highest quality product according to their regional, national and international standards.

These are not large, industrialized operations. But rather, they’re small farms or homesteading pursuits setup in the most ideal and pristine areas for growing coffee. This means the weather, soil, general climate and amount of sunshine must be just right to be successful.

It’s not uncommon for a specialty coffee farmer to produce no more than 1,100 pounds (about 500 kilograms) of coffee per year.

How Do Farmers Decide Which Beans to Pick?

Depending on the variety and type of coffee bean, each farmer develops his own strategies for selecting the color and type of coffee fruit. This is an important step because any overripe or under-ripe coffee fruits will make the coffee taste more sour or bitter.

Once picked, farmers remove the flesh from the coffee fruit until they have the green coffee pit from the center. This undergoes further inspection with a careful and critical eye. Anything that doesn’t meet the top tier of criteria doesn’t go in for processing.

What Is the Process for Specialty Coffee?

There are three basic ways a farmer can opt to process their green beans: dry, wet or semi-dry.

1. Dry: The dry process means the pits spread out on a surface which then experience sun drying with frequent stirring.
2. Wet: The wet method means the green beans first go through fermentation in tanks and then washed well with water.
3. Semi-Dry: The semi-dry process combines both wet and dry but varies depending on the farmer.

Regardless of the method, once the beans are dry, the farmers sort them by size and weight. They then take out anything with defects such as misshapen sizes, irregular weight and blemishes.

Is There a Particular Way to Roast Specialty Coffee?

A small family bakery always roasts specialty coffee using traditional methods. These often sell directly from the roasting bakery to ensure aroma and freshness. Peak aroma within freshly roasted beans is 45 days after roasting. Therefore, most independent roasters will include a roasting date.

Depending on the bean, the variety, size and other characteristics, a baker will oil and roast the beans between light to dark. They use a variety of methods and techniques to achieve the best roast to bring out all the fantastic qualities of the bean.

Which Coffee Scores 90 Points or Higher?

According to the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, there are a few different varieties that meet a score of 90 points or higher. Consider this brief list to see if any of these pique your interest:

• Dbarbosa Coffee (Brazil): An Arabica bean of the Cataui variety, this grows at an altitude of 1,100 feet over a span of 450 acres with a total score of 90.5. It tastes like smooth, syrupy milk chocolate with hints of tropical fruit. There are also notes of strawberry, apple, cherry and brown spice.
• El Obraje (Colombia): Coming in with a score of 90.61, this Arabica varietal of Gesha comes with a crisp and bright acidity with an overall complex flavor. This provides a rich and elegant tasting coffee with hints of floral like jasmine, vanilla, chamomile and a dash of chocolate, tangerine and honeysuckle.
• Jesus Mountain Coffee Company (Nicaragua): This has one of the highest ratings in the world with 90.96 points. Grown at an altitude of 1,850 feet over a land expanse of 428.3 acres, it’s a Pacamara variety of Arabica with a complex taste combining berries and chocolate.