“Coffee is always coffee, why should I care so much?”
“When I wake in the morning, the only special thing I care about is how much caffeine there is in my cup of coffee.”
How many of you have had this kind of relationship with coffee?
Don’t lie to me; we all know that most of us (even for a short period of their life) have been drinking coffee for the only sake of getting some energy out of it.
But don’t worry! The fault is not exclusively on you. On the contrary, the majority of the blame lies with the coffee industry, which for years has been displaying generic coffee blends on supermarket shelves with no specification of origin or quality.
Luckily, things change.
The whole coffee business has, indeed, transformed a lot in the last few years, and now consumers have many opportunities of choice. On supermarket shelves, the usual unidentifiable blends have been joined by single-origin coffees with multiple certifications. Many bars that previously used to sell only over-extracted coffee, now offer more origins of coffee and, besides the popular espresso, customers can choose between many methods of extraction.
Today, the coffee sector is the theatre of an extremely interesting dualism. On the one hand, a significant segment of the market is still covered by cheap bulk coffee. On the other hand, demand for premium coffee is increasing, and the growth of Specialty Coffee, especially in countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland, is impressive.
This means that a growing number of consumers are becoming more interested in the origin of the bean and to sympathize with the story behind the cup.
Let’s start with the basics!
What are these Specialty Coffees, and what distinguishes them from the coffee we are used to drinking?
The term Specialty Coffee refers to the entire process of a high-quality single-origin coffee that goes from the grower to the barista. The term was coined in 1974 by Erna Knutsen in a report of the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal to describe the best coffee beans that are produced in particular microclimates. A few years later, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) formalized the definition by attaching the attribute “specialty” to all those coffees that get 80 points or more on a scale of 100 points during the cupping (sensory evaluation of coffee).
Yet, we should not make the mistake of thinking that Specialty Coffee is merely a product that has better taste thanks to more sophisticated production practices. Specialty Coffee is, instead, a long term project that can consistently exist when all of those involved in the coffee value chain work in harmony and maintain a keen focus on standards and excellence from farm to cup. Farmers, buyers, roasters, baristas and consumers are all involved in Specialty Coffee.
The farmers skillfully take care of the cherry of coffee during its maturation. Buyers select only the best green beans around the world. The roastery enhances the notes of the grain through the entire roasting process. The barista decides to propose to the customers a unique product, telling the story behind the cup. The consumers choose to drink a Specialty Coffee while supporting a supply chain that benefits both society and the environment.
Specialty Coffees promote a new coffee market based on cooperation rather than transactions, a connected system in which all the actors can derive mutual benefits from their interactions.
The main difference between Specialty Coffee and a generic coffee is that in the first one more and deeper information are communicated to the consumers, while the latter one is shrouded in mystery and vagueness. When you go to a supermarket the maximum information that you can have is the presence of arabica or robusta in the blend, and if you are lucky, they will also tell you which country the coffee comes from.
On the contrary, relationships in the Specialty Coffee sector are based on transparency and respect, because people have the desire and the pride to tell consumers where the coffee comes from and how it has been grown and processed. Region of origin, harvest date, batch number and roasting date in Specialty Coffee are always provided.
At Wakuli we decided to firmly believe in the market of Specialty Coffee and in its ability to have a strong environmental and social impact on those who produce it. For this reason, we believe that the interpersonal relationships we have with our producers are the main thing and to be even more transparent, we tell our consumers what price is paid to the farmer and to everyone involved in the supply chain and we tell producers where their coffee ends up for what price.
Specialty Coffee is not just a hipster trend for people willing to pay €3,5 for a cup of coffee. It can be the beginning of a revolution in the coffee sector. We strongly believe that specialty coffees are able to create interest and education around the world of coffee leading people to understand that coffee is not a simple commodity but a complex product with an infinite number of qualitative differences. In this way, an increasing number of people will demand from companies more transparency and higher quality.
Specialty coffees are not the only possible direction, but they will certainly pave the way to a coffee market with more quality, social justice and transparency and this is what Wakuli stands for.
Wake up! Coffee is much more than the energy it gives you.
