What is specialty coffee and why you should never go back to drinking regular coffee
What if I said you could drink coffee without having a caffeine crash?
What if I told you that it’s mold in coffee that makes you sleepy, not the coffee itself?
There’s a way to avoid the crash.
And yes, that means you can drink as much coffee as you want.
Crash-free Coffee — It’s More Simple Than You Think
Specialty coffee is a massive part of my everyday life. It seems almost unbelievable to admit that two years ago, coffee was something I consciously avoided.
Fortunately, the culture (not just the drink!) found its way into my life.
We’ve been inseparable ever since we first made out (still talking about coffee here, okay).
The being of specialty coffee can’t be squished into just one article. Fortunately, that’s not my aim. This here is a peek into the magical culture of specialty coffee.
You’ll want to stick around.
I Used To Hate Coffee Until…
I never really hated coffee, I just kept far from it. I didn’t want to become a caffeine addict like most of the population (66% of Americans drink coffee every day).
I only started drinking coffee at the age of 20, while most of my friends had consumed it for years already. And boy, I’m glad I didn’t start earlier.
But then everything changed.
I got introduced to specialty coffee.
I first heard the term from an Israeli. If you know anything about Israel, though, you’ve probably heard that third-wave coffee is a big thing in the country (well, aside from all the Jews and hummus).
Tel Aviv is basically the capital of specialty coffee.
“It’s Special, I Get It. But What IS Specialty Coffee?!”
I’m glad you asked.
The definitions of specialty coffee and third-wave coffee might be difficult to understand at first. Hang on tight, though, because the following information is gonna change the way you look at coffee.
Specialty Coffee vs Third-Wave Coffee
Specialty coffee is a term used for extremely high-quality coffee. In most countries, only a few specialty coffee brands make it to the shelves of grocery stores. That means you can only buy the beans (or fresh coffee drinks) from specific fancy-pantsy stores or from specialty coffee shops.
Yes, it’s that special.
The phrases specialty coffee and third-wave coffee are often used synonymously. However, they don’t mean the same thing.
Specialty coffee is graded coffee that has been given 80 points or above on a 100-point scale by a licensed grader or certified coffee taster.
Extremely boujee, I know. But hear me out.
Third-wave coffee is a movement that focuses on the quality of coffee. Unlike specialty coffee, third-wave coffee is not graded by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). So basically, it’s the same thing but without an official label.
Third-wave coffee is the opposite of mass-produced beans and roasts in many ways.
Third-wave coffee is
- usually grown in high altitudes at the correct time of the year;
- produced in smaller batches, allowing the farmer, roaster, and barista to take the best possible care of every bean;
- a light or medium roast with various taste profiles.
Third-wave coffee focuses on quality instead of quantity. Mass-produced coffees (lowest-shelf supermarket coffee) focus on convenience instead of quality.
Why You Should Give a Shit About the Coffee You Drink
Good coffee can have many health benefits.
But that’s not what you want to hear.
You want to know why the fancy and expensive coffee I’m praising is better than the cheap and convenient one you have at home.
- Sträva Craft Coffee described nicely:
“When lower quality brands over-roast the beans, the coffee they get is dark and bitter in flavor. They can’t afford to throw it away, so they label such batches as ‘dark roast’. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean the coffee is stronger or has more caffeine. It just means it’s been stripped of its flavors, oils, and antioxidants, no matter the quality of the initial green bean.”
- Here’s another great quote from Bulletproof:
“Health “experts” enjoy vilifying coffee almost as much as saturated fat. The evidence is only conflicting if you don’t look at the whole picture. The truth is that the right kind of coffee is a health food.”
A Very Brief History Of Coffee
The timeline of the history of coffee is wobbly, but I’ll do my best to put some years behind the waves.
A brief overview goes like this:
Years: 1950ish
The first wave of coffee is factory coffee. It’s usually extremely dark, bitter, and wallet-friendly. First-wave coffee is made to be consumed. There’s no recognition of the origin country of the beans and no information on how it was produced.
Years: 1990ish
The second wave of coffee is essentially Starbucks and Starbucks-like coffee shops that focus on the experience. Starbucks is far from specialty coffee! There are SO many things wrong with the coffee shop (I’m clearly passionate about the topic).
Anyway.
Second-wave coffee is usually heavily flavored and focuses more on the cafe, not the coffee itself.
Years: 2010ish
The third wave of coffee came around in the 1980s but the term was coined only in 1999. Third-wave coffee is loved for the beans, roasts, and brews, not the look and feel of the cafe it is served at.
There’s transparency in everything, from the origin (often the exact farm) and roasting dates to roast level (light or medium) and profile (specific tastes, for example, chocolate, orange, or raspberry hints).
You can read more about the history of different waves of coffee here.
My Journey To Third-Wave Coffee
I got introduced to third-wave coffee in the summer of 2021 in Israel.
On my last week here, one of my best friends (who happens to be an excellent barista), proudly offered me a cup of amazing espresso he had just extracted.
I remember my reaction vividly.
“It’s so sour,” I said.
Everybody there cringed — they had just wasted a great cup of espresso on someone who didn’t know to appreciate it.
When I left Israel, though, I started paying attention to the coffee I drank. Something in me had shifted. It wasn’t about consuming caffeine anymore.
It was about finding the tastes in coffee I had heard my friends describe so many times back in Israel; the tastes I had never been able to recognize.
And Then, I Went On A Coffee Trip To Romania
The same amazing barista friend visited me in Romania for my birthday. What started as a cute meetup quickly became a passionate 3-day specialty coffee tour around Bucharest.
My two friends and I went to the best specialty coffee shops in the capital and got introduced to the history, true being, and culture of the highest quality coffee out there.
That ruined me.
I’ve tried drinking mass-produced coffee after that but have had to spit it out. Call me a spoiled princess, I’ll take it. But iNsTaNt CoFfEe iS nOt CoFfEe. Fight me.
How To Recognize A Specialty Coffee Shop/ Where To Find Specialty Coffee
Now that I’ve hopefully managed to pique your interest in extreme-quality coffee, you’ll need to figure out where to find it.
Specialty coffee is most commonly found in third-wave coffee shops.
You can recognize a third-wave coffee shop by this:
- they offer V60, Aeropress, Chemex, or other less common filters;
- the baristas know their shit and look passionate af;
- the place has a hipstery vibe and is full of young people;
- you can see specialty coffee or roastery written somewhere;
- they roast their own coffee;
- different packs of coffee are displayed on shelves or the counter.
Specialty coffee is a term that’s more common than third-wave coffee. Therefore, there’s little point in Googling “Third-wave coffee shops near me”.
In most cases, the term specialty coffee shop is used for both third-wave cafes (that serve quality coffee that has no official rating) and actual specialty coffee shops (that serve coffee that’s been graded).
No matter what it’s called, if it’s made from good beans, a great machine, and a spectacular barista, you’ll probably find it to be bomb.
What’s next?
I’ll continue opening up the world of dope coffee.
Expect to see a hell of a lot more posts coming from an excited chick obsessed with finding the taste of “banana” and “hazelnut” in coffee.
I’ll share the best coffee shops around the globe with the most exquisite baristas and vibes.
Are you ready?
