Gourmet coffee, or as it is more commonly referred to as ‘speciality coffee’, has become one of the fastest-growing trends in the UK. While coffee is considered one of the most commonly consumed morning beverages all throughout the world, speciality coffee, on the other hand, takes your caffeine experience one step higher - this is our mission here at the Proper Coffee Co.

When a particular cup of coffee is deemed to be “speciality coffee,” it boasts a supreme aroma and flavour tone that would set it apart from regular store-brand beans. Simply branding coffee as “speciality” won’t suddenly improve its taste, it has to undergo a rigorous process to assure its quality.

Many would consider speciality coffee to be simply an expensive fad, but the process it requires puts it closer to an art form. For a particular pack of beans to be considered as a speciality, it has to have the below four qualities.

The most basic and vital component of speciality coffee is that it should have a highly transparent origin. These don’t simply pop up out of nowhere, it’s entire growth and post-processing has to be traceable from the very start. If your supplier simply shrugs and tells you they don’t know where their “speciality” coffee comes from, then it most likely isn’t.

Coffee, in general, already has a tedious growth and production process, factoring in the altitude, the climate, and the soil among other things. The production of speciality coffee takes that one step further for quality assurance purposes. Each step of its growth and production is heavily monitored, as minor mistakes will greatly affect the taste of the beans.

Highly skilled farmers segregate the best coffee cherries from the unripe, the overly ripe, and the blemish-filled ones. By finding the best of the best, they can assure the highest quality and taste for coffee enthusiasts.

The process doesn’t end with the grade, the next part—coffee roasting—does a lot for the assurance of maximum flavour. The experience and expertise of a skilled, master roaster will be able to bring out the flavours and tones which would have remained sealed without roasting. Proper roasting is a science—it requires specificity and expertise to assure the best roasting for very particular flavours and purposes. We go to great lengths to ensure our roasters bring out the very best in our coffee beans for the very best coffee experience!