You've probably seen the words "specialty coffee" thrown around a lot.
It sounds complicated. It really isn't.
Specialty coffee basically refers to coffee that meets higher standards for quality, from the way it's grown and processed to how it scores when it's evaluated.
That doesn't mean every bag labeled specialty coffee is automatically going to be your favorite. Taste is still personal.
It just means there's more behind the coffee than "some beans in a bag."
Where specialty coffee comes from
Coffee starts with the people growing it.
Things like the farm, growing conditions, altitude, variety of coffee plant, harvesting, and processing can all affect what ends up in your cup.
Specialty coffee puts more attention on those details and on the quality of the finished coffee.
You'll also often see information about the coffee's origin on the bag. Maybe it's from Peru, Colombia, Ethiopia, Brazil, or somewhere else.
Sometimes it's a single origin, meaning the coffee comes from a specific origin rather than being combined with coffees from multiple places.
That's the case with Crypt Roast, our medium roast single-origin coffee from Peru.
Is specialty coffee only for coffee people?
No.
You don't need a fancy grinder, an expensive espresso machine, or a strong opinion about tasting notes to drink specialty coffee.
You can make it in a regular coffee maker.
You can drink it black.
You can put milk in it.
You can make it over ice.
Drink it however you want.
The point is simply that more attention went into the coffee before it made its way into your kitchen.
And if you care about where your coffee comes from, specialty coffee can also give you more information about the farms, producers, and people behind it.
At First Rite, that's important to us. We want the coffee to be good, but we also care about the work that goes into producing it.
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