Creating Quality: Beverage Preparation, Roasting, and Sourcing

Creating Quality

What defines quality in craft beer, ice cream, or cheese?  In Vermont, we are fortunate to have products that define these categories: Heady Topper from the Alchemist, ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s, and cheeses from Vermont Creamery. These are products that are recognized as top quality. Do they have more flavor or just better flavor? Are these items more consistent than their competitors? Do their flavor attributes meet the promises made by their advertising?

These companies were able to achieve this distinction by word of mouth recommendations and winning awards. As specialty coffee professionals, we are proud of the coffee we buy, roast, and serve. We drink it ourselves, and promote specialty coffee to people that we know and to people that we meet.

Specialty coffee, from farm to cup, strives to identify and promote quality. Advancing coffee quality is a noble pursuit and serves the industry well, with the added benefit of making great-tasting coffee available to consumers. We understand that quality can be defined in two ways: adherence to specifications and having great flavor.

Collectively, we are passionate about quality and enthusiastic about our products. When questioned about the definition and production of quality coffee, here’s how we respond: quality coffee is coffee that tastes great! The SCAA’s tagline “Because great coffee doesn’t just happen” reaffirms that specialty coffee is a matter of choice, not a beverage of chance. Let’s explore three functional areas of creating quality: brewing, roasting, and sourcing.

Read the entire article HERE.