One simple question leads to many answers. Six coffee professionals shared their personal thoughts on this topic. What do you think? What does speciality coffee mean to you?
Sonja Björk Grant (Reykjlavik)
“It would normally take about an hour to answer this question but the short answer is obviously quality. Pure flavours, interesting flavours and also the adventure in flavours. Speciality coffee is also about the processing behind it. Going back to the roots at the farm and then in a coffee shop – how the coffee is introduced towards the customers. The whole chain is speciality coffee – for me its not a coffee itself it is about the connections that takes place before your cup of coffee is brewed.”
Petra Davies Vesela (Jilove u Prahy)
“It means the whole life to me because it changed my life and I think it will change my life again in the future.”
Jeremy Challender (London)
“Well, that’s an amazing debate between baristas and roasters I think. I noticed roasters are focused on what’s in the cup and on the table. Baristas are focused on what’s in the bag of coffee. I am fine with my focus as a barista, working out what’s in the bag – that I believe in it, it’s soluble, it’s free of defects, it’s easy to use and it tastes fantastic. So as a barista I am focused on a raw material!”
Lukasz Jura (Krakow)
“In the end of the day the most important thing is what customer gets in the cup. This has to be really unique experience for every customer to know how much effort everybody put into creating that experience.”
Johan Damgaard (Stockholm)
“Well for me, speciality coffee means actually everything. It was the reason I changed almost everything in my Life when we started the first specialty roastery Johan & Nyström in Sweden back in 2004. It was and still is the right way of doing better business and a better life for everyone involved. From the farmer, roaster, to the barista and the coffee shop! Specialty coffee makes the world a bit better. We just didn’t know back then, 10 years ago, what we were doing, today everyone calls it sustainable business. For me and my friends at Johan & Nyström it was the only logical way. And it still is.”
