10 Great Facts About Specialty Coffee | Third Wave Coffee Movement
We’re firm believers in the importance of getting to know speciality coffee at a deeper level if looking to gain maximum enjoyment from every drop. As the third wave coffee movement continues its takeover worldwide, specialty coffee has become the new everyday standard for a new generation of coffee lovers.
Which, in our humble opinion, can only be a good thing!
Here at Hayman, we’re pretty much obsessed with speciality coffee and everything that accompanies the subject of specialty coffee. So in order to celebrate the third wave coffee movement with our fans and followers, we thought we’d share a few of our favourite facts about speciality coffee.
Some being more interesting and useful than others, but still – definitely worth adding to your repertoire:
- By definition, speciality coffee is any type of coffee that has a distinctive flavour and little to no defects. Or in other words, an untainted and ultra-premium coffee, usually a single-origin product.
- Research suggests at around 15% of the adult population in the UK now enjoys at least 1 cup of speciality coffee per day. What’s more, a huge proportion of this 15% enjoys far more than just this 1 daily cup alone!
- Over in the United States, approximately 300 million cups of specialty coffee are consumed on a daily basis. Of which, approximately 75% are brewed at home.
- The micro-climates in the regions where specialty coffee is produced have an enormous impact on the aroma and flavour profiles of the resulting coffee. Just in the same way micro-climates affect the flavour and quality of wines.
- Third wave coffee may be comparatively expensive, but has nonetheless come down in price exponentially over the years. In the late 17th century, a single pound of coffee in New York was as valuable as four acres of prime land.
- Not all third wave coffee and specialty coffee guarantees an outstanding cup. Unless the beans have been roasted a maximum of seven days prior to being used, the coffee will have lost much of its quality.
- Contrary to popular belief, a regular serving of drip coffee actually has more caffeine than a freshly pulled espresso coffee. The reason being that when an espresso coffee is brewed properly, the water only comes into contact with the grounds for around 20 seconds, leaving much of the caffeine behind.
- Just because any given specialty coffee tastes stronger than any other doesn’t mean it has a higher caffeine content. In fact, taste alone provides no indication of caffeine content whatsoever.
- Worldwide, the third wave coffee industry is estimated to employ somewhere in the region of 20 million people. As the movement continues to gain momentum, this is set to continue increasing indefinitely.
- Last up, it takes approximately 42 coffee beans to create the grounds for a single high-quality espresso coffee. Hence why even the tiniest specialty coffee often packs a heavy punch price-wise!
At Hayman's online coffee store, you can find the world's finest specialty coffee. Our spectacular third wave coffee menu, include legends such as Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, best Kona coffee Hawaii, and Panama Geisha coffee beans (a.k.a. Gesha coffee). Click here to order today, we offer free worldwide shipping!
