Specialty coffee

Also known as speciality coffee, third wave, third-wave coffee

What is specialty coffee in coffee?

Specialty coffee is high-quality coffee graded at 80 points or more out of 100 by trained tasters using the Specialty Coffee Association's scoring system. The term also describes the wider movement, often called the "third wave", that treats coffee like wine: traceable origins, careful roasting and precise brewing.

In British English you will also see “speciality coffee”. Specialty cafés helped popularise manual brewers such as the V60 and techniques like cupping.