What are the key factors for producing high quality coffee?
Quality in coffee is a result of many factors. First there is the cultivar/variety factor. Today most cuppers will agree that most Arabica coffee can be of high quality. Then there is the origin, where environmental factors such as rainfall, soil and temperature make their own contribution to quality. But the trickiest part is the contribution that coffee growers make towards quality. Coffee is still a very artisan product, and as such the care, dedication and attention to detail that a coffee growers gives to his coffee during the growth stages of the plant, as well as during the harvest (cherry picking) and post-harvest stages (beneficio and drying), in the end is what ultimately determines the quality of his coffee. The latter is the reason why we think there aren’t specialty coffees but special or exceptional coffee growers.
