Coffee Quality, Part 1: The birth of specialty coffee flavours

From Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries by James Harper

December 8, 2025 · 24 min · Season 6 · Episode 13

About this episode

This episode explores the evolution of specialty coffee flavors and the pioneers who transformed coffee from dull and bitter to distinctive and quality-driven.

For the longest time, coffees were dull and bitter. But then a small group of pioneers changed the world. In this episode, we travel back to the 1960s and ’70s to meet the trailblazers who realised coffees could taste distinctive: sweeter, brighter, cleaner. We discover how their personal preferences became a movement, then a form, and eventually a global definition of “quality”. Please support my work directly at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories Other ways you can help: Leave a 5 star rating on SpotifyFollow me on Instagram and tag me in an Instagram storyWrite a review on Apple Podcasts Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter Go deeper into the story of quality: Specialty Coffee Association's new Coffee Value Assessment 2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011) Michael Sheridan of CQI discussing the inter-organisational politics behind the Houston Expo announcement on Lee Safar's Map It Forward podcast Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.How does Perfect Moose detect what kind of milk…

People in this episode

Host: James Harper

Topics covered

specialty coffee
coffee flavors
coffee history
pioneers in coffee
quality in coffee

Keywords

specialty coffee
coffee quality
coffee flavors
1960s coffee history
coffee pioneers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Specialty Coffee Association, Specialty Coffee Association of America, CQI, Standart

Products: Perfect Moose, Slayer Steam Single, Marco MilkPal