Coffee Quality, Part 2: How “quality” became a myth
About this episode
This episode explores how the concept of coffee quality is shaped by personal preferences rather than universal standards.
If you ask two specialty professionals what makes a high-quality coffee, you’ll likely get a surprisingly consistent answer: clean, sweet, juicy, bright. To an outsider, they would be forgiven for thinking coffee quality is universally defined. But the truth is more sober. In this episode, we examine how a simple cupping form helped create a universal idea of quality. We then look at the evidence that, in fact, it’s just the personal preferences of a small group of people masquerading as universal 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: 2004 cupping form from the Specialty Coffee Association of America SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011) Cup of Excellence cupping form Kenneth Liberman's book, "Tasting Coffee: An Inquiry into Objectivity" SCA's video series on the CVA presented by Peter Giuliano Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and…
People in this episode
Host: James Harper
Topics covered
- coffee quality
- specialty coffee
- cupping
- personal preferences
- coffee industry
Keywords
- coffee quality
- cupping form
- specialty coffee
- personal preferences
- coffee industry
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Specialty Coffee Association of America, Standart
Books & works: SCAA Coffee Cuppers Handbook (4th edition, 2011), Tasting Coffee: An Inquiry into Objectivity
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- Surrogates: Anything but the coffee
- Mother Coffee: The history and heritage of Ethiopia's wild coffee forests
- We Built This City…On Coffee: Hamburg and the making of Europe's coffee trade
- Introducing: Series Three of A History of Coffee
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