Four meetings with close to 50 roasters from around South Africa where held, to taste differences between two commodity and specialty grade coffees.
The coffee were marked hnA, hnB and etA, etB. Those that wanted to answered a questionnaire either online or printed. The summary of the results is below. It was a blind tasting, so no one knew the coffees until the results were announced.
But first
A little about the coffees. All coffee where fully washed:
| hnA | A Honduran from Finca Altos de Erapuca from Copan. A RFA and organic coffee. Coffee was sourced via Falcon specialty. It is a specialty grade coffee cupping 84+. |
| hnB | Honduras Organic, region unclear. Sourced from Seven oaks. It is a c-grade+ coffee that has gone through an optical sorter (EP). |
| etA | Ethiopian Grade 2 Yirgacheffee. Sourced from Seven oaks. It is c-grade coffee from many co-operatives. |
| etB | Ethiopian Grade Yirgacheffee Kochere. Sourced from Bespoke. It is a specialty grade coffee 84+, from a single micro region and washing station. |
A few notes
The coffees were roasted to the level that Quaffee found them to be best. So the c-grade coffees are slightly darker, although most people did not see much of a difference – essentially 15-30 seconds more development time.
The Questions
The questionnaire was broken into 3 sections:
- Section 1 – to choose which of the 2 coffees was specialty grade.
- Section 2 – Yes no questions.
- Section 3 – Out of 5 questions, where: 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
1: Which of each origin is specialty
2.1: Did this clarify anything?
2.2: We cup more than once a week?
2.3: Did you taste the difference?
2.4: We sell specialty grade
2.5: Do you think specialty is too exclusive?
3.1: Important to offer at least 1 specialty coffee
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
3.2: Expand specialty to the skill of Barista
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
3.3: Specialty worth twice c-grade price
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
3.4: Specialty worth four times c-grade
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
3.5: Specialty is wasted in a café
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
3.6: My clients cannot taste a difference
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
3.7: Specialty suits only light roasts
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
3.7: Specialty important to the industry
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree.
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