SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023

The 360° column is a voyage of discovery of

the world contained in a cup of coffee. That
which is hidden within that simple gesture that
accompanies us every day.

We will talk to the people involved in the different

processes related to the world’s best-selling
beverage. From cultivation and processing
methods to roasting and serving in the cup.

# 03
________
EN 2023

What is Coffee is part of our daily routine,

Specialty
but have you ever wondered
what lies behind each cup?
In this column of Coffee 360°,

Coffee?
we will talk about specialty coffee:
what differentiates it from
‘standard’ coffee?

Let’s start by defining what is meant by ‘specialty
coffee’ or ‘special coffee’.
This coffee is of such high quality that it scores
80 or more out of 100 on the Coffee Review
Scale. This score is assigned by a professional: a
certified specialty coffee taster or Q-grader.
Specialty
specialists
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is the
main reference point for high-quality coffee. It
establishes the international standards for coffee
evaluation.
These standards mainly concern the evaluation of
the beans’ appearance and the coffee’s properties
when tasted.
Appearance evaluations are conducted on a 350
grams sample of green coffee to identify primary
and secondary defects.
A specialty coffee must be free of primary defects
and may have a maximum of 5 secondary defects.
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SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023
Primary defects are considered to be the most
severe and have the greatest effect on the taste,
aroma, and appearance of the roasted and
extracted coffee.
Secondary defects are considered less severe
than primary defects but can still affect the quality
of the roasted coffee. These defects can impact
the flavour, aroma and texture of the beverage.
The second evaluation of tasting properties is
carried out after roasting. The coffee is ground
and tasted through a standardised cupping
protocol, which assigns the ‘cupping score’:
90-100 - Outstanding (Specialty)
85-89.99 - Excellent (Specialty)
80-84.99 - Very good (Specialty)
< 80.0 - Below the Specialty threshold (Non Specialty)
+80/100
 SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023 5

Who is the Patrick O’Malley, Q-Grader, trainer and roaster

Q-Grader?
Q-Grader is a certification programme developed
by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) to train expert
tasters and help certify coffee quality. Q-Grader
certified experts are highly skilled in the sensory
analysis of coffee and can evaluate its quality in
terms of aroma, taste, body and acidity.
The impact of the Q-Grader in the world of
specialty coffee has been significant. Before
introducing this programme, the quality evaluation
of coffee was subjective and mainly based on
personal opinion. The coffee evaluation process
has been standardised with the introduction of
the Q-Grader.
of the Sanremo family, was among the first to
become certified.
“Initially, CQI only provided Q-Grader certification,”
Patrick tells us. “However, the considerable com-
mitment of time, resources and prior knowledge
made this certification difficult to achieve.”
“To increase enrolment and spread the coffee
culture more widely, CQI has developed a series of
courses with varying levels of difficulty. They are
more easily accessible and have had much higher
attendance rates. In this way, every profession
(baristas, roasters, tasters, cultivators) now has a
dedicated course and does not necessarily have
to become a Q-Grader.”
Patrick advises all coffee professionals to take
at least the sensory analysis course “Sensory
Evaluation in Quality Control 200”.

A trend that One might think that the specialty coffee trend
is new.
Actually, the term specialty was first used in the

started in
late 1970s by Erna Knutsen (American coffee
entrepreneur and co-founder of SCA) in an article
published in the ‘Tea and Coffee Trade Journal’

the 1970s
magazine. Knutsen used this term to describe
the best-tasting beans produced in unique
microclimates.

Many commercial coffee-growing countries also

produce a small quantity of specialty coffee, with
some exceptions.
Countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Colombia are
often synonymous with specialty coffee.
Other countries, however, are pushing to produce
some of the best coffees in the world. For
instance, Panama has made a name for itself in
recent years thanks to highly skilled cultivators, a
4 focus on an increased biodiversity, and a variety
of microclimates (due to its small size and the
effects of two surrounding oceans).
 SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023
A figure
in the service
of quality
Thanks to the training offered by CQI, SCA and
others, the sector has evolved in terms of quality:
it has put buyers in a position to purchase high-
quality coffee more efficiently, thus improving the
quality of the product offered to end consumers.
The figure of the Q-Grader has also contributed
to improving the training and competence of
coffee traders, enabling them to identify the
sensory characteristics of coffee and assess its
quality independently.
6
7
A tangible example is when a roaster with a
CQI certification can give direct feedback to the
farmer on the quality of the coffee received.
Patrick recounted a recent experience: he had
received batches of coffee for roasting, but many
beans were broken and had defects.
Thanks to the skills he gained from the CQI
courses, he gave precise feedback on the quality
of the coffee received so that the producer could
correct some processing steps to deliver a better
quality coffee the next time.

What is
hidden
behind
a cup of
specialty
coffee
The life cycle of
specialty coffee
What happens if an excellent raw material,
defined specialty, is roasted without attention
or improperly extracted? You can imagine the
answer: the starting quality of the coffee is not
enhanced; on the contrary!
The supply chain of coffee is very long and
delicate. Therefore, passing the baton among
those who produce, transport, roast, and serve
the coffee is essential.
All the actors involved in this process have an
equally important role to play.
8 honey-like flavour.
SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023 9
Cultivation
As we saw in previous 360° column, where we
talked about the coffee Martin Shabaya brought
to the World Barista Championship finals, taking
care of the soil is the first step.
There are several techniques to monitor the
quality of the soil and its properties.
For example, its pH can be corrected using
charcoal obtained by burning the waste from
coffee plants.
The aim at this step is to achieve the best possible
quality, not quantity.
Only the ripest cherries free of defects are picked
during the harvest after quality control.
The selectors are usually given a reference colour,
and the harvested fruits are rechecked at a later
stage to assure maximum quality.
Coffee
processing
Once the best cherries have been picked, they are
processed by removing the layers surrounding
the beans.
Using the natural method, the coffee beans are har-
vested, dried and roasted without being washed to
remove the surrounding pulp and mucilage. This
process allows the beans to retain most of their
natural oils and aromas, resulting in a more com-
plex and richly flavoured cup of coffee.
The washed method involves removing the pulp
and mucilage from the coffee beans before the
drying step. This method produces a cleaner and
brighter coffee than the natural method but can
also lose some flavours and aromas.
The honey method lies somewhere between the
natural and the washed process. In this case, the
pulp is removed from the coffee beans, but some
mucilage is left adhering to the beans during
drying. This gives the coffee a sweet and fruity,
 SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023 11

Purchasing
and analysing
green coffee
Choosing a reliable and specialised supplier is
essential when buying high-quality green coffee.
Generally, green coffee suppliers can provide
detailed information on the coffee’s origin, variety,
processing method and quality.

In addition, it is advisable to conduct a sensory

analysis of green coffee before purchasing. This
analysis uses a tasting, during which the green
beans are evaluated according to their aroma,
flavour, body, acidity and sweetness. This allows
any defects or imperfections to be identified. The
figure of a Q-Grader is crucial at this step.

There are also physical analysis tools for green

coffee that allow the evaluation of its density,
moisture and other technical parameters.
These tools make it possible to identify any
problems or structural defects in the coffee and
assess its quality.

10

Roasting
Along with the processes we have just seen,
roasting the beans is another fundamental step
to allow coffee to achieve its full aroma and
flavour potential.
Roasting requires care and attention, allowing the
coffee to develop the flavours we will smell in the
cup later.
It is divided into three main steps: drying, reaction
and development.
Drying step: the heat allows the water in the
beans to evaporate, causing steam to escape to
the outside. This step is critical as the moisture
must be removed before the bean begins to burn.
Reaction step: its name comes from a series of
chemical reactions that occur inside the bean
during this step. High temperatures cause sugars
and amino acids to decompose, forming aromatic
compounds that give coffee its distinct flavour.
The bean starts to darken and turn brown.
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SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023 13
At the end of this step, the coffee
starts to crackle. This phenome-
non is called the ‘first crack’: the
development step begins at this
moment.
Development step: the temperature
is reduced to prevent the bean from
burning. At this step, the roasted
coffee acquires its definitive fla-
vour and aroma.
However, there can be up to a sec-
ond crack: a further crack (less noisy than the first
one) by which the beans become darker and are
covered with an oily layer.
At this point, the roasted coffee is cooled rapidly
to stop the roasting process. It can be used
immediately or left to rest briefly to develop the
flavour and aroma further.
Light roasting is often used in specialty coffee
because it better preserves the aromatic and
taste notes of green coffee, such as acidity and
sweetness, which would be covered by more
intense roasting.
 SANREMO 360° #03 / 2023 15

Sanremo
and
specialty
coffee
Sanremo discovered the specialty coffee com-
munity at the UK Barista Championships 2013,
an event of which it is a sponsor and at which it
supplied the Verona TCS as an official machine.
The first big step was taken shortly afterwards
with the ambitious project to create a coffee
machine based on the needs of baristas: thus,
Opera was born.
Danilo Llopis, Sanremo’s R&D manager, explains
that Sanremo’s mission is to help enhance every
type of coffee. If the machines developed can
enhance the best specialty coffees, they will also
do so with non-specialty coffees or blends.
The latest technological innovation developed by
Sanremo from a specialty perspective is the new
X-One: a grinder that minimises retention and
allows maximum consistency in weighing and,
thus, in extraction.

Grinding and Therefore, it is necessary to conduct tests to

determine the right coffee grind. For example, it

extraction is possible to adjust the grinding and try brewing

Adjusting the coffee grinding is essential to
making a good cup because it influences how the
hot water extracts solute from the ground coffee,
such as aroma, taste and body.
The type of coffee grind depends on the extraction
method you intend to use.
First, adjust the grind to make the coffee beans
coarse enough. In this way, water will not be able
to pass easily through the coffee, and the result
will be an underdeveloped, acidic coffee without
a body.
At this point, the grinding can be adjusted to make
it finer and finer until the coffee is full-bodied and
less acidic. However, if the grinding is too fine, the
water may struggle to pass through the coffee. In
this case, you risk obtaining a bitter, burnt coffee.
coffee. If the coffee is too acidic, the grinding
should be made finer; if the coffee is too bitter,
the grinding should be made coarser.
In addition to the grain size chosen, the freshness
of the coffee is also essential. Grinding the coffee
shortly before extraction is essential to preserve
most of the organoleptic proper-
ties of the beverage. It only takes
a few minutes to lose most of it.
With this in mind, grinders such
as Sanremo’s X-One help baristas
to always have fresh coffee, with
precise weighing that allows them
to respect the recipe and avoid
wasting raw material.
It is essential to experiment with
coffee grinding to achieve the
desired taste. Once you find the
right grinding for your chosen cof-
fee preparation method, you can
make a cup of coffee with a bal-
anced and satisfying taste.

14
Conscious
consumption and
purchasing Take home
messages
Sustainability is increasingly being discussed in
this historical period, and coffee is no exception.
It is essential to choose quality coffee by checking
that it is sourced from sustainable and responsible
cultivation, preferably of a single origin.
Knowing where the coffee comes from is
essential to determine how it was cultivated,
processed and roasted. This information helps to
understand the quality of the coffee and its value.
The method of coffee preparation also makes a
difference: it should respect the environment and
produce as little waste as possible. For example,
one may prefer mocha or espresso rather than
methods that use paper or plastic filters.
Also, from a ‘personal’ point of view, coffee
should be enjoyed responsibly. Avoiding sugar
or milk allows to appreciate the nuances of taste
and aroma better.
Moreover, coffee should be consumed in
moderation, limiting consumption to one or two
cups a day and avoiding drinking it during the
evening to avoid disrupting sleep.
www.sanremomachines.com
The world of coffee is vast: one
that fascinates and overwhelms.
Technological development is
helping to improve the quality of
the raw material and the different
processes.
Another aspect to consider is environmental and Tommaso Meneghin
social sustainability. This is where the specialty
movement is making enormous progress: from
increasing attention to the environment during
cultivation to improving producers’ living and
working conditions.
Additionally, specialty involves sharing knowl-
edge regarding coffee consumption. In the next
episode, we will look at the world of coffee com-
petitions, which (similar to the sports industry) is
greatly boosting research and development.
Sanremo Coffee Machines s.r.l.
Via Giacomo Bortolan 52, 31050 Vascon di Carbonera [TV] – ITALY
T +39 0422 448900 / F +39 0422 448935
Sanremo Coffee Machines USA, Inc
99 Grand Street, Unit 20, Moonachie, New Jersey 07074 – USA
alessio.t@sanremous.com
Sanremo UK, LTD
6/7 Thurloe Pl, South Kensington, London SW7 2RX – UK
enquiries@sanremouk.com