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Steve Leighton of , a specialty coffee roaster based in Stafford, (and supplier of beans to several barista champions, including the current World Barista champion), outlined that coffee 鈥渋s the most complex food known to man. It has 1200 flavour components... The nearest comparison is red wine with 450 chemical compounds in the flavour make-up. And then we go and roast it 鈥� different chemicals are burning away, others changing 鈥� this all adds to the complexity.鈥澨� This is a blessing and a curse to the coffee industry; on the one hand you have a stunning range of products 鈥� but how do you tame the volatile compounds and make them communicable to the public?

Traditionally, this has been done with 鈥榬oasts鈥� 鈥� Italian Roast, French roast听 - these terms stand for something in our minds, but we鈥檇 struggle to pin down how they taste. In the commercial coffee world 鈥測our skill is to produce something year round that delivers on a brand promise鈥� Colonna Dashwood explains - consistent is king. 鈥淚n most commercial blends there are 10 to 12 different coffees , from different farms. And imagine you sit in the cupping room and you get a really interesting coffee 鈥� you鈥檇 never put it into the blend 鈥� because when it goes, the blend would change.鈥� Interesting coffees therefore have little place in the commercial world. But where these guys leave off, the specialty guys get going.听 Rather than going for consistency of flavour, they sell consistency of quality.

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To ensure quality, as a supplier, you need to be on top of your game; roasters check samples from farmers and importers, visit farms and build relationships with the growers. Landing a shipment of beans can take many months; Has Bean鈥檚 latest shipment from El Salvador has involved four months of planning, and started with a visit to the farm. But on location is not where the deals are done. Steve 鈥渃an鈥檛 decide at origin鈥� whether or not to buy 鈥� 鈥渢he sun鈥檚 out, you鈥檙e chatting with the farmers鈥� 鈥� quite a different scene to Stafford in January. Instead, samples are sent back to base, where they will be roasted and 鈥榗upped鈥� 鈥� a simple roast process, ground and filtered for four minutes in hot water. Once approved, the beans are shipped 鈥済reen, in parchment鈥� and when they get through the door, the roasters 鈥減lay with the roast profile 鈥weaking time and temperature to 鈥� highlight particular flavours 鈥� chocolate, fruits, vanilla, caramels - thousands of different flavours. A high temperature at the end [of the roast] gives acidity, a short roasting time lends sweetness, and a longer roasting time gives body.鈥� When they鈥檙e happy 鈥� it鈥檚 time to sell it to the specialty baristas, individual enthusiasts and coffee shops.

At the coffee shop, each batch of fresh roasted coffee is given a 鈥榖rew recipe鈥� outlining the time, temperature, weight in grams, measure of shot, to be used.听 Then each morning, the batch is tested again, and the brew recipe altered, to allow for the changes in the beans over the 3 or 4 days it鈥檚 served up in the shop. Colonna Dashwood can even programme his coffee machine to change the pressure during the espresso-making process 鈥� all to get the most out of those beans. When I asked if this was a manual or programmed process, he laughed 鈥� 鈥淵ou programme it 鈥� I don鈥檛 believe in the manual thing because it鈥檚 too variable. Why have another variable?!" Even champion baristas have their limits.

Other short-hands exist; notably the programme creates a clear route between growers and specialty roasters or baristas to access great coffee. The not-for-profit scheme started in 1999 as a way to boost sales through an all-time price low of under $1 per lb. Any producer can enter to be assessed by national Cup of Excellence jury, and the best 60 lots to go through to an international jury. If the coffee scores higher than 84/100 it goes to internet auction for buyers to buy.听 This cuts out a lot of leg-work which can be prohibitively expensive for small outfits.
What鈥檚 interesting is that the Cup of Excellence judges are not looking to make all coffees the same, nor are the baristas, nor the competition judges.听 The move away from 鈥榬oasts鈥� and to a more sommelier culture of individual taste reinforces the point that the skill, for everyone, is to adapt to the coffee.听 鈥淎 coffee is really judged on how these parts come together to form a cohesive structure of flavour called character.鈥� There is character aplenty in the specialty roasters, baristas, competition judges, Cup of Excellence promoters, and customers 鈥� all the passionate individuals who want to find something interesting and satisfying from a simple cuppa joe.

What do you look for in coffee? Do you seek out exceptional coffee? What was听the best cup of coffee you've ever tasted?