In recent years, the specialty coffee sector has undergone many changes in the way coffee beans are processed. Beyond the traditional methods that have ensured quality and consistency for decades, innovation at this stage of production has given rise to a booming trend: experimental coffee processing methods. These techniques are opening up a universe of sensory and commercial possibilities within the sector and producers are using them to differentiate their coffees and respond to the ever-growing demand from consumers.

Water is the main component of any brewed coffee beverage, working as a solvent for the soluble components responsible for the aroma and flavour of the coffee. Using an inappropriate water can change the sensorial profile of a coffee, dulling or increasing its acidity to undesirable proportions or adding flavours or odours that do not really belong to the resulting brew.

Caffeine is found naturally in coffee and is one of more than 400 chemical substances that make it up. The methods for obtaining decaffeinated coffee have evolved over the years with the purpose of not only extracting the caffeine from the coffee beans, but also keeping the rest of the beverage´s properties as intact as possible.

In the last years, the term microlot has become more frequent in the specialty coffee market. Quality, traceability and size are the main criteria taken into account when cataloguing these lots. Moreover, there is no general agreement on what exactly a microlot is and this term can have different meanings throughout the supply chain.

How is the quality of a coffee determined, and at what point in the production chain does this take place? To determine the quality of a coffee, we have different standards whose compliance establishes and differentiates the different classifications that we usually find in the coffee trade. From the farm to roasting, speciality coffee complies with strict physical and sensory standards that guarantee its superior quality.

From the moment the cherries are harvested by the farmer until the coffee arrives in consuming countries as ready-to-roast green coffee, there are a multitude of factors that affect the supply chain. Processing, transport, storage and documentation are just some of these variables that influence FOB, SPOT or final selling prices, which can be very different for each imported coffee.