Sure, the name sounds a bit silly and subjective, but Specialty Coffee has an objective scale to it. In the quantitative sense the term refers to coffees that score at least 80/100 on the SCA cupping scale.

But that doesn't just mean someone liked it enough to give it a distinction. The score is derived from a broad assessment that rewards coffees that tend to exhibit distinctive quality and flavour. We're talking high quality, defect-free, carefully grown, intentionally processed, and diligently handled lots here.

The result, when roasted well of coourse, are coffees that brew as nuanced, exciting, and delightful cups.

Believe it or not, too fresh is a thing. Our coffees benefit from a rest period of at least a week from the roast date. This allows the carbon dioxide naturally produced in the roasting process to escape or 'degas'.

This time helps diminish the barriers that water faces when trying to dissolve and diffuse all those delish flavour compounds.

If you prefer coffee over acidic brown water, allowing your coffee to degas will noticeably improve flavour and balance. Every coffee is a little different, but ours tend to be at their peak around 3-4 weeks post-roast, and will continue to taste great for up to 3 months before fading in character.

All of them! But the CFO here made us write that. For the real answer see below 👇

Buy the coffee you feel like drinking. To help you figure out which of our coffees you might enjoy here's some insight into the intention behind them.

Blends are created by combining coffees from multiple origins, sometimes diff countries sometimes just diff producers. We offer two blends, Heirloom and Coffee Coffee, and our goal with a blend is always to make coffee that are approachable and consistent – so if you love comfort, familiarity, and the cost benefit of products that leverage economies of scale, these mainstays are the countertop staples for you.

Single estate and microlot coffees hail from one specific region, farm, grower, or individual lot. We seek out stacks of these each year, looking for lots that are expressive examples of their cultivar, process, and provenance. If you like variety and appreciate the impact of terroir, these offers are abundant on our list and just the go-to for you.

Special Release lots are unique and rare coffees. Here you'll find exotic varietals and coffees processed with new, experimental methods. Some we source from famed producers, some from pioneering upstarts. If we've classified a coffee as a Special Release you can be sure that the intent is a cup of unparalleled quality and flavour. Add these to cart when you have a taste for the extravagant, really (really) like the person you're gifting coffee to, or want to see what coffees on the world's competition tables taste like.

Coffee is sensitive to oxygen, heat, moisture, and light. Honestly, it's so dramatic.

To keep it from having a full on menti-B we ship coffee within the safety of its very own resealable zipper bag. This is where we recommend you keep it. Keep the bag inside its box, keep it tightly sealed, and the divas in that pack will deliver standout performances weeks after opening.

If you hate our packaging, that's fine, you can decant into something else. Just try make sure it's airtight and lives in a cool, dark place.

Ground coffee will stale WAY faster than whole beans, so either drink fast or invest in a lovely grinder.

Please don't refrigerate coffee. You can freeze coffee, but there are rules to follow. To follow them you need to have too much time on your hands, email us if this is the case.

Ever tried drinking a bean?

Light is a spectrum. Time is imaginary. There is no right or wrong.

Except for dark roasts. They are definitely wrong. And aggressively light roasts. Those are just lazy.

Bad roasts are where good coffees go to die.

To spare our green coffee this fate we work on very good gear and track each batch with criminally expenny software. Then we taste every last roast. And, when you taste that much coffee you gain an appreciation for the breadth of flavour and character inherently available in specialty coffee.

Preserving and presenting this quality is how we approach our job. We roast with a light touch to something we'd describe as a light-to-medium degree. But rather just go taste some of our coffee, it's more drinkable than the philosophy behind it.