Specialty coffee can have a wide range of natural flavors depending on the specific variety of coffee beans, where it was grown, how it was processed, and how it was roasted. However, some common characteristics of specialty coffee include:

• Aroma: Specialty coffee often has a strong, pleasant aroma that can be floral, fruity, nutty, or spicy depending on the region.

• Acidity: Specialty coffee is known for its bright, complex acidity that can range from mild to intense. Acidity in coffee is not the same as the sourness that comes from over-extraction or stale coffee.

• Flavor: Specialty coffee can have a wide range of flavors, depending on the variety of coffee beans and how it was processed and roasted. Some common flavors include chocolate, caramel, citrus, berry, floral, and nutty.

• Body: Specialty coffee typically has a smooth, delicate texture that is not overly heavy or thin.

• Finish: Specialty coffee often has a long, pleasant aftertaste that can be sweet, nutty, or fruity.

Overall, specialty coffee is appreciated for its complex and unique flavors, as well as the care and attention that goes into producing it.

Yes!

Some of our single-origins taste really good as espresso coffee but they require good equipment, patient calibration, and some experience with dialing in your espresso.

To brew specialty coffee at home with an espresso machine, there are a few things you need to take note of:

1. You will need a very good burr grinder as some specialty-grade coffee can be super light roasted have higher densities. This makes it harder to grind for machines with lower power specifications.
2. Your grinder should not be multi-step but allow you to make micro-adjustments as even an mm difference in grind size can affect how the espresso tastes.
3. Fresh light-roasted coffee espresso shots will run much faster than dark-roasted shots and that is totally fine. ( Usually 2 times the weight in 15-20 seconds as a general recipe ). The acidity in light-roasted coffee is well developed so it will not taste as harsh as under-extracting dark-roasted coffee.
4. The risk of an over-extraction of bitter flavors is also rare in our coffee as bitterness is a product of dark-roasted coffee.

If this sounds too complicated, we recommend brewing your coffee with our Yasumi Press instead which as immersion brewing is a fool-proof and practical way to achieve the similar results you find at specialty cafes without the cafe-grade equipment.