August 2026

The specialty coffee industry never stands still, and roasters who stay ahead of these shifts tend to build stronger, more resilient businesses. Here’s what’s worth paying attention to. Diversify beyond washed and natural. Customers are increasingly drawn to distinctive processing like anaerobic and hybrid fermentation. Roasters who add one or two experimental lots to their […]

Anaerobic processing is one of the most experimental methods in specialty coffee and is behind some of the boldest flavor profiles on the market. Whole ripe cherries are sealed in oxygen-free tanks and fermented for 24 to over 100 hours. Without oxygen, fermentation follows a different biochemical path, drawing out the cherry’s natural sweetness and

Processing method is one of the biggest factors shaping how coffee tastes — right up there with origin itself. Full Washed — Fruit pulp is removed before drying, giving the beans a meticulously controlled process from start to finish. The result is a complex yet balanced cup, marked by bright acidity and a medium to

Tucked into the highlands surrounding the Ijen Plateau in East Java, Indonesia, grows a coffee that’s earned a quiet but growing reputation among specialty buyers: Ijen Arabica. A landscape built for coffee The Ijen area sits at elevations ranging from 1,300 to 1,600 meters above sea level, right in the sweet spot for high-quality Arabica

If you’ve spent any time around coffee roasters or green bean buyers, you’ve probably heard the term “specialty coffee” thrown around a lot. But what does it actually mean, and why does it matter so much to the people sourcing beans? In simple terms, specialty coffee refers to coffee that scores 80 points or above