Word.ws English Dictionary

specialty coffee

specialty coffee noun: the highest grade of coffee available, typically relating to the entire supply chain, using single-origin or single-estate coffee.

Noun

specialty coffee (countable and uncountable, plural specialty coffees)

  1. The highest grade of coffee available, typically relating to the entire supply chain, using single-origin or single-estate coffee.
    • Kahawa 1893’s launch coincided with a significant shift in American coffee culture, driven by the so-called third-wave “specialty coffee” movement, which prioritizes small producers and premium beans.2024 September 19, Claire Wang, “After a terrible cup of joe in the office, a founder decided to bring African coffee traditions stateside”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
    • In a recent interview, she elaborated on its supporting themes, which included coffee prices — between €1 and €1.50 for an espresso at the cafe bar, compared with the €5 or more for a specialty coffee — as well as class and the educational levels of patrons and owners of these establishments.2025 January 21, Vivian Song, “Specialty Coffee Shops and Parisian Cafes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Forms of specialty coffee

pluralspecialty coffees
alternative uncommonspeciality coffee

Origin of specialty coffee

First used in 1974 by Erna Knutsen in an issue of Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Questions about specialty coffee

What does specialty coffee mean?
Specialty coffee means the highest grade of coffee available, typically relating to the entire supply chain, using single-origin or single-estate coffee.
What part of speech is specialty coffee?
Specialty coffee is a noun.
What is the plural of specialty coffee?
The plural of specialty coffee is specialty coffees.

Words near specialty coffee in the dictionary

  1. specialogue
  2. specialogues
  3. specials
  4. specialties
  5. specialty
  6. specialty coffee
  7. specialty coffees
  8. specialty crop
  9. specialty crops
  10. specialty shop
  11. specialty shops

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: specialty coffee (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “specialty coffee.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/specialty_coffee. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.