Origins
The terms specialty coffee, single origin or single estate coffee, third wave of coffee are inter-related.
The idea of specialty coffee took birth in the US in the 80’s. Although there are more than one claimants to the title, but it is widely accepted in the coffee community that the concept and even the term specialty coffee was coined by famous coffee entrepreneur George Howell. His Coffee Connection chain, which was later acquired by Starbucks, he was also the inventor of the global favourite coffee drink Frappuccino.
Specialty Coffee – a visual representation
This infographic, based loosely on an explanation of specialty coffee by Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is extremely helpful in understanding the concept of specialty coffee.
Sources: Craft Beverage Jobs , The Bean Vagrant , Wikipedia , Eater , ILoveCoffee.jp