"Specialty grade Arabica" is on almost every premium coffee bag now, including ours. But most shoppers have never been told what it actually means — or why it is more than a nicer-sounding label. The short version: it is one of the few coffee terms with a real, measurable standard behind it.
Here is what the grade means, how coffee is actually scored, and why it matters even more in Turkish coffee than in a regular cup.
Specialty grade means the green coffee scored 80 or higher on a 100-point scale, was graded by trained cuppers, is essentially free of defects, and can be traced back to where it was grown. "Arabica" is the coffee species that nearly all specialty coffee comes from — sweeter and more refined than its cheaper cousin, Robusta.
Arabica vs Robusta: the species sets the ceiling
Before grade, there is species. The world drinks two main types of coffee, and the difference decides how good the cup can ever be.
Arabica grows at higher altitudes, ripens slowly, and develops more sugars and aromatic compounds. It tends toward cocoa, nuts, caramel, fruit, and a rounded sweetness — and it carries roughly half the caffeine of Robusta. Robusta is hardy, high-yield, and cheap, but usually tastes more bitter, rubbery, and flat. It is the workhorse of commodity blends and instant coffee. You can read more about the growing regions behind these coffees in the National Coffee Association's origin guide.
Specialty grade is almost always Arabica, because Robusta rarely has the sweetness and clarity to score high. So "specialty grade Arabica" is really two quality signals stacked together: the better species, and the better grade of that species.
The coffee grading ladder
Not all coffee is graded the same way. Most of the coffee sold in the world never gets a quality score at all — it moves on price. Here is where specialty sits.
Commodity grade
Most supermarket and instant coffee.
Bought and sold by the sack as a commodity, often blended across unknown origins and species. Defects and Robusta filler are common, and the coffee is judged by cost, not by how it tastes.
"Premium" or "gourmet"
Sounds better — means whatever the label wants.
There is no agreed score behind "premium," "gourmet," or even "100% Arabica." A coffee can say premium on the front of the bag and still be commodity-grade beans with defects inside.
Specialty grade
The only tier with a measurable bar.
Scored 80 or higher on the Specialty Coffee Association 100-point scale by trained graders, screened to be essentially free of defects, and traceable back to a region, farm, or cooperative.
The key thing to notice: only specialty grade has a number behind it. "Premium," "gourmet," and "rich" are marketing words anyone can print. Specialty is a standard a coffee has to earn.
How specialty grade is actually decided
Specialty grade comes from two checks: grading the raw green beans, and tasting the brewed coffee.
First, a sample of green coffee is inspected for defects — broken beans, insect damage, mold, stones. Specialty grade allows no primary defects and only a small number of minor ones in the sample. Then trained tasters, often certified "Q graders," run a formal cupping, scoring the coffee on aroma, flavor, sweetness, acidity, body, balance, and cleanliness. Add it up, and a coffee that lands at 80 points or above is specialty. Below that, it is not — no matter what the bag says.
Why it matters even more in Turkish coffee
In most brewing methods, a paper filter and a coarser grind quietly hide a lot. Oils, fine sediment, and small flaws get caught or diluted before they reach your cup.
Turkish coffee is the opposite. It is ground powder-fine, brewed in a cezve, and served unfiltered — you drink the coffee with its finest particles still in the cup. That means there is nowhere for a harsh, sour, or musty defect to hide. A commodity-grade bean that tastes "fine" through a drip machine can turn bitter and muddy in a Turkish cup.
The flip side is the good part: when the bean is specialty grade, that same unfiltered, concentrated brewing puts its sweetness and body right in front of you. Turkish coffee magnifies whatever is in the bean — so the grade you start with is most of the cup you end up with.
The Lezzet approach
Lezzet is built on specialty-grade Arabica, roasted in-house in small batches and ground powder-fine for the cezve. We start there on purpose: because the cup is unfiltered, the bean has to be clean and sweet enough to hold up without a filter to lean on.
From there, we roast for cocoa, toasted nut, and caramel balance rather than just dark and bitter, so Traditional tastes like coffee first, and Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Sultan's Secret build on a smooth base instead of covering a rough one. That is the whole point of starting with specialty grade — it is the difference you can actually taste in a tiny cup.
Specialty grade Arabica FAQ
Is Arabica really better than Robusta?
For flavor, yes. Arabica is grown at higher altitudes and tends to be sweeter, smoother, and more complex, with about half the caffeine of Robusta. Robusta is hardier and cheaper but usually tastes harsher and more bitter, which is why it dominates commodity blends and instant coffee. Almost all specialty grade coffee is Arabica.
Does specialty grade mean less caffeine?
Slightly, because Arabica naturally carries less caffeine than Robusta — but "specialty grade" describes quality and cup score, not caffeine. The strength you feel in a cup of Turkish coffee comes mostly from the grind, ratio, and that you drink it unfiltered.
Is specialty grade Arabica worth the higher price?
In Turkish coffee, it pays off more than in most brewing methods. Because the coffee is unfiltered and powder-fine, the quality of the bean shows up directly in the cup — a cleaner, sweeter, smoother brew instead of a flat or bitter one.
Can you actually taste the difference in Turkish coffee?
More than in drip or filter coffee. A paper filter and a coarser grind hide a lot. Turkish coffee has no filter and the finest grind of any method, so defects, sourness, and harshness have nowhere to hide — and so does the sweetness of a well-graded bean.
