One question we've gotten a lot recently is if our coffee has mold in it.
Well is your coffee specialty or is it coming from a large commercial coffee?
Specialty coffee is vastly different than commercial coffee.
Specialty coffee undergoes rigorous grading to determine if it's indeed, specialty coffee.
Specialty coffee must score an 80 or above by the standards of the SCA. (Specialty Coffee Association) This means the coffee has unique and distinctive characteristics like taste, aroma, and body.
There are two grading categories. Category 1 defects and Category 2 defects.
One section of Category 1 defects is fungus damage. If a coffee has fungus damage, the coffee is no longer considered specialty coffee, this would include mold.
If what you're purchasing is specialty coffee there isn't any mold present!
All of the coffee's we have here at Viking Coffee Co are specialty coffee and score 80 and above.
Our Costa Rican Tarrazu and Ethiopian Sidamo scores at an 85.
Colombian and Brazil coffee scores at an 84.
Kenyan coffee scores at an 87.5.
Where this question of mold in coffee comes from is commercial coffee where the quality of storage and processing is absolutely terrible. Coffee is roasted in large amounts, ground up, and stored in poor conditions conducive to mold growth.
Specialty coffee, like our operation, is always roasted to order and stored in a climate controlled environment. No mold present.