The emergence of specialty coffee that focuses on the unique flavors that come from the characteristics of the producing region

Against this backdrop, a trend began where high-quality coffee was supported by a fan base that was particular about flavor.
The term Peetniks was even coined to refer to the core fans of Peet's Coffee in Berkeley, California.
Such coffee also focuses on the origin of the beans.
Because they are particular about the origin of the beans, they do not pursue quantity over quality like commodity coffee, but rather they are particular about beans imported from specific producing areas in order to pursue high-quality beans even if the production lot is small.
In an article published in 1974 in the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, a specialist magazine for the tea and coffee industry, Erna Knutsen of coffee trading company B.C. Ireland stated that "special geographical conditions and the climate of a small region produce coffee beans with unique (distinct, special) flavors," and called this type of coffee specialty coffee.
This was the birth of the term specialty coffee.
The concept of specialty coffee then spread throughout the American coffee industry, and in 1982 an NGO called SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association) was founded in the United States.