National Gourmet Coffee Day Date in the current year: January 18, 2024

There is no unified definition of gourmet coffee. Some people consider any coffee made from 100% Arabica beans to be gourmet coffee. Arabica coffee is one of the two main coffee species that are cultivated for human consumption, the other one being Robusta coffee. Robusta coffee contains more caffeine and tends to be more bitter and less acidic than Arabica coffee. In addition, it is less susceptible to disease and pests and has a greater crop yield than Coffea arabica, therefore Robusta coffee is cheaper to produce.

Arabica coffee is considered superior to Robusta coffee because it has a smoother taste and a richer flavor. The harsher Robusta beans with their distinctive earthy flavor are mostly used in coffee blends; a lot of coffee lovers consider blends inferior to 100% Arabica coffee and refer to the latter as gourmet coffee.

Another definition of gourmet coffee claims that it is synonymous with specialty coffee. The term specialty coffee originated in 1974 and currently refers to coffee scoring 80 points or higher on the 100-point quality scale used by the Specialty Coffee Association. Specialty coffee is typically single-origin, i.e. comes from a single farm (this type of single-origin coffee is also known as estate coffee) or a single country.

Finally, some people associate gourmet coffee with flavored coffee. This definition of gourmet coffee is the least popular of the tree; in fact, it is shunned by coffee purists who think that coffee doesn’t need additional flavors to improve it. Nevertheless, there are plenty of coffee lovers who believe that complementary flavors can improve the taste and aroma of the coffee, and if this is how they like their coffee, who are we to question their preferences?

One thing that all these definitions have in common is that they imply that gourmet coffee is superior to regular coffee that you can get at any gas station or your typical big chain coffee shop. So it is not surprising at all that American coffee lovers have a holiday dedicated to gourmet coffee. The origins of National Gourmet Coffee Day are unclear, but don’t let this stop you from celebrating this amazing holiday.

How to observe National Gourmet Coffee Day? You can enjoy a cup of gourmet coffee at your favorite coffee shop or at that new third wave coffee shop you’ve been meaning to check out for quite some time, splurge on a bag of expensive coffee beans (100% Arabica, of course), experiment with various coffee brewing methods like AeroPress, pour over or cold brewing, enjoy flavored coffee, give someone a bag of gourmet coffee as a gift, or take someone out on a coffee date. And don’t forget to spread the word about the holiday on social media with the hashtags #NationalGourmetCoffeeDay and #GourmetCoffeeDay.