Coffee lovers, grab your mugs. Whether you crave a dark, pungent espresso or a frothy barista concoction, this is your time to indulge.

February is Specialty Coffee Month, a collective effort within the industry to educate consumers about what makes specialty coffee so special. Just what is specialty coffee? The incredibly sensory definition almost makes you smell the aroma of fine coffee beans.

Specialty coffee is defined as coffee that has no defects and a distinctive flavor in the cup. These are the highest-quality green beans, roasted to their greatest flavor potential by true craftspeople and then properly brewed to well-established standards. An incredibly complex art, the preparation of specialty coffee places high value on climate, care and craft from seed to cup.

"A single fragrant cup of specialty coffee combines the ultimate quality in growing, collecting, roasting and brewing carefully selected beans," said Mitch McMullen, co-founder of the Newhall Coffee Roasting Company. "Add in the craft and artistry of a trained barista, and you have a beverage rich in quality, history, and flavor. It's hard to believe anyone could refer to it as just a cup of coffee."

A major economic player, coffee is second only to oil in terms of dollars traded worldwide. The global coffee industry employs 20 million people. Rich in history, coffee has always been considered valuable. In 1683, one cup of coffee in New York was worth as much as four acres of land. "The number of coffee houses in the US now exceeds 17,000. This is a growth of 83% from 1998 to 2003".