Coffee Grading and Classification

SCA ( Speciality Coffee  Association) Sets standards for speciality Coffee from production to brewing.

Coffee is graded for defects, 1 to 5

Grade 1 - Speciality grade coffee beans

Grade 2- Premium grade coffee beans

Grade 3- exchange grade

Grade 4- standard coffee beans

Grade 5- off grade

The SCA only defines two grades of coffee , speciality grade and premium grade. Specialty green coffee beans have no more than 5 full defects in 350 grams of coffee. 

SCA Cupping scores

Coffee is cupped to SCA cupping protocols and standards by a qualified Q grader. It is then scored for quality. A coffee is rated specialty if it scores 80 or above. 80-84.99 is very good. 85-89.99 is excellent and 90-100 is outstanding.

Bean  Size classification (different countries use different terms)

The beans are sorted by screen sizes. (17/18,15/16,13/14)

AA - Refers to a larger than normal bean size, example Tanzania AA.

A - Large beans

B- medium beans

C- Small

PB- Peaberry

Supremo- Larger than normal

Excelso- Medium to large

HB - Hard bean

SHG- Strictly high grown

SHB-Strictly hard bean

RFA- Rainforest Alliance