Do you understand the coffee bean grading standards? (Part 1)

Different countries process coffee beans in different ways, so there are various grading methods. There is no unified grading standard in the world. Generally speaking, a producing country only uses one method. However, it should be noted that some farms may use other grading methods. For example, Ethiopian coffee has Gr1-Gr5 and SHB. The most common ones we see are as follows:

Grading by coffee bean size ( Bean, Size):

Everyone has this experience when buying fruits. Generally, fruits with round shapes and slightly larger sizes are more juicy and delicious. Fruit vendors often use the size of apples as a reference to set prices. In fact, the same is true for coffee beans. Although the size of beans is not the only criterion for determining its quality and flavor, in many production areas, the size of coffee beans is indeed an important indicator with great reference power; in which areas, the beans grow large and have beautiful curves, which means that the coffee grows robustly and reaches a fully mature state, and can best show a beautiful flavor.

In addition, coffee beans of the same maturity have consistent hardness and moisture content, which makes it easier to achieve uniform roasting and produce consistent flavor, thus forming high-quality coffee. Therefore, most emerging farms use this grading method.

This grading method is to grade various hollow screens. The screens have various specifications and are identified by numbers. The numbers are related to the mesh size. The size of the mesh is calculated in units of 1/64 inches. If the diameter of the mesh is 18/64 inches, it means that the mesh number is 18; if the diameter of the mesh is 17/64 inches, it means that the mesh number is 17; and so on, there are screens with various numbers such as 14, 15, 16, 19, etc.

The screening process is to place the coffee beans on a sieve and shake it back and forth manually or by machine. Beans smaller than the sieve will fall down and be removed. The removed beans will be screened again through a smaller sieve, and the coffee beans will be graded after each layer of screening.

After grading, the producing areas are divided into AA, A, B, C and PB grades. AA is the highest grade, A, B, C in descending order, and those below C grade are usually used as feed or fertilizer. In addition, Pea-Berry has a special flavor, and the beans themselves are relatively small, so it is a separate grade, namely [PB], which is usually more expensive. In addition, we can also see X, Y1, Y2 and T grades. These coffee beans are of different sizes and have many defective beans. They are considered to be quite poor products and are not worth a try.

This grading method is generally used in Kenya, New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda. In addition, many Brazilian coffees also use this grading method, but they directly use 19, 18, 17... instead of AA, A, B, C, etc.

Grading by the number of imperfection points:

This is the earliest grading method, and it is still being used in many areas of Brazil. The identification method is to randomly select 300 grams of samples and put them on black paper, because black paper can best avoid reflection; then a professional appraiser will carefully inspect them, find the defective beans in the sample, and accumulate different scores according to the type of defects. For example, one black bean counts as 1 point, one small stone counts as 1 point, one large stone counts as 5 points, five broken beans count as 1 point, five insect-damaged beans count as 1 point, two sour beans count as 1 point, one large dried fruit skin counts as 1 point, two medium dried fruit skins count as 1 point, three small dried fruit skins count as 1 point, five unshelled beans count as 1 point, and three shell beans count as 1 point. After the identification is completed, the grade is assessed according to the accumulated defect score as NY2~NY8, and there is no NY1. If you want to buy the first-level (NY1) Brazilian beans, it will be a joke. Similarly, only the highest grade is eligible to be included in the selected coffee.

Indonesian coffee also uses this grading method, and the identification method is roughly the same as the calculation of the defect count score. However, the final grading method is different. Indonesian beans are mainly divided into 6 grades, namely Gr1~Gr6. Ethiopia also uses this method. The highest grade of washed beans is Gr1 and Gr2, and the highest grade of sun-dried beans is Gr3.

To be continued…

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