Foundational
Coffee grading and quality, explained
How green coffee is graded, why national grading systems aren't directly comparable, and what "specialty," "commodity" and "premium" actually mean.
How green coffee is graded
Grading generally considers screen size (physical bean size), density, moisture content and defect count, assessed through mechanical sorting and, for higher grades, cupping evaluation. See CoffeeHQ's seed-to-cup production journey for where grading and defect sorting fit in the process, and the coffee defects model for what's actually being counted.
National grading systems differ genuinely
Kenya's AA/AB/PB grades are primarily size-based; Ethiopia's grade 1 through grade 5 system is primarily defect-count based; Brazil uses a combination of screen size and cup-quality classifications. These are not directly interchangeable scales — a top grade in one country's system doesn't automatically correspond to the same rank in another's.
Specialty coffee
"Specialty" grade coffee generally refers to green coffee scoring above an industry-recognised threshold on a standardised cupping evaluation, administered through recognised professional bodies — a real, scored basis, not just a marketing label.
Commodity and commercial coffee
"Commodity" or "commercial" grade coffee describes coffee traded on the general market without a specialty-grade cupping score — this is the large majority of global coffee by volume, and is not inherently "bad," just a different market/quality tier with different price dynamics (see CoffeeHQ's coffee economics content).
"Gourmet" and "premium": marketing terms, not grades
Unlike "specialty" (which has a scored basis), "gourmet" and "premium" have no standard industry definition and are used at a seller's discretion — worth reading as marketing language rather than a verified quality claim.
Micro-lots, nano-lots, estate and competition coffee
These describe increasingly small, specific and traceable lots (down to a single farm, plot or even a single day's picking) — genuinely more specific and traceable, but specificity is not automatically the same as higher cup quality; a small, specific lot can still be mediocre, and a larger blended lot can be excellent.
Altitude and size-based grade names
Central American systems commonly use altitude-linked names — "Strictly Hard Bean" (SHB) or "Strictly High Grown" (SHG) denote coffee grown above a defined altitude threshold (specific thresholds vary by country), generally associated with slower cherry maturation and denser beans, not a direct cupping score. Colombia's "Excelso" and "Supremo" are screen-size-based grades (Supremo denotes a larger average bean size than Excelso) — size, not an automatic proxy for flavour.
"European Preparation" and export-grade terms
"European Preparation" denotes greater care in defect removal before export compared to lower-effort export preparation — a real, if imprecise, quality-effort signal rather than a standardised numeric grade. Export-grade terminology varies enough between origins that a buyer comparing bags from different countries is comparing different labelling systems, not one shared scale.
Competition and auction scoring
Cup of Excellence and similar competitions score entries against a standardised cupping protocol, publishing scores and rankings for that specific competition's entries — a genuine, rigorous quality signal for the lots involved, but a competition score describes that specific harvest's specific lot, not a permanent guarantee about every future harvest from the same farm.
Robusta grading
Robusta (Canephora) grading conventions exist separately from arabica ones (e.g. Vietnam and India both use their own screen-size/defect-count systems) and are not directly comparable to arabica grading scales, reflecting robusta's different market use and typical price tier — not, by itself, a verdict on cup quality (see CoffeeHQ's robusta-quality myth entry).
Price doesn't equal quality
Rarity, novelty (see CoffeeHQ's kopi-luwak myth entry) and traceability all influence price independent of blind-tasted cup quality — treat price as one signal among several, not a reliable quality measure on its own. See CoffeeHQ's authenticity and fraud guide for how grading claims can be misused, and the economics guide for how price is actually formed.
Related
Sources
- Coffee Quality Institute Q Grader / cupping standards — Coffee Quality Institute (CQI)
- World Coffee Research variety and agronomy resources — World Coffee Research (WCR)