Do we need two ways to grade coffee?
It never bothered me when I started working in a Kona Coffee Shop in Texas, when we’d sell Extra Fancy & Peaberry as pour over on the menu, but learning Specialty Coffee in the Kona region itself urged these thoughts of mine.
Let me explain how coffee grading in Kona works.
When people say 100% Kona Coffee, it has to be certified. There are certain qualifications in bean size, amount of defect, and it must be grown in a specific range of the Kona region. The farm where I work at gets the seal of approval from the dry mill.
After this, from highest to lowest, there’s the Extra Fancy, Fancy, Kona #1, Kona Select, and Prime. Amount of defects increase as it goes lower.
I recently attended an SCA class on Sensory and had an idea of how to identify specialty coffee. These are coffees that have less than 5 defect in 300g, 0 to 1 defect when grading green coffee & a cupping score of 80 and above. Cause of unpleasant taste may be from defect, bug damage, past crop or improper storage. I’m still slowly trying to wrap my head on this type of grading and the definition of Specialty Coffee is still evolving as they include the producer’s side into the equation.
I’m also really trying to understand my question here. I’ve wondered if the size of the bean matters when the coffee has very little defect, and has been processed in a way that results meet the SCA graded standards. I wonder if using bean size is fair to grade what’s quality. What if the farm has a variety that naturally produces larger beans, (for example: Maragogipe, identified as “Big Bean”) and then there’s the Guatemala Typica variety that is more prominently produced by farms from the Kona region. I simply can’t understand if having two grades benefits the consumer and producer side
I don’t think it helps in the consumer’s understanding of quality coffee. Here’s why. At the end of the process, when coffee is brewed, flavor is the main thing that will speak for the process, if it’s quality or not. A bag of coffee can have the extra fancy size but can be full of defects. Do these tourists even know if a seal of approval exists? A bag of coffee can also be Kona Prime (3 steps lower from the biggest bean) but can be processed correctly and have no defect.
In producer’s perspective, this is where the green bean quality starts. If coffee ripened quickly because of the weather during that season, is it considered their fault? Is it their fault that it didn’t grow big enough? But the coffee is clean from mold, has been kept away from the Coffee Bore Beetle, has been stored correctly and passed specialty, but is still labeled by what its size is.
The thing that makes me wonder if the size to determine a coffee quality really matters! This simply confuses the consumer, by identifying what really is important in producing a cup. It’s also because I know that as I work in the. producer’s side, I can cheat a system like that. I know how to find a loophole. I know that if I see it, people have already done it.
Last thing that makes me wonder if having the Kona grading system helps the industry as a whole, or does it add a barrier to make them highly distinct from other coffee producing regions.
Apr 18
Maybe yes.
I keep coming back to this question. Maybe we need two ways to grade coffee because Specialty coffee is not everyone’s niche.
Not everyone drinks coffee because of the flavor, nor does everyone drink it black. Coffee is seen as a caffeine source, or even a comforting flavored/creamy drink. So, there’s no sense in putting up a particularly processed/ fermented/ rare variety/ roasted to perfection coffee on a latte.
It’s only very recent that this beverage is seen as Specialty, as it was presented as a bitter, energizing drink when brought to the market. It’s been so available everywhere, that it became a lifestyle for many parts of the world. The Specialty coffee sector is still so young.
And then I realize, coffee is simply enjoyed differently. Some enjoy it as a commodity & some, as specialty. Farms will also have to realize which market are they for, thus having goals for what to achieve on either. So yea, maybe we do need two ways to grade coffee…
