Ethiopian Coffee Bean Grading Standards and Export Auction Process

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Ethiopian Coffee Bean Auction System and Classification

The evaluation standards for Ethiopian coffee beans were established with the assistance of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) (Why couldn't Ethiopia, as the homeland of coffee, establish its own standards independently? Hmm! Think about that carefully).

In 2008, Ethiopia fully implemented a central auction system (previously, exporters were each purchasing and exporting independently).

Pre-Auction Process Overview

Let me briefly explain some of the pre-auction processes:

1) Farmers harvest coffee cherries;

2) Farmers transport the cherries to rural cooperatives;

3) Cooperatives sell the cherries to middlemen;

4) Middlemen collect the cherries and transport them to processing plants (for washed or natural processing);

5) Middlemen transport the processed beans (parchment coffee) to designated warehouses of the auction house;

6) The auction house provides official evaluation (rating level);

7) Middlemen bring samples and official certification to auction parchment coffee at the capital's auction house;

8) Exporters test samples at the auction house and bid for the beans;

9) Exporters transport the won parchment coffee to hulling facilities;

10) Exporters send the processed green beans (the form we usually see) to official institutions for export grade certification, then obtain official certificates (such as Sidamo Grade-2 certificate).

The above is a simplified process; there are actually some smaller branches, such as cooperatives exporting directly, which won't be detailed one by one.

Naming and Classification System

Ethiopian coffee beans are named by their origin, usually by province. This is somewhat similar to the Bordeaux region of French wine. Everyone is quite familiar with the main producing regions. Note: Sidamo is a small producing region within the Sidamo province. Due to its unique flavor, it can become an independent brand. This naming method is quite different from other African countries (including the grading and naming introduced below), such as Kenya and Tanzania, which are named by country, like Kenya AA, Tanzania AA. (Why? That's also worth thinking about!)

First, it must be clearly stated that the following system is only for grading Parchment Coffee before auction, which is graded during step 6), and the certificates issued are only used for auction purposes, not as export certificates.

General requirements: The moisture content of natural coffee beans should not exceed 11.5% of weight, and at least 85% of beans should be size 14 or above after screening. (This is why Ethiopian beans don't look good: size 14 and above means 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are mixed together, so the beans are certainly uneven).

Parchment Coffee grading: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, UG (undergrade). Attention!!! This 1, 2, 3 is completely different from Sidamo Grade-2 or Harar Grade-3. This is their domestic grading identification used for auction purposes, not export grade naming.

Two major factors for grading above levels: Raw Value (physical factors) accounts for 40 points, Cup Quality Value (cupping factors) accounts for 60 points, total 100 points.

Physical factors include: defects 20, appearance 10, color 5, odor 5

Cupping factors include: clarity 15, acidity 15, mouthfeel 15, flavor 15. Finally, grading is based on the total score evaluated.

To be classified as specialty coffee, there is another round of finals, where grades 1, 2, 3 are evaluated again through cupping assessment. The evaluation factors are basically the same as SCAA standards and won't be detailed here. After specialty grading, there is another naming, which I won't go into as it would be very confusing. (10,000 words omitted here).

Note: All cupping mentioned above removes the parchment from samples before roasting for testing.

When exporters win beans at auction, they proceed to step 9), and this is where mixing occurs. Mixing has two meanings: a) mixing beans from different mountains; b) mixing beans from different Parchment coffee grades. A very critical step affecting quality is in b). I just introduced grades 1 to 9, UG. Now let's use Sidamo as an example to illustrate: an exporter has a 20-ton Sidamo Grade-2 order. He won more than 20 tons of Parchment Sidamo from the auction house. In most cases, these goods he won were obtained through several separate auctions, because one mountain wouldn't conveniently have exactly 20 tons of coffee. Separate auctions mean different small producing regions (mountains) and different Parchment grades. For example, if the exporter won in 4 separate batches, these 4 batches would be:

Region A: 5 tons (grade: 1); 25%

Region B: 2 tons (grade: 2); 10%

Region C: 10 tons (grade: 3); 50%

Region D: 3 tons (grade: 4); 15%

Then the exporter takes the Parchment coffee to the processing plant to process into 20 tons of green beans for export. Of course, before export, he also needs export grade certification, and official institutions issue Sidamo Grade-2 certificates. Does everyone see the key point?

Let's switch to another exporter with the same 20-ton order, who also won 4 batches of parchment coffee from the auction house:

Region E: 1 ton (grade: 1); 5%

Region F: 1 ton (grade: 2); 5%

Region G: 10 tons (grade: 3); 50%

Region H: 8 tons (grade: 4); 40%

Similarly, the official institution issues Sidamo Grade-2 certificates.

Anyone can see that although both are called Sidamo-2, the quality of the first exporter's goods is definitely better than the second's, and much better. Of course, I'm not saying the second exporter is an unscrupulous merchant, because his export quote is lower than the first's. Oh! Finally, everyone thoroughly understands the principle of "you get what you pay for." The above operations also apply to other Ethiopian beans, such as Yirgacheffe, Jimma, Lekempti, etc.

Summary

1. Besides cultivation, steps 4) and 9) are very critical to quality.

2. Step 9) is very important. I have visited processing plants and feel that goods from good management are truly good quality. For example, measures like workers taking regular breaks can effectively improve bean selection quality.

3. You get what you pay for. As an importer, I can bargain, but step 9) is not something importers can control, and exporters won't tell you how they mix. Importers just need to find exporters who are serious about coffee.

4. Ethiopian grades are divided into Parchment grades and export grades - two different but related systems.

5. The grading of Ethiopian beans is the most systematic grading standard I know among African countries.

6. Mixing creates untraceable source problems - the traceability often mentioned in specialty coffee. This is not without solutions, but won't be discussed in this post.

7. More Ethiopian exporters export Q1 and Q2 Parchment Coffee (in the supplier's original words: "high quality coffee") under the name of Grade-3. Why? Still the "zero" defect issue.

Ethiopian Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Ethiopian coffee beans - Washed Yirgacheffe G1 [Kochere] have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-performance ratio is extremely high. One half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 75 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per pour-over coffee, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each single-origin coffee costing only about 5 yuan. Compared to cafés selling single cups for tens of yuan, this is extremely cost-effective.

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473