Kenya Coffee Grading System What are the Characteristics of Kenyan Coffee? Kenya Coffee Beans

What is Coffee Bean Grading?

When we look at single-origin coffees, we often see long names with one or two abbreviations like PB, AA, G1, and so on. These actually represent the grades given to coffee beans by their producing countries.

No Universal Coffee Bean Grading System

It is important to note that there is no universal coffee bean grading system in this world (underline this). The grading names and criteria are actually determined by each producing country itself. There are several points we must pay special attention to when discussing grading systems:

• The grading standards vary from country to country

• Some countries have similar grading system names, but the actual definitions are quite different

• It is difficult to compare across countries because the systems are different and each country has its own characteristics

• Grading is just a reference, not the only or most critical factor affecting flavor

Grading Criteria

Common criteria used to classify coffee bean grades include the size of the beans themselves, the shape, color, or hardness of the beans, the ratio of defects, altitude, producing region, variety, processing method, and the taste and quality when drunk, among others.

One long-standing criterion adopted by most producing regions is the size of the beans themselves. That is right: the size of the particles is used as the basis for grading, and larger beans are considered better. The underlying idea is that coffee grows better at higher altitudes. With lower temperatures, fruits take more time to mature, beans become larger, have a harder texture, and display better flavor characteristics. Just like eating more food makes you fatter.

The particle size of coffee beans may indeed have some relationship with their flavor performance. But just as written in high school biology textbooks, nothing in nature is absolute. The grading system is just one of many aspects of coffee. Please do not be limited by these grading systems and forget the most important thing: wanting to drink delicious coffee.

Screening Specifications

Usually, metal screens with different hole sizes are used for screening work. The basic unit is 1/64 inch, called a "mesh." The screens used to sort coffee beans range from 8-20 mesh, which is 8/64-20/64 inches (approximately 3-8 millimeters). The smaller the number, the larger the hole. Usually beans below 14 mesh have no chance of becoming specialty coffee. During the screening process there will of course be some that slip through the net, and the allowable error depends on the standard adopted.

Let me explain several important producing countries' grading systems. Because they are so complex, please make sure to note the producing country when you see grading names, to avoid mixing them up.

Kenya

E - Refers to elephant, but not to the elephant bean variety. Generally, one fruit contains two seeds that face each other, so one side is flat, called flat bean, female bean, or double bean. E is when two seeds stick together during the growth process, becoming extra-large beans. They are rare and a naturally occurring mutation.

AA - The screen holes are approximately 7.20 millimeters, and this grade commands a better price.

AB - A's filter hole size is 6.80 millimeters, and B's is 6.20 millimeters. These two are mixed together for sale, hence called AB. Most coffee beans in a harvest concentrate at this grade.

PB - Called Peaberry in English, mostly called small round beans, male beans, or single-lobed beans in Taiwan, opposite to ordinary flat beans. Very rare because only one seed develops completely inside the fruit, resulting in small, round beans. There is no consensus on the effect on flavor, but some people particularly like them, so PB beans are selected and sold separately.

C - Hole size between 4.8-5.6 millimeters, considered small particle beans.

TT - Usually defective beans fall to this grade.

T - At this grade, usually only fragments, defective beans, and small beans below 4.8 millimeters remain.

MH/ML - Overripe beans that fell on the ground and other very poor quality beans are not exported.

Commonly seen AA+, AA++, AA Top, and AB+ are traders' own gradings, not within Kenya's official system. Different traders have different definitions, so just use them as reference.

FrontStreet Coffee also has Kenya AA beans. Kenya Asali and Karogoto are both Kenya AA. The recommended pour-over parameters are 90-92°C, a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15, and a brewing time of two minutes and twenty seconds. The entry is bright cherry tomato acidity with honey-like sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you want to put the grading systems aside and simply explore beginner-friendly specialty coffee by country, Ethiopia is the natural place to start. Ethiopia is Africa's largest coffee-producing country and the universally recognized birthplace of coffee, with a great many varieties usually named after their producing region or cooperative, and the Yirgacheffe and Sidamo regions are the most famous. In the 1970s the government introduced washed processing to improve green bean quality, and Yirgacheffe coffees have since been mostly washed, now further divided into individual cooperatives; FrontStreet Washed Gedingding Cooperative is a typical Yirgacheffe representative, with jasmine florals, lemon acidity, and berry notes, while Sidamo is most famous for natural processing, with more prominent tropical fruit and fermented aromas, as in FrontStreet Sidamo Huakui, which uses a traditional natural process and shows berry, floral, jackfruit, melon, and honey notes. Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, and though commercial beans dominate, high-quality Brazilian coffee exists too; because Brazilian coffee is mostly grown in open-sun plantations, the cherries ripen quickly, so the beans are softer, the fruit acidity gentle, and the sweetness good, with a fine, smooth entry and an overall balance. FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado is an entry-level single origin from the well-known Cerrado region, valued for being tasty without being expensive, with typical cream, peanut, and cocoa flavors when extracted, while FrontStreet Queen Estate is grown at a higher altitude and is the rare Yellow Bourbon variety, adding a sugarcane sweetness to Brazil's signature nutty blend of butter, sunflower seed, macadamia, and almond, with a thick, smooth body whether drunk alone or with milk.

Indonesia is famous not only for FrontStreet Kopi Luwak but also for FrontStreet Mandheling, which uses the wet-hulled process, a technique invented for the local climate: because Indonesian weather is changeable and rainy and the local economy could not fund washed processing, workers hit on removing the husk by machine while the beans were half-dry, speeding the drying and giving rise to the distinctive wet-hulled method and the world's unique Mandheling flavor. FrontStreet Indonesia Mandheling, wet-hulled, has a fuller, smoother body than FrontStreet Blue Mountain and even carries herbal and spice notes, suiting those who dislike acidity. For a higher grade, FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling undergoes three rounds of hand sorting and one machine sort, minimizing defects for a cleaner, smoother cup with clearer woody and caramel notes. Colombia is one of the few single-origin coffees sold under a country name, and its mild climate, humid air, and diversity of conditions mean coffee ripens somewhere year-round, giving a rich, lingering, largely specialty-quality cup; FrontStreet Colombia Huila, from the Huila department, Colombia's most famous specialty region, surrounded by mountains with growing altitudes above 1,500 meters and the country's most important rivers converging there, brings abundant moisture and water, and Colombian coffees are mostly floral with soft fruit acidity, with FrontStreet Colombia Sidra and FrontStreet Colombia Navel recommended alongside it.

Costa Rica grows coffee at high altitude with wide day-night temperature swings and fertile volcanic soil all around, producing abundant Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) coffee with elegant aromas; Costa Rican coffee is best known for honey processing, in which the beans dry wrapped in mucilage, giving plenty of sweetness and clear, defined notes that suit many drinkers. Among Costa Rican specialty coffees, FrontStreet Blackberry, which uses black honey processing, and FrontStreet Mozart, which uses raisin honey processing, show raisin and blueberry sweetness with osmanthus and rose aromas, and bring out Costa Rica's clear sweetness whether brewed as pour-over, cold brew, Americano, or latte; FrontStreet Tarrazu is another option. China's Yunnan is also worth including: Yunnan coffee, as a local product, has been entering more people's view and winning fans with its nut, brown sugar, and black tea flavors. China has two coffee growing regions, Hainan and Yunnan, but Hainan's hot, low-altitude coastal conditions cannot grow Arabica trees, so China's specialty coffee is concentrated in Yunnan. FrontStreet Yunnan Small-Bean comes from Baoshan and uses washed processing for traditional nut and chocolate flavors with a soft, balanced body, while FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan Typica, an ancient Arabica variety planted at 1,300 meters, has a cleaner taste and is suited to medium roasting, with rich aromas of hazelnut, dried apricot, black tea, caramel, and ripe plum. Finally, Panama is most famous for the Geisha variety, above all the Emerald Estate, whose citrus, berry, and floral notes with a balanced, smooth taste are like a completely unsweetened fruit-and-flower tea; since trying the Emerald Estate may be a little extravagant for a beginner, baristas recommend the entry-level FrontStreet Boquete Geisha, from Panama's most representative specialty region, with pure variety genetics and washed processing, so you can clearly taste the orange-honey character of Geisha and explore its charm through different brewing methods at excellent value.