What Do Coffee Bean Grades G1, G2, G3, G4, AA, PB, and SHB Represent?

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more premium coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: qjcoffeex

How the World Grades Its Coffee Beans

Coffee is graded from G1 to G9 based on physical characteristics and basic cupping scores. Within that range, G1-G3 lots are cupped again and sorted more precisely under SCAA-style attribute assessment.

Specifically, G1 and G2 lots scoring 85 or higher are rated Q1; G1, G2, and G3 lots scoring between 80 and 85 are rated Q2; G1, G2, and G3 lots below 80 are downgraded to G3. Q1 and Q2 are exported as Specialty Grade, while G4-G9 keep their original grades and are exported as Commercial Grade alongside G3.

Jamaica

Graded by bean size and defect percentage.

Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala

Graded by altitude.

Mexico

Graded by growing altitude, with the top designation being SHG (Strictly High Grown).

Dominican Republic

A particle-size system: AAA is the largest grade (19 mesh screen), followed by AA (17/18 mesh) and A (16 mesh).

Colombia

Graded by bean size.

El Salvador, Honduras

Graded by growing altitude.

Brazil

Graded by defect percentage and screen size.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia's export grades are set by the CLU (Cupping and Liquoring Unit) under the Ministry of Agriculture, grading green coffee primarily by the number of defective beans per 300g sample.

As a rule, washed lots land in G1-G2. Natural processing used to be the weak link — older techniques produced more defects, so naturals typically graded G3-G5. With today's improved natural processing, though, naturals can now reach G1-G2 as well.

Yemen

No formal export grading system; all coffee is exported by product name.

Kenya, Rwanda

Graded by bean size, with value set by cupping. The largest beans are E grade (elephant beans), followed by AA (retained on a 7.2mm sieve), A (6.8mm), B (6.2mm), C (smaller than B), PB (oval beans), and the light, small TT and T grades. A and B beans are blended for export as AB grade.

Cupping determines value, from best to worst: Fine, Fair to Good, Fair Average Quality (FAQ), Fair, and Common Plain Liquors. Premium lots are marked AA TOP or AB TOP.

Tanzania

Much like Kenya's system: PB denotes oval beans, with AAA the largest grade, then AA, then A, then C.

Burundi

Graded by bean size. The top washed grade, branded Ngoma, requires beans retained on a 7.1mm sieve; washed AA is also retained on 7.1mm, A on 6.5mm, and B on 5.5mm. The top semi-washed grade is AB, combining beans retained on 7.1mm and 6.5mm sieves, followed by C, retained on 5.5mm.

Indonesia (Sumatra)

Graded by bean size and defect count. Gr.1 is the highest export grade, but appearance says little about actual quality — that's settled in the cup. Estate-selected specialty lots sit outside the restrictions of the standard system.

India

Known for its monsooned exports — most famously Monsooned Malabar AA, along with Monsooned Basanally, Monsooned Triage, Monsooned Robusta AA, and Monsooned Robusta Triage.

Papua New Guinea

Graded by bean size and defect percentage. Premium A comes from large estates (above a No. 17 sieve, averaging fewer than 10 defects per kg of green beans), followed by X grade from small farms (above a No. 15 sieve, fewer than 20 defects per kg).

Hawaii

Extra Fancy: flat beans on a No. 19 sieve / round beans on a No. 13 sieve, 8 defects per 300g.

Fancy: flat beans on a No. 18 sieve / round beans on a No. 12 sieve, 12 defects per 300g.

No.1: flat beans on a No. 16 sieve / round beans on a No. 10 sieve, 18 defects per 300g.

Beyond these sit the Estate Select and Prime grades.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Of all the grading systems above, Jamaica's is the one most worth knowing by heart — because it protects the name most often faked. Only coffee grown in the designated Blue Mountain region of Jamaica and certified by the Jamaican authorities may be called Jamaica Blue Mountain, and Blue Mountain No.1 is among the highest tiers of that certification, with strict standards for bean size, defect rate, and overall quality. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 comes with complete origin certification from Clifton Estate, a farm that has been growing coffee since the mid-18th century (around 1750) at an average elevation of 4,300 feet (about 1310 meters). Its official shipping barrels — the traditional 15kg, 45kg, and 70kg wooden casks stamped with green-bean batch details — are themselves proof of authenticity, since no imitation bothers with them.

In the cup, genuine Blue Mountain earns its reputation through balance: clean, gentle, and complex, with chocolate sweetness and strong body, no harsh bitterness, only a restrained, polished acidity, and a lasting fruity finish. FrontStreet Coffee roasts it medium-dark to bring out that classic, old-school character — nuts, dark chocolate, creamy caramel — and ships it within five days of roasting so it arrives at full flavor. If you want to taste what a truly top-graded coffee is supposed to be, this is the benchmark.

To brew it well, give the beans 4-7 days of rest from the roast date, then use a Kono dripper to emphasize its velvety body: 15g of coffee, ground a touch coarser than you would for a light roast (about the texture of white granulated sugar), water at 87-88°C, and a 1:15 ratio. Pour in three stages — 30g to bloom for 30 seconds, then to 120g with a slow, vertical, circling flow, then to 225g with a slightly faster pour to keep the bed from clogging and over-extracting. Skip the temptation to concentrate the ratio; handled this way, 1:15 shows the full, balanced character that has kept Blue Mountain No.1 legendary for decades.