Coffee culture

Kenya Coffee Bean Grading System: Symbolic Meaning of Courage Represented by Kenyan Coffee Beans

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee
Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange, more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Kenya's Grading System. The Kenyan government treats its coffee industry with utmost seriousness, where cutting down or damaging coffee trees is illegal, and the quality requirements for coffee are rarely as strict as those in Kenya. From the grading of coffee, we can also...

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

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Kenya Grading System

The Kenyan government takes the coffee industry extremely seriously. Here, cutting down or destroying coffee trees is illegal, and the quality requirements for coffee are rarely as strict as those in Kenya. This can be clearly felt from the coffee grading system.

Kenyan Coffee Grading

Kenyan coffee grading is primarily based on the size, shape, and hardness of the coffee beans, classified from highest to lowest as AA or AA+, AB, PB, C, E, TT, T:

AA Grade: Beans sized between 17-18 screen

AB Grade: Beans sized between 15-16 screen, accounting for the majority of production and the most common green bean grade

C Grade: Beans sized between 12-14 screen

PB Grade: Round green beans, accounting for approximately 10% of all coffee beans

E Grade (Elephant Beans): Large mutant beans where two beans have merged, also known as Elephant ear, mostly above 18 screen. These are rare in quantity.

TT Grade: Lighter-weight green beans blown out from AA and AB grade beans using air screeners, indicating soft beans that do not meet hardness standards

T Grade: Below 12 screen. T grade consists of lighter-weight green beans blown out from C grade beans using air screeners. The beans are softer, do not meet hardness standards, and are small in size with many defective beans

MH/ML Grade: Beans that have not undergone washing processing and have not been sorted. These are fallen beans after harvest, accounting for approximately 7% of all coffee beans. They belong to the lowest grade beans and are only supplied to Kenya's domestic market.

The above is Kenya's national official grading system. In addition, Kenyan exporters or green bean traders have added special grading (not officially recognized by the Kenyan government) for AA and AB grade green coffee beans, which are TOP, PLUS (+), and FAQ in order.

Knowledge Extension: TOP

This is graded based on cupping results and is not yet an official Kenyan national grading standard. Exporters grade and add this classification themselves, which inevitably involves commercial considerations. Therefore, it can only be used as reference. Everything should ultimately return to your own roasting and cupping, which is the correct and practical approach.

In Summary

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research center that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation only to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Additionally, there are three low-discount coffee activities every month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends drink the best coffee at the lowest price. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years!

END

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473

0