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What are Supremo and Excelso Grades? An Introduction to Colombian Green Coffee Bean Grading Standards

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Colombia's green coffee grading system is based on defect rates and bean size. The most commonly seen markings on coffee bags are "Supremo" and "Excelso," but many people cannot distinguish between them or understand what grade each represents. In this article, we'll explore the Colombian coffee grading system and clarify these important classifications.

Colombian green bean grading is based on defect rate and bean size. The most commonly seen markings on bags in the market are "Supremo" and "Excelso." Many people cannot distinguish between them nor understand what grades they represent. So in this article, we'll discuss Colombian coffee green bean grading standards.

What does "Excelso" on the bag mean?

When carefully observing coffee green bean bags exported from Colombia to China, you can see that they are all printed with "Excelso-Café de Colombia." Regardless of the bean size, all coffee packaging bags that meet Colombian export standards are marked with "Excelso," and their most common grades are UGQ, EP, and Supremo.

In other words, most Colombian coffee green bean bags exported worldwide today must bear the Excelso grade designation. UGQ belongs to the Excelso grade, EP belongs to the Excelso grade, and Supremo also belongs to the Excelso grade.

Excelso is the most widely adopted export standard grade by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) and is also the optimal grade for Colombian green bean exports. Therefore, when a bag is printed with "Excelso," it indicates that these coffee beans meet Colombian green bean export requirements and have obtained a quality certificate issued by the FNC.

Coffee at the Excelso grade must meet the following requirements: For 500 grams of green beans, the size must be above 14 mesh, and no more than 5% of green beans are allowed to be between 12 and 14 mesh. Overall, at least 50% of the green beans must be larger than 15 mesh. They must be free from pests, uniform in color, have no off-flavors, and a clean taste. Moisture content cannot exceed 12.5%, and accumulated defects cannot exceed the 24-point limit.

Defect Classification Standards

The Colombian National Coffee Committee has strict regulations: green bean defects are divided into two types (as shown in the figure below), with defect grades assessed using a scoring system. For example, the most commonly exported Supremo 12*60 (5%) from Colombia means that in a 500-gram green bean sample, a maximum of 12 first-grade defective beans and 60 second-grade defective beans are allowed.

Size Classification Standards

Although green bean size is not the primary standard for determining coffee quality and flavor, many producing regions believe that plump, uniform, and large beans indicate that the coffee beans have reached full maturity, can develop better aromatic profiles, and are more conducive to even roasting, thereby creating consistent flavors.

Colombian coffee green beans are graded by size using screens of fixed sizes, with different specifications corresponding to different hole sizes. For example, if the mesh is 17 size, beans larger than this size cannot pass through the screen. Therefore, the larger the screen number, the larger the bean particles that remain on the screen. Currently, the three most frequently exported grades of coffee beans by the FNC are Excelso UGQ 12*60 (1.5%), Excelso EP 12*60 (10%), and Excelso Supremo 12*60 (5%).

Excelso UGQ 12*60 (1.5%): UGQ stands for Usual Good Quality. Bean size is above 14 mesh, allowing 1.5% of beans to be between 12-14 mesh, but they must be above 12 mesh, and over 50% must be larger than 15 mesh.

Excelso EP 12*60 (10%): EP stands for European Preparation. Bean size is above 15 mesh, allowing 10% of beans to be smaller than 15 mesh, but they must be above 14 mesh.

Excelso Supremo 12*60 (5%): Bean size is above 17 mesh, allowing 5% of beans to be smaller than 17 mesh, but they must be above 14 mesh.

In other words, what people commonly refer to as "Supremo" is actually a size classification grade.

In addition, Colombia also has beans above 16 mesh called Extra, beans larger than Supremo at 18 mesh called Premium, and beans almost uniformly sized at 15 mesh called Minama, among others. Colombia also has coffee beans that do not meet the Excelso export standards, which are locally called "Product of Colombia" and are generally used for making commercial-grade instant coffee.

In Colombia, each farmer reports their number and registers green bean information, which facilitates future traceability. Colombian exported coffee green beans are typically named as country + region + grade + other information. For example, the green beans from FrontStreet Coffee's Huila daily bean are Colombia Huila Supremo SC17/18 FNC.

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