The sorting of the beans can be produced by hand, machine or a combination of both. However, humans with nimble hands are better able to remove unwanted materials such as stones, immature beans, twigs and leaves.
The more details given to the cleaning and sorting process, the higher the quality of the finished beans and the prices they can command.
The grading of the beans appoints value to various coffees for international trading. This sorting system, is a device to control an agricultural commodity.
Coffee grading terminology is a language of its own, distinguishing one coffee producing country from another, as pertains to certain bean criteria, such as:
- Imperfections of the harvest, such as broken, immature beans or the presence of sticks, stones, leaves, etc.
- The size of the bean (the bigger the better)
- The age of the crop (how old the coffee shrubs are from which the beans were harvested)
- The altitude where the coffee crop was grown (the higher the better)
- The processing method used (wet or dry)
- The species (arabica, robusta, etc) and then the specific variety of that species.
- The plantation or area of production (this gives the region a signature market name).
- The cup quality (a criterion based simply on how good the brewed coffee tastes and smells).
After being graded, the green coffee beans are packed in standard 132-pound (60 kilogram) burlap coffee sacks, for shipment to roasters in consumer countries, all the world.
Sorting and Grading of Coffee
