How coffee is graded and scored for quality
Unsurprisingly, the coffee universe operates from a different playbook in all areas of the supply chain.
Sometimes, I wonder if this is just an accident, a longer-than-normal lag in uptake or deliberate (I suspect the latter).
Much of the world's coffee supplies are pre-purchased in advance. It is possible to trade crops before they are harvested, processed, or graded.
Any remaining raw coffees are released onto the spot market in search of a buyer.
When offering raw coffee to the market, there may be no common agreement on quality or grade as the buyer may still need to sample the product or attributes of the raw coffee, which are yet to be confirmed by both buyer and seller as valid.
Often, supply contracts for coffee may be based upon prior relationships, performance or securing lots from farms, estates and Co-Ops with a trusted quality track record.
As we have noted many times, the challenge is the intense competition worldwide for good coffees - so you have to pre-commit upfront or miss out.
You may be interested to learn that we commit to at least 65 tons of coffee each year without knowing what that coffee is like beforehand. We call it blind faith.
Of course, there are some safety conditions around this arrangement, and that's the reason we source via local Australian brokers.
Brokers exchange contracts and price differentials negotiated on the basis that pre-shipment and arrival samples test with quality grades of acceptable ranges.
Can you imagine the high-risk exercise of shipping a container, sight unseen from the other side of the world, and when it arrives on your doorstep, it's not what you were expecting - it can be a $100,000+ gamble that can turn against you very easily.
With up to 400 raw coffees arriving in Australia each year, there must be more standardization in grading across the industry.
You can't simply say that Brazil Yellow Bourbon from Broker A is similar to Brazil Yellow Bourbon from Broker B - yes, they are both from Brazil, and yes, they are both Yellow Bourbon, but one could score 87 points and the other 78 points.
It often means a higher-grade coffee might sell at a price double the lower-grade coffee (in raw form).
Techniques such as the scoring methodology defined by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) help reach a common understanding between buyers and sellers in agreement on a lot's taste, quality and price. These methods also help compare the relative value of one lot over another.
Imagine for a moment if there was a formula you could use to value and purchase a house - it would make the whole sales process very simple.
For buyers, it would be painless (except for raising the money) as they would have all the required information to base their decisions without fear of overpaying.
Supply and demand equations rarely incorporate fixed formulas, so free market pricing systems often determine trading terms.
Buying raw coffee can be similar to buying houses in a heated property market - it's as much about perception as reality.
The SCAA scoring system works on a rigid set of protocols that must be complied with to ensure consistency of scoring results across numerous samples and over some time.
It uses the principle of breaking down the characteristics of the coffee into four segments that are be assessed over the following stages -
- fragrance and aroma,
- flavour, body, aftertaste, acidity and balance,
- Sweetness, uniformity and cleanliness
- Scoring
To get your mind around how to score a coffee, think for a moment that you are looking for defects and placing each attribute into quality ranges from 6.00 to 10.00.
The process involves scoring down every defect you discover.
For objectivity, the evaluation process is recommended to be undertaken blind (no, not drunk) but without any prejudiced information relating to each sample.
Blind assessments involve walking up to view, sniff and taste a coffee without any written information or data about that coffee available.
It's similar to watching episodes of MasterChef or My Kitchen Rules - you start with perfection and then score down.
One of the weaknesses in seeking defects (scoring down) is that it can generate disparity between washed and dry processed (natural) coffees.
Naturally processed coffees tend to pick up more defects in the cup than their washed counterparts. These defects may include uniformity and cleanliness scoring (appearance and taste).
The counterargument for that, of course, is that naturals are amazing coffees, and to misinterpret a hint of ferment or winey character as "dirty" can be unfair.
Below, we have listed the scores registered for our mycuppa Colombian Organic coffee lot in 2016 when it was evaluated using the SCAA method.
Cupping Score: 85.5
Fragrance / Aroma 7.75
Aftertaste 7.75
Flavour 7.75
Acidity 8.5
Body 8
Balance 7.75
Putting the scores into context
Ninety-point coffees are relatively rare, expensive and only available in small quantities. A company in Australia called 90 Point Plus deals with these types of high-grade raw coffees.
To describe it as similar to shopping for caviar and diamonds would not be too far from the truth.
Volume-based coffee brands, such as suppliers to supermarkets and retail outlets, typically source raw coffee between 74 and 80 points.
A key reason for sourcing lower-scoring coffees is the margin pressures of building and producing a budget product so that the retailers take their "cut".
Cafe suppliers will generally shop around the 77- 82-point range, with 65% of their volume at 78 - 80 and the remainder spread across the 81 - 82-point range.
Of course, that can differ depending on the brand's strategy or positioning in the market.
By definition, the Specialty grades start above 80 points (or these days, some argue it should be 82).
Unfortunately, Specialty can be open to abuse and loosely thrown around without conviction or industry regulation.
For us at mycuppa, our coffees are sourced within the 83 to the 87-point range - including all the blends (composed of our same listed Single Origins).
Our range is superior to over 80% of cafe suppliers and comparable to the top 20+ % of quality-focused brands in the Australian market.
There are some coffees in our portfolio within the 87 and 88-point range. For anything below 83 points, I will not waste my precious time looking at low-scoring coffees for this important reason:-
Standards of roasted coffee sold in Australia continue to rise rapidly. Therefore, so does the inherent linkage to improving your product quality to remain competitive and relevant in the market. Buyers and drinkers expect more, so you must do more to keep these customers happy and loyal.
As many cafe suppliers rely upon lock-in, multi-year contracts, they have greater freedom to use lower-graded coffees or vary their grades according to market price volatility without fear of reprisal and immediate loss of business momentum.
Sometimes, a cafe supplier can use a bait switch routine to alter grades and pricing according to how "easy" the customer is to deal with.
For us at mycuppa, we are only as good as our most recent roasting performance; hence, the trend must always point upward regarding sourcing quality.
Consistency across scores
The first question that comes to mind is how one person scores this coffee, and another agrees.
Well, there are protocols such as calibration and cross-referencing.
Generally, a broker will have four or more qualified cuppers individually score a coffee sample and then compare results - arriving at a consensus view.
I've had many situations whereby I'm afraid I have to disagree with a scoring analysis.
As recently as last month, I was amused and taken aback by an 84-point coffee that I scored generously at 78 - in other words, it was rejected.
The samples may have been different (aged in the broker's warehouse), and the roasting platform and profile or even the brewing procedure (time, dosage, waiting period) can all contribute to skewing scores - as can the human element.
In the future, scoring systems may create another opportunity for market manipulation - using a high score to rank a coffee and, therefore, charge a premium when, in fact, that premium is based on flawed fundamentals or a figment of a vivid imagination.
Unfortunately, we are seeing the practice of "score ramping" starting to creep into the marketing of the so-called upper segments of the coffee industry.
