At the commercial level, coffee is identified by a classification that takes into account the following characteristics of the coffee:
Origin
Defects and impurities
Botanical species
Preparation method
Harvest year
Grain shape
Grain thickness
Color
Let's look at them in more detail:
Origin
Indicates the producing country, possibly the region or port of embarkation. Sometimes the origin of the coffee also indicates the producing company or exporter.
Defects and impurities
Considers the number of defects (e.g., foreign bodies, defective grains, etc.) present in a sample of the commodity (usually 300 grams). There are different systems in different countries for calculating the number of defects and impurities, but the method set for Brazilian coffees by the New York Stock Exchange (which includes, for example, eight types of coffee plus many intermediate types) is particularly important.
Botanical species
The botanical species is always indicated: Arabica or Robusta (Canephora)
Method of preparation.
Wet-processed coffees are called "washed," while dry-prepared coffees are called "natural." Other processing gives depelliculated, handpicked, cleaned, etc.
Harvest year
It is normally referred to as straddling two years (the coffee year begins on October 1 and ends the following September 30). One can also have the following definitions:
old crop - old crop (from two and more years of age)
past crop - crop in the previous year
current crop - current crop
new crop - new crop
Grain shape
Flat bean - flat grain, sometimes elongated.
Burbon - rounded, convex grain.
Caracolito - small, round (pearl) grain.
Maragogype - particularly coarse grain (these are coffees produced by Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia and Nicaragua).
Grain coarseness
This is the so-called screen (screen in English, crible in French). Sifting is achieved by sifting the coffee using plates with calibrated holes whose diameter, indicated in 64ths of an inch, indicates precisely sieve. For example of sieve 18 is coffee that does not pass through holes of diameter 18/64 of an inch (equal to 7.14 mm). Sieve 17 corresponds to 6.74 cm, sieve 16 to 6.35 mm, sieve 15 to 5.95 mm, etc.
Color
The color of coffee varies according to species, area of origin and shelf life. Thus, we find yellow in old crops (if well stored, coffee lasts for decades), brown in Robusta, green in new Arabica crops, to blue in washed Central American coffees.
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