Colombia is one of the world's top three coffee bean producing countries, mainly exporting Arabica coffee. Because its coffee has chocolate flavors, is well balanced overall and has large production volumes, it is commonly used in coffee blends. The green coffee beans the country exports have their own dedicated grading system, mainly based on two aspects: defect rate and bean size. On the market, common Colombian coffees mostly bear the words "Supremo" and "Excelso." What do these words mean?

In Colombia, as long as green coffee beans reach export grade, "Excelso" will be marked on the burlap packaging. Excelso is the export standard grade adopted by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC), and it is the highest grade for Colombian green beans.

To reach the Excelso grade, coffee must meet the standards stipulated for it: that is, from a 500 g sample of green coffee beans, the size must be above 14 screen, overall at least 50% of the green coffee beans must be larger than 15 screen, and no more than 5% of the green coffee beans may be between 12 screen and 14 screen. All must be free of insect damage, uniform in color, free of off-flavors, clean in flavor, with a moisture content not exceeding 12.5%, and cumulative defects must not exceed 24 points.

According to FNC regulations, the defect assessment of green beans is divided into primary defects and secondary defects, with defect scores tallied by a point system. The measurement standard is that in a 500 g sample of green coffee beans, the defect limit of no more than 24 points must not be exceeded.

For some coffee-producing countries, the size of green beans is not the main standard determining coffee quality and flavor, but some producing countries believe that green beans that are plump overall, neat and large can prove that the coffee has reached a fully mature state, which is conducive to uniform roasting and can form a consistent coffee flavor.

In Colombia's screen-size grading of green coffee beans, screens of fixed dimensions are used, with different specifications corresponding to different hole sizes. For example, if the screen mesh is size 17, beans larger than 17 screen cannot pass through the screen. Currently, FNC subdivides coffee beans into different grades by screen size, and the three most commonly used grades are Excelso UGQ12*60 (1.5%), Excelso EP12*60 (10%) and Excelso Supremo12*60 (5%).

Specifically, Excelso UGQ12*60 (1.5%) means green beans are mostly above 14 screen, with 1.5% of green beans allowed to be between 12 and 14 screen, but they must be above 12 screen, and more than 50% must be larger than 15 screen.

Excelso EP12*60 (10%) means green bean size is above 15 screen, with 10% of green beans allowed to be smaller than 15 screen, but they must be above 12 screen.

Excelso Supremo12*60 (5%) means green bean size is above 17 screen, with 5% of green beans allowed to be smaller than 17 screen, but they must be above 14 screen.

Therefore, "Supremo" is in fact a screen-size classification grade, and the percentage in parentheses represents the "tolerance rate"."12*60" means that in a 500 g sample of this green coffee, a maximum of 12 primary defects and 60 secondary defects are allowed.

Although more than 90% of Colombia's green coffee beans are used for export, some green beans still fail to reach the Excelso grade; these green beans are called "Product of Colombia", and while they can also be exported once they meet quality inspection requirements, they are mostly used to make instant coffee.

Therefore, coffee farmers in Colombia record the number and green bean information to make future green bean traceability easier. The green bean name usually consists of country, region, grade and screen size, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Huila Supremo SC17/18 FNC household coffee beans.

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