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Coffee · Grades

AA, AB, PB. Reading a Kenyan coffee grade.

The letters on a bag of Kenyan coffee describe the size and shape of the bean. Here is how to read them.

  • 2 min read
  • 3 sources
  • Jamba journal
A metal scoop of roasted coffee beans on dark slate

Kenyan coffee is graded mainly by the size of the bean. After milling, the beans are sorted through screens with holes of different sizes, and the grade depends on which screen holds each bean back.

GradeScreen and sizeWhat it means
AAScreen 18 · 7.2 mm and upHeld back by the biggest screens. Ours: Kenya Arabica AA · $7.34
ABScreen 16/17 · 6.8 to 7.2 mmOne size down from AA.
PBPeaberry · One round beanA single round bean from a cherry where only one seed grew. Ours: Peaberry Select · $8.49
CScreen 14/15 · About 5.8 to 6.2 mmSmaller again.
E · TT · TOutliers · By size and weightE beans are irregular and much larger than AA. TT is the lighter beans from AA and AB. T is the smallest and thinnest.

What a grade tells you

A grade describes size and shape. It says nothing direct about flavour. There is some give in it too: AA, AB and PB lots may run up to 5% above or below the stated size.

One coffee importer advises judging a coffee by what it delivers in the cup, with the grade as a starting point. A carefully produced AB lot can outshine an average AA.

Peaberries

A coffee cherry usually holds two flat-sided beans. In a fraction of cherries only one seed grows, and it forms a single round bean called a peaberry. Peaberries make up only around 10 to 15% of all coffee beans, and in Kenya they are sorted into their own grade, PB.

Coffee cherries ripening from green to red on the branch
Coffee cherries, ripening from green to red

What we stock

Our Kenya Arabica AA is washed, sun-dried and graded AA. Peaberry Select is sorted as PB. AB is not in our range yet.

Sources

  1. Coronet CoffeeCoffee grades
  2. TraboccaKenya grades explained
  3. WikipediaCoffee bean

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