Is the coffee bean grade SHB the highest? what is the standard for the coffee system in Guatemala?

Published: Oct 10, 2026 Author: World Gafei Last Updated: Oct/10/2026 179 views

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style) front street-Guatemala coffee grading system the highest elevation in the Tamara mountains: 2000m, generally the highest planting area in 1700m above sea level, the lowest planting area is about 700m, of course, do not rule out planting areas below 600m. According to the altitude grade, altitude SHB (S)

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

Introduction to Qianjie-Guatemala Coffee grading system

The highest elevation of Demara mountain is 2000m. Generally, the highest planting area is 1700m above sea level, and the lowest planting area is about 700m. Of course, there are planting areas below 600m.

Graded according to altitude

Grade altitude

SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) extremely hard beans 1600-1700m

FHB (Fancy Hard Bean) excellent hard bean 1500-1600m

HB (Hard Bean) hard beans 1200-1400m

SH (Semi Hard Bean) slightly hard beans 1100-1200m

EP (Extra Prime) extra high quality water washed beans 900-1100m

PW (Prime Washed) high quality water washed beans 600-9001m

EGW (Extra Good Washed) special quality water washed beans 700-850m

GW (Good Washed) good quality water washed bean 700m

SHB is the world's highest quality raw coffee bean: rich in layers, full-bodied, acidity and aroma.

Classify by defect

According to the classification of defects, most of them supply high-quality coffee raw beans to certain markets. In general, there are three sets of standards in Guatemala:

European Standard (EP: Euro Prepation)

American Standard (USP: US preparation)

The best standard (GP:Gourmet Preparation)

Knowledge: the coffee grading of most coffee-producing countries is not carried out according to one standard, but not only to examine the defect rate, but also to ensure the size of beans, but also to measure the grade of beans by multiple standards such as a certain altitude.

In short: Qianjie is a coffee research hall, happy to share the knowledge about coffee with you, we share unreservedly just to make more friends fall in love with coffee, and there will be three low-discount coffee activities every month. The reason is that Qianjie wants to make more friends drink the best coffee at the lowest price, which has been Qianjie's tenet for 6 years!

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