What do "AA" and "Top" of Kenyan coffee beans mean?

Kenyan coffee has always been famous around the world for its distinctive and complex raspberry sour aroma, sugarcane sweetness and juicy acidity, and is loved by coffee lovers all over the world. However, when you buy Kenyan coffee beans, you will find that most of the coffee produced and exported in Kenya will appear words such as "AA". For example, Asalia AA TOP of Kenya, which is currently on the front street, what do the words "AA" and "TOP" mean behind the beans?

First of all, the "AA" behind the coffee bean refers to the grade of the coffee bean. In fact, coffee beans belong to agricultural products, so the quality of products will be good and bad, so each coffee producing country will develop its own classification according to different national conditions. The aim is to produce homogeneous commercial batches that meet established quality standards, thereby promoting a fair pricing system.

The Kenyan government established an auction system in 1934 to ensure that the quality of coffee is closely linked to the price. Every year, thousands of Kenyan small farmers collect their coffee beans through coffee cooperatives and send them to the central auction house in Nairobi, the capital. These coffee beans undergo a strict grading before the auction.

The same grading system will be used for both self-sale and takeout. According to the size, shape, color and density of coffee beans for rating, generally take the size and quality of coffee beans as indicators, there are clear provisions, divided into AA, AB, PB, C, E, TT, T, strict classification can ensure the quality of coffee beans.

The number of AA coffee beans is between 17 and 18 mesh, with good density, is the highest quality recognized locally, and has elegant taste and flavor. The number of AB coffee beans is between 16 and 17 mesh, although the quality is not as high as AA, but the price is more favorable and is also very popular, while the output is the highest, about 40% of Kenyan coffee is AB. PB refers to round raw beans. There is only one round bean in the coffee fruit, rather than the usual two flat beans. Only 5% of Kenyan coffee has such round beans, classified by shape and has nothing to do with flavor weight. The number of C-grade coffee beans is between 12 and 14 mesh, and the size is relatively small. Beans of this grade are basically not included in the boutique level.

The full name of E-grade coffee bean is Elephant, also known as elephant bean, which is similar to round bean and is a special coffee bean with abnormal development. This kind of bean is twisted by two coffee beans in the process of development, forming what looks like a very large coffee bean, with an order of more than 21 mesh, which is very rare. TT coffee beans are light beans that are sorted from E, AA and AB beans by airflow filters, so beans will have 16-20 mesh. T-grade coffee beans are broken, defective, and too small coffee beans classified from C-grade beans, usually under 12 orders. MH/ML grade coffee beans refer to lower-quality coffee beans, which mainly use sun treatment, and are only sold domestically, not exported. Therefore, in the Kenyan rating, "AA" represents the highest level in the region. But in fact, the size of coffee beans can not directly affect the taste of coffee, the planting environment is the main flavor effect of coffee beans in the growth process. Therefore, the local coffee research institutions and the coffee raw bean trade association use a set of coffee grading methods developed by themselves to conduct a second rating of exported coffee.

The system, known as the Coffee Bean quality grading Program (Kenyan Classification Procedure by Quality Assessment), was developed by the Kenya Coffee Research Institute. "TOP", "Plus (+)" and "FAQ" are the marks of the secondary rating, which are usually marked after the original grade and are generally classified according to the cup test score.

The TOP level is that the cup test score of coffee beans is above 86, Plus (+) is that the cup test score is between 84 and 86, and FAQ is that the cup test score is about 83-84. However, the system is not officially certified in Kenya, so most of the Kenyan beans currently available on the market are still graded in a conventional size.

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