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What are the "AA" and "AB" in Tanzanian coffee? How to grade Tanzanian coffee?

Published: 2026-04-06 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/04/06, In Africa, there are many coffee producing countries, but currently they are relatively more well-known in the global market, Ethiopia and Kenya. However, in recent years, Tanzania has gradually emerged. Thanks to Tanzania's rich natural resources, it can produce high-quality coffee and become one of the top three coffee giants in Africa.

In Africa, there are many coffee producing countries, but Ethiopia and Kenya are relatively better known in the global market, but Tanzania has gradually come to the fore in recent years. Thanks to Tanzania's rich natural resources, it has been able to produce high-quality coffee, making it one of the three giants of African coffee.

However, when buying Tanzanian coffee beans, most coffee beans will appear such words as "AA" and "AB". What do these "AA" and "AB" mean? In fact, both Arabica and Robusta varieties of coffee are grown in Tanzania, and "AA" refers to the grading of Tanzanian Arabica coffee beans. Although this classification is the same as the Kenyan coffee bean classification, both use the imperial classification method, but there are some differences between the two.

According to the official classification of Tanzania, this method assumes that the larger the size, the better the quality of coffee, which is divided into AAA, AA, A, B, PB, C, E, F, AF, TT and other grades according to the size of coffee particles.

The number of raw beans of AAA grade coffee is more than 19 mesh, but the output of this kind of coffee beans is very small and relatively rare.

The number of raw beans of AA grade coffee is 17-18 mesh, 18 mesh raw beans account for more than 90%, 17 mesh raw beans account for more than 8%, and all raw beans must be 15 mesh or more.

The number of raw beans of AF grade coffee is 14-17 mesh, 17 mesh raw beans account for more than 90%, 15-16 mesh raw beans account for more than 8%, and all raw beans must be 14 mesh or more.

The number of raw beans of A-grade coffee is 14-15 mesh, 15-mesh raw beans account for more than 98%, and all raw beans are 14 or more.

The number of raw beans of B-grade coffee is 14-15 mesh, 15-mesh raw beans account for more than 90%, and all raw beans are 14 or more.

PB refers to round raw beans. There is only one round bean in the coffee fruit, instead of the common two flat beans. 14-mesh raw beans account for more than 95%, and floating beans are allowed but not more than 5%.

The number of raw beans of grade C coffee is mainly 14 orders, and 14 orders of raw beans account for more than 90%.

The full name of E-grade coffee raw 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 during development to look like a very large coffee bean. More than 90% of raw coffee beans are 18 mesh, and the remaining 10% need to be between 15 and 18 mesh.

The number of raw beans of TT grade coffee is 14-16 mesh, and at least 90% of the raw beans of 15-16 mesh coffee account for 10% at most.

F refers to the residual beans screened from other grades of raw beans.

At present, the most common ones in China are "AA" and "AB", but in fact, there is no "AB" level in Tanzania. Because the provisions of the two levels are very similar, this level is actually a mixed product of Class An and Class B, and the specific number of items is required to be no less than Grade B.

In addition, the Tanzania Coffee Authority (Coffee Board) originally designed a grading system, which is divided into 17 grades, taking into account the number of Arabica coffee beans, defects, cup test quality, etc., for example, the coffee standard in the range of 4-6 is "FAQ". However, due to a variety of reasons for the lack of practical application, and not rigorous, so most of the Tanzanian coffee beans that can be seen on the market are still graded in a conventional size.

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