Ethiopian coffee bean grade analysis coffee bean common sense

Ethiopian coffee beans are divided into five grades. The first and second stages are water-washed beans. Grade1 means 0~3 defective beans per 300 g of raw beans;Grade2 means 4~12 defective beans per 300 g. Grade 1 washed beans are extremely rare and generally difficult to buy. At present, all washed beans exported from Ethiopia are Grade2. The quality of sun-cured beans is ranked as Grade3, Grade4 or Grade5. Although Grade4 has significantly fewer defective beans than Grade5, coffee farmers claim that in order to save taxes on exports, they often lower the Grade4 to Grade5 to save money. This may just be a marketing ploy, but in fact Grade5 is not as good as Grade 4.

Ethiopia's beans are easy to identify, most of the beans are small and thin pointed long beans, so-called 'longberry', and often mixed with small oval short beans, so-called' shortberry', which look different in size and shape. Most commercial Grade4 or Grade5 beans are a mixture of hundreds of different seeds from each region, so the phase imbalance is most obvious and it is not easy to bake evenly.

Even the official Ethiopian research unit cannot say how many Arabicans there are in Ethiopia. Coffee cooperatives on one mountain certainly grow different varieties than those on another, and even small farmers in the same area grow different varieties of coffee. Some estimate that there are at least 2,000 varieties of Ethiopian coffee, and there are even more than 4,500 varieties. Ethiopian beans appear to be a bit malnourished compared to the fat bodies of Bourbon 'SL28', the dominant variety in Kenya to the south, or the Central and South American and Asian tibeka. But "beans" can not be judged by appearance, Ethiopian coffee citrus aroma can be called the world's best, whether instant coffee or freshly ground coffee, extraction on the smell of orange or lemon fragrance. On the palate, it has a rich floral, fruity and sour aroma that is characteristic of Ethiopia, but the body or consistency is slightly poor. The biggest drawback is that it is easy to bake unevenly, especially sun beans. Even the best Grade3 Harald sun-baked beans often show uneven color, which is the biggest defect of Ethiopian beans, but fortunately it does not affect its good flavor. For coffee fans, don't care how the beans look, the most important thing is to drink. Ethiopian washed beans are much more stable than sun-dried beans, whose flavor fluctuates greatly from year to year, so be sure to cup them several times before buying them in large quantities. Good sun-baked beans have a much deeper flavor than washed beans, but mishandled sun-baked beans are sure to be speechless, as many coffee fans say.