Quality Standards

Quality within the specialty coffee industry can be an allusive thing. Most roasters and retailers refer to a coffee score out of one hundred points to categorize their coffee quality. Many others simply refer to the taste of the coffee they sell, assuming that their customers will identify with the descriptions arrived at. While Transcend has never employed any form of consumer marketing scoring system, we have in the past talked about the flavour attributes of our coffees. While we are not abandoning this completely, we made a decision in 2011 to move towards a more objective standard to evaluate quality. Given that we have two licesnsed Q Graders, and another apprentice well on her way, we made a decision to implement a "zero defect" quality standard. What does this mean?

The zero defect standard refers to the absence of any physical defects within a randomly chosen sample of coffee. The SCAA protocol requires that a random sample of 350 grams of green coffee be selected and evelauated for defects that will negatively impact the characteristics of that coffee. The fewer defects present in the sample, the cleaner that coffee is, and as a result, the coffee will more accurately represent its true character. For a coffee to be classified as specialty grade, there can be no PRIMARY defects and no more than five cumulative SECONDARY defects (a standard which we think is not strict enough).

Further, the SCAA protocol requires that the coffee be roasted, and that it be evaluated by selecting 100 grams of roasted coffee to determine whether any "quakers" are present. A quaker is an underdeveloped coffee bean, which will present much lighter in colour than the other roasted coffee. Quakers will impart flavours of paper, dustiness, popcorn, cardboard, all of which impact quality in a negative manner. For a coffee to be classified as specialty grade, there must be no quakers present in the 100 gram sample.

While we strive to sell only zero defect coffee, in some circumstances it is virtually impossible. The only true way to achieve zero defect coffee is to have the coffee meticulously hand sorted during the final preparation of the green coffee, prior to export. This detailed hand sorting is simply not available as an option in all the countries we buy coffee from. Regardless, we will document the number of defects of all the coffee we buy in 2011 and onwards. If the coffee is not completely defect free, it will always be very close. In an industry that largely ignores the presence of physical defects within the coffee sold as specialty, Transcend is committed to the green classification standards, and is actively working to ensure that all of the coffee it buys meets our new rigorous standards.