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Colombia – Quality Specifications

The Colombia Coffee Federation classifies green coffee quality by screen size and by the number of defects present in a sample. Green coffee is considered specialty if it scores above 80 points, has zero primary defects, and has no more than five secondary defects in a 500g sample.

Primary defects include full black, full sour, dried cherry/pod, fungus damage, foreign matter, or severe insect damage. Secondary defects include partial black, partial sour, parchment, floaters, immature/unripe, withered, shell, broken/chipped/cut, hull/husk, and slight insect damage.

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) maintains the following screen size classifications for Colombian coffee:

Premium: Screen size 18 with tolerance for 5% at screen 14
Supremo: Screen size 17 with tolerance for 5% at screen 14
Extra: Screen size 16 with tolerance for 5% at screen 14
Excelso: Screen size 14 with tolerance for 1.5% at screen 12. At least 50% must be screen 15
Caracol: Screen size 12 with tolerance for up to 10% of flat beans