page_title: Coffee
section_title: Grading roasted beans
hierarchical_section_title: Coffee / Processing / Grading roasted beans
caption_attribution_description: 'Cuppers' – the industry term for coffee tasters - score the coffee grounds according to the quality of the aroma. The cuppers are all certified to international standards, and test up to 70 coffee samples a day in peak season. All three cuppers must agree on the score out of 100. If they disagree, the chief cupper is brought in to adjudicate. The rigorous testing regime has helped to improve the quality of coffee produced in Ethiopia – as farmers receive constant feedback on their product. In the first year of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, the volume of top quality coffee traded tripled. DFID supported two leading research institutes who were tasked with finding a solution to Ethiopia's inefficient food and commodity markets. The UK aid funded research recommended setting up a commodity exchange and helped to design the warehousing, logistics and payment systems that the exchange uses today. The exchange helps to boost exports and secure a better deal for farmers and consumers. More information: &lt;a href="http://www.dfid.gov.uk/ecx" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.dfid.gov.uk/ecx&lt;/a&gt; Photo: Pete Lewis/Department for International Development
context_page_description: Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, the seeds of berries from certain Coffea species. When coffee berries turn from green to bright red in color – indicating ripeness – they are picked, processed, and dried. Dried coffee seeds are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. Roasted beans are ground and then brewed with near-boiling water to produce the beverage known as coffee.
  Coffee is darkly colored, bitter, slightly acidic and has a stimulating effect in humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is one of the most popular drinks in the world, and can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways. It is usually served hot, although iced coffee is common.
  Clinical research indicates that moderate coffee consumption is benign or mildly beneficial as a stimulant in healthy adults, with continuing research on whether long-term consumption reduces the risk of some diseases, although some of the long-term studies are of questionable credibility.
context_section_description: Depending on the color of the roasted beans as perceived by the human eye, they will be labeled as light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark, or very dark. A more accurate method of discerning the degree of roast involves measuring the reflected light from roasted seeds illuminated with a light source in the near-infrared spectrum. This elaborate light meter uses a process known as spectroscopy to return a number that consistently indicates the roasted coffee's relative degree of roast or flavor development.
caption: Coffee "cuppers", or professional tasters, grade the coffee.
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