Grading Standards, Ethics, and Certification Rules
What you must know
Specialty status is a two-part test: the green coffee must show zero Category 1 defects and no more than five Category 2 full defects in 350 g, and the cup must score 80.00 or above on the SCA form. Pass one and fail the other and the coffee is not specialty. Scores band as follows: below 80 not specialty, 80–84.99 Very Good, 85–89.99 Excellent, 90–100 Outstanding.
Certification is time-limited. A Q Grader credential is valid for approximately three years, after which the grader must recalibrate or recertify to retain it. Calibration exists because sensory drift is real: without regular benchmarking against reference samples, a grader's scores slowly diverge from the industry standard.
Ethics are examinable content. A Q Grader must disclose conflicts of interest, decline gifts or hospitality that could influence a score, keep client and sample information confidential, grade every sample to the same protocol regardless of who submitted it, and refuse to issue a grade on coffee in which they hold a commercial interest. Records and scores must be honest and reproducible.
Traps
- Believing certification is lifelong. It is not.
- Assuming a high cupping score alone confers specialty status; the green criteria must also pass.
- Believing one Category 1 defect is tolerable if the cup scores 85. It is not.
- Overlooking the ethics questions, which are scored like any other content.
Rule of thumb
Two gates, both must open: clean green (0 Cat 1, ≤5 Cat 2) and 80.00+ in the cup.