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Puerto Rico Coffee Grades: Specialty, High Mountain Grown, and the SCA Scale

Coffee is graded in two main ways: physically, by counting defects in a sample of green coffee, and by taste, through cupping. Several coffee-producing countries also grade coffee by the altitude at which it was grown. Puerto Rico has its own legal grades and certifications, set out in law and in the price orders of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO), alongside terms that appear only in brand marketing. This article explains each of them, and which terms have an issuing authority.

Grading Green Coffee by Defects

Workers at a coffee buyer and exporter based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, sort the beans for export.

Workers at a coffee buyer and exporter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, sorting beans for export, photographed in June 2011. Photo: DFID – UK Department for International Development / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The green-coffee grading protocol of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) counted defects in a 350-gram sample of green coffee. Specialty Grade coffee had to have no Category 1 defects and no more than five Category 2 defects. Its colour had to be blue-green, bluish-green or green, and the sample had to be completely free of foreign odours. The protocol defined only two grades, Specialty Grade and Premium Grade. An older SCAA classification, as reproduced by coffeeresearch.org, allowed Premium Grade coffee no more than 8 full defects in 300 grams, with primary defects permitted. The SCA's heritage standard added that specialty-grade green coffee must have a water activity below 0.70.

Today the physical assessment in the SCA's Coffee Value Assessment is based on the 2004 green-coffee grading system. Its form records colour, Category 1 and Category 2 defects, moisture and screen size from a 350-gram sample, and gives no grade. For international trade, the International Coffee Organization's quality programme set a minimum: arabica exports should have no more than 86 defects in a 300-gram sample, with a moisture content between 8 and 12.5 per cent. Screen size is measured in sixty-fourths of an inch: screen 10 means 10/64 of an inch.

Raw coffee, ready for testing. It is scored according to shape, colour and odour.

Raw coffee ready for testing: it is checked for moisture, impurities and immature beans, then scored for shape, colour and odour. Photographed in June 2011. Photo: DFID – UK Department for International Development / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Grading by Taste

Cupping is the sensory side of grading: trained tasters brew samples to a set protocol and score them. The professional system is covered in Coffee Cupping: The Professional Tasting Method, and the home version in Cupping Coffee at Home: Equipment, Method and Building a Palate. Under the SCAA's 2004 cupping protocol, coffees scoring 80 to 84.99 were classed as very good, 85 to 89.99 as excellent and 90 to 100 as outstanding, and scores below 80 were below specialty quality. Under that system, specialty grade required both a cupping score of 80 or more and a pass in green grading.

On 4 November 2024 the SCA announced the adoption of its Coffee Value Assessment as its official cupping standards, following a preliminary release in June. Its standards supersede the 2004 Cupping Protocol and Form. The assessment had been released in beta at the Re:co Symposium in April 2023, the week the Specialty Coffee Expo began in Portland. Rather than relying on a single score, it combines four assessments: physical, descriptive, affective and extrinsic. In the affective assessment, tasters mark each of eight sections on a 9-point scale; the result is converted into a score that equals 100 when every section scores 9 and 79 when every section scores 5, rounded to the nearest quarter point. The Coffee Value Assessment standards set no specialty threshold. Perfect Daily Grind reported in 2024 that many buyers now buy at 84 points and above, while 80 to 83 remains specialty grade under the old system. The SCA now describes specialty coffee as coffee recognised for its distinctive characteristics and higher value in the market.

Grading by Altitude

The International Coffee Organization lists altitude and region among the usual criteria for grading coffee, and altitude grades are set nationally:

  • Guatemala. The coffee association Anacafé classes coffee grown above 4,500 feet as Strictly Hard Bean, with Hard Bean at 4,000 feet, Semi-Hard at 3,500, Extra Prime at 3,000 and Prime Washed at 2,500; the International Coffee Organization records that Guatemala does not yet apply national quality standards.
  • Costa Rica. The coffee institute ICAFE zones coffee by region and altitude, from Strictly Hard Bean in areas above 1,200 metres to Low Grown at 350 to 600 metres.
  • Nicaragua. The national standard NTON 03 025-11 includes a Strictly High Grown quality, and places Good Washed coffee at 500 to 750 metres.
  • El Salvador. The coffee council describes coffee grown from 1,201 metres upward as estricta altura, strictly high grown.
  • Honduras. The coffee institute IHCAFE's regulation defines High Grown and Strictly High Grown by the appearance of the bean rather than by a height.
  • Jamaica. Its 2018 coffee regulations define Jamaica High Mountain Supreme as premium grades grown outside the Blue Mountain area, and restrict the use of the words "Blue Mountain" and "High Mountain" on coffee.

"High Mountain Grown" in Puerto Rico

No Puerto Rican law or regulation found defines an altitude grade. The phrase "High Mountain Grown" appears in a United States trademark for the Yauco Selecto brand, filed in 1991 and registered in 1993, in which the words "Yauco Selecto High Mountain Grown" are disclaimed. According to the University of Puerto Rico's 1999 coffee production guide, coffee in Puerto Rico is grown between 600 and 3,000 feet above sea level, and the most suitable area lies between 1,500 and 3,000 feet. Altitude has long affected price: a 1924 report of the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station said that coffee produced at the higher altitudes was considered better and sold at a higher price.

Puerto Rico's Legal Grades and Certifications

DACO's price grades

DACO sets minimum coffee prices by grade. Its Order No. 2026-007 of 2 October 2026 sets the minimum prices paid to growers and processors for ripe and green-ripe coffee cherry, for first-grade parchment coffee (pergamino primero) and second-grade collor (collor segunda) on a milled basis, for first- and second-grade milled coffee (pilado primera and pilado segunda), and for Robusta. The University of Puerto Rico's coffee glossary defines the terms:

  • Café pergamino: dried coffee processed by the wet method that has not been hulled.
  • Café pilado: dried coffee from which the parchment has been removed.
  • Café oro: milled coffee ready for roasting, also known as base pilado or green coffee.
  • Café collor (coyol): the dried whole fruit from the last pass of the harvest, processed by the dry method and of lower quality than wet-processed coffee.

A 2016 newspaper report described primera as coffee processed by the wet method, and segunda as arabica or robusta processed in the husk, or by the wet method with imperfections. DACO's coffee price regulation, Reglamento 8578 of 2015, requires labels to state the percentage of primera, of segunda and of any coffee that is not arabica. Neither the regulation nor the 2026 order defines the grades themselves. The current prices are set out in Puerto Rico Coffee Cooperatives and Economics.

Certification under the 2019 coffee law

Ley 78 of 27 July 2019 defines café de Puerto Rico as coffee harvested entirely in Puerto Rico, not mixed with imported coffee and not adulterated with any other fruit, grain or ingredient. It defines specialty coffee as dried, unroasted Puerto Rican coffee of the species Coffea arabica that meets the quality standards of the Specialty Coffee Association, and whose origin the Oficina de Cafés of the Department of Agriculture has certified at the producer's request. The law told the Oficina to adopt a regulation for certifying specialty, premium and 100 per cent Puerto Rican coffee, using the SCA's standards and a quality seal validated by laboratory tests recognised by the SCA. Certification is voluntary: a producer who applies to register a certified mark for specialty coffee must meet the SCA's requirements and the Oficina's regulation. The Department of Agriculture's list of regulations in force in October 2024 includes Reglamento 9173, for certification marks for specialty coffee, filed on 12 March 2020, and Reglamento 9208, for certification marks for premium coffee.

Watch: El Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico — Library of Congress

It was made by Russell Oliver, who received a 2022 Community Collections Grant from the American Folklife Center.

Earlier labelling laws

Ley 60 of 1964, as amended, barred labels such as "Fino" or "Specialty" on coffee that did not meet its conditions. Ley 232 of 22 December 2015 created a denomination of origin for Puerto Rican coffee. It adopted the SCAA's parameters, with no more than five defects in a 300-gram sample before roasting, no primary defects and a moisture content of 9 to 13 per cent, and it banned words such as gourmet, premium, specialty and fino on Puerto Rican coffee without its certification. Ley 78 of 2019 repealed Ley 232.

Historical Puerto Rican Grades

Before any grading law, the trade graded coffee by custom. In 1899 Henry K. Carroll's report to the United States government described about three grades, the first and best produced on the large plantations with their own mills, and noted that Yauco coffee was one of the grades most acceptable in Europe. A 1901 report for the United States Department of Agriculture recorded six classes, in order of quality: caracolillo, hacienda, pueblo, cubano, merinda and frilla. In 1922 William Ukers listed caracollilo (peaberry), primero (hand-picked), segundo (second grade) and trillo, the lowest grade, sold locally. A 1924 report of the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station said that the peaberry enjoyed "an unmerited reputation for superiority". In the 1940s the coffee growers' cooperative in Ponce classified coffee into nine grades by the size and colour of the beans, a method that David Campbell's 1947 dissertation called largely subjective.

Brand Terms

Some grade-like terms have no issuing authority. No standards body or government source found defines "Super Premium" or "Grand Premium" as a coffee grade; the certification category in Puerto Rican law is "premium". The Alto Grande brand's website, as captured in 2011, described its coffee as one of the three top coffees in the world and said the brand was founded in 1839 in Lares; these are the brand's own claims, discussed in Alto Grande: A Lares Coffee Brand and Its Heritage Claims. Kenya's AA is a screen-size grade in Kenya's coffee regulations: flat beans that pass through screen 21 and are retained on screen 18, 7.2 millimetres. Under those regulations, liquoring, the tasting of coffee for trade, is a separate analysis from grading.

What a Buyer Can Check

The varieties Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuaí, Limaní and Frontón are documented in World Coffee Research's variety catalogue. A cupping score is one taster's impression of a coffee's quality, so a score means most when the taster and the protocol are named.

Key Facts

  • SCAA Specialty Grade green coffee had no Category 1 defects and no more than five Category 2 defects in a 350-gram sample.
  • The 2004 cupping form's specialty line was 80 points; the SCA adopted the Coffee Value Assessment on 4 November 2024.
  • The Coffee Value Assessment's affective score uses a 9-point scale and can reach 100.
  • Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Jamaica use altitude or mountain terms; no Puerto Rican law found defines one.
  • Ley 78-2019 defines specialty coffee by SCA standards, and Reglamentos 9173 and 9208 of 2020 provide certification marks for specialty and premium coffee.
  • DACO prices coffee by grade: primera, segunda and collor.
  • "High Mountain Grown" and "Super Premium" are brand terms with no issuing authority.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Puerto Rican coffee officially graded? Yes, in two ways. DACO's price orders use the grades primera, segunda and collor, and the Department of Agriculture offers voluntary certification marks for specialty and premium coffee under the 2019 coffee law.

Does "High Mountain Grown" mean a certain altitude? No law or standards body found defines it; the phrase appears in a brand's registered trademark.

What score makes a coffee specialty? Under the 2004 form, 80 points together with a pass in green grading; the Coffee Value Assessment sets no specialty threshold.

Is the SCA 100-point scale still used? The SCA's 2004 form was superseded in November 2024, but the new affective assessment still produces a score that can reach 100.

What is AA coffee? A Kenyan screen-size grade, for flat beans retained on screen 18, or 7.2 millimetres.

Sources

Green grading and cupping

Altitude

Puerto Rican law and grades

History and brands

  • "Report on the Island of Porto Rico" (Internet Archive digitised copy), Henry K. Carroll, 1899 — the grades of 1899.
  • "Agricultural Resources and Capabilities of Porto Rico" (Internet Archive digitised copy), S. A. Knapp, 1901 — the six classes.
  • All About Coffee, William H. Ukers, 1922 — the grades of 1922.
  • "The Geography of the Coffee Industry of Puerto Rico" (Internet Archive digitised copy), David S. Campbell, University of Chicago, 1947 — the cooperative's nine grades.
  • The Crops (Coffee) (General) Regulations, 2019, Republic of Kenya — the AA grade.
  • Coffee varieties catalog, World Coffee Research — the varieties.
  • "Alto Grande website" (archived copy, 20 July 2011), as captured in 2011 — the brand's own claims.
  • Library of Congress, El Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico, YouTube, 25 June 2025 — embedded above.

Claims this encyclopedia could not source

  • What Reglamentos 9173 and 9208 require, and whether any coffee holds a mark under them. Their texts are scanned images and were not read.
  • A regulation for certifying 100 per cent Puerto Rican coffee. None was found.
  • A definition of "High Mountain Grown", "Grand Premium" or "Super Premium" by any authority. None was found.
  • That packaging says only three Super Premium coffees exist, naming Jamaica Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona. No packaging was seen; the brand's 2011 website named no other coffees.
  • That a roasted specialty sample must contain no quakers. It appears in trade writing, not in the SCA or SCAA documents consulted.
  • That the 2004 100-point scale remains in wide use. No measurement was located.
  • An independent source for the brand's 1839 founding. Only the brand's own website gives it.

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