Specialty Coffee Beans vs Commercial Beans: SCA Grading

How the Coffee Grading System Separates Bean Quality

According to the Specialty Coffee Association, the dividing line between specialty coffee and commercial coffee is a cupping score of 80: beans scoring above 80 are considered specialty, and those below 80 are classified as commercial. The practical reality is more complicated than that single threshold suggests.

The SCA does not actively score beans on the market. What is commonly called an SCA score is produced by trainees applying the scoring method taught in SCA training courses, usually for competitions or voluntarily submitted samples. That limits how far the coffee grading system can distinguish specialty coffee beans from commercial ones in daily trade.

People often talk about specialty coffee beans and commercial coffee beans—how exactly do you tell them apart? According to the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), the dividing line is a cupping score of 80: beans scoring above 80 are considered specialty coffee, while those below 80 are classified as commercial coffee. But the reality is far more complicated than this standard suggests—the SCA itself does not actively score beans on the market; so-called "SCA scores" are actually the results that trainees produce using the scoring method taught in SCA training. This method of distinction still has considerable limitations to this day. This article will discuss what specialty coffee beans really mean, and the core differences between them and commercial coffee beans.

Regarding the definition of specialty coffee beans versus commercial coffee beans, the most mainstream view currently comes from the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). Under the SCA cupping system, beans that score 80 points or above in cupping can be classified as specialty coffee beans, while those scoring below 80 are classified as commercial coffee beans.

It should be noted, however, that in reality, aside from coffee competitions or someone voluntarily submitting samples for evaluation, the SCA does not actively issue scores for any particular batch of beans. What we casually call "SCA scores" are actually the scores that trainees obtain by following the scoring method taught in SCA training courses. Therefore, using this SCA standard to distinguish specialty from commercial coffee beans still has fairly obvious limitations at present.

What's the difference between specialty coffee beans and commercial coffee beans? Discussing coffee bean grading from the SCA cupping score standard