What is the Coffee Green Book or Arabica Green Coffee Defect Handbook?

The Arabica Green Coffee Defect Handbook — commonly called the Coffee Green Book — is the global reference manual published by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) for identifying and classifying defects in green arabica coffee. It defines two defect categories (primary and secondary), counting equivalences, and classification thresholds for Grade 1 (specialty) or Grade 2. It is an essential working tool for green buyers, specialty roasters, and Q Graders.

Before a common reference existed, evaluation of green coffee defects was fragmented and subjective. Each producing country and trading house had its own criteria. The SCA established the Arabica Green Coffee Defect Handbook to harmonize practices globally — making it the bible of professional green arabica coffee evaluation.

The handbook distinguishes two major defect families. Primary defects (Category 1) are the most serious imperfections because of their direct and significant impact on cup quality: black bean, sour/stinker bean, foreign matter, dried/drying cherry pod, and fungus-damaged bean. A single black bean counts as one full defect. Secondary defects (Category 2) have a lesser but non-negligible impact: broken beans, immature beans (green quakers), floaters, shells, and empty/hollow beans. Multiple Category 2 defective beans are required to constitute an equivalent defect.

Grade 1 / Grade 2 classification follows a strict protocol: a 300-gram green coffee sample is drawn, defects are manually sorted and counted using handbook equivalences, and the total is compared against allowed thresholds. To qualify for Grade 1 (specialty coffee), the sample must show no primary defects and a maximum of 5 secondary defects. Grade 2 tolerates up to 8 primary defects. Beyond that, the coffee is considered outside the specialty category.

The importance of the Coffee Green Book extends beyond sorting: it forms the basis of the SCA's Coffee Skills Program (CSP) Green Coffee course, and defect evaluation is one component of the Q Grader exam. For a Belgian roaster or buyer seeking to work with high-quality lots, mastering this reference is a prerequisite for professional credibility.

Venues like 20hVin (La Hulpe) or La Cave du Lac (Genval), attentive to traceability and the excellence of their coffee selection, implicitly rely on these standards when choosing their suppliers — even if most end customers will never see the handbook.