Quality, cupping and what the scores mean
Almost every claim made about Geisha rests on a number between 80 and 100. Here is where that number comes from, what each band is worth, and which parts of a grading sheet you should actually check.
Speciality coffee is graded by cupping: a standardised blind tasting in which trained graders — often Q graders, certified by the Coffee Quality Institute — assess ground coffee that has been steeped in hot water, and score defined attributes. The attributes are fragrance and aroma, flavour, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, uniformity, clean cup, sweetness and an overall judgement. The scores are added and defects are deducted, producing a total out of 100.
Only coffee scoring 80 or above may properly be called speciality. Everything below that is commercial or commodity coffee. That leaves a twenty-point range that carries an enormous spread of price.
What the bands mean in practice
| Score | What it means | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 80–84 | Speciality, correct, unremarkable | Good café blends; rarely Geisha |
| 85–87 | Clearly good single origin | Entry-level or lower-altitude Geisha |
| 88–89 | Distinctive, memorable | Solid estate Geisha micro-lots |
| 90–91 | Excellent, few coffees reach this | Serious Geisha, the working top end |
| 92–94 | Outstanding; the pool competitions draw from | Top estate lots, small volumes |
| 95+ | Exceptional; a handful of lots a year worldwide | Auction lots, record prices |
The gap between 88 and 92 sounds small and is not. Each point above 90 costs disproportionately more, because it requires everything — plot, weather, picking, fermentation, drying, storage — to go right at once. That is why a two-point difference can multiply a price several times over. More on how price is built.
The parts of a grading sheet worth reading
- Clean cup and uniformity. These are pass/fail signals about picking and processing discipline. A high total with a compromised clean cup is a warning.
- Acidity and sweetness scores. For Geisha these should be high. If they are not, the lot is probably from too low an altitude.
- Aftertaste. Length of finish is where great Geisha separates itself from very good coffee, and it is the attribute least likely to be flattered.
- The grader's name and date. An unattributed score is marketing, not information.
- The protocol used. The traditional SCA cupping form and the newer Coffee Value Assessment do not produce identical numbers. Ask which was used.
What we check before we offer you a lot
Provenance
Producer, farm, plot, altitude and harvest date, confirmed with the exporter rather than taken from a sales sheet.
Physical grading
Screen size, bean uniformity, moisture content and water activity, and a defect count on a green sample.
Cupping
The lot is cupped, alongside comparable lots, before it is offered. If it does not cup as described, we do not offer it.
Roast test
For roasted orders, a trial roast confirms the profile survives — Geisha punishes a careless roast more than most coffees.
Storage and transit
Vacuum packing or GrainPro for green, sealed valve bags for roasted, and transit times short enough to matter.
Tell us what you are looking for
Origin, process, cup score, volume, roasted or green — send us the brief and we will come back with what is actually available this harvest, with a price for that lot.