8.1 CVA Physical Assessment: Sample, Color, Moisture, Size & Workflow

Green grading is the first look at a coffee's quality, before any roasting. In the CVA it is called the Physical Assessment, and the Q Grader course tests it in a standalone practical exam. The SCA's preparation page describes the exam simply: it "evaluates your ability to accurately perform a CVA Physical Assessment, also known as 'green grading.'"

What the Physical Assessment covers

The SCA's Coffee Value Assessment page says the Physical Assessment "evaluates the physical attributes of coffee, such as color, defects, moisture content, and size," and that it is based on the 2004 SCA green coffee grading system.

The CVA Physical Form (Alpha V1.1, May 2025) has four blocks:

The form does not include a cup score, water activity, or density field. Those may matter commercially, but they are not part of this form.

Preparing for the practical

The SCA recommends:

• Reviewing the "Physical Assessment of Green Coffee" section of the CVA Protocol and downloading the Physical Form.
• Running Physical Assessments on green samples at work if you lack professional experience.
• Practicing with a moisture-content meter and a set of sieves if available, to build familiarity with moisture and bean-size measurement.
• Studying the SCA Washed Arabica Green Coffee Defect Guide.
• Taking Green Coffee Foundation (moisture and size identification; telling low from high defect counts) and Green Coffee Intermediate (moisture, size, identifying particular defects, and other physical tests).

A step-by-step workflow

1. Weigh the sample. Take a representative 350 g of green coffee for defect counting.
2. Record color. Spread the beans under good, even lighting and choose the single best-matching color box. Fresh, well-dried coffees often look bluish-green to green. Yellowing or browning can indicate aging, drying problems, or poor storage.
3. Measure moisture. Use a calibrated meter set for green coffee and record the reading. Reference laboratories determine moisture by oven methods; the green-coffee standard method is ISO 6673 (loss in mass at 105°C).
4. Measure size. Shake the sample through a stack of round-hole screens. Weigh what each screen retains and convert it to percent of the total. Screen numbers are in 64ths of an inch: screen 18 means holes 18/64 inch, about 7.1 mm.
5. Sort defects. Separate defective beans and foreign matter into Category 1 and Category 2 piles, by type.
6. Count and convert. Divide each defect count by its ratio to get full-defect equivalents, then total each category (Sections 8.2 and 8.3).
7. Check your form. Every block completed, counts and conversions consistent, totals added correctly.

Defect ratios on the form

A ratio of 5:1 means five beans count as one full defect.

Heritage grade thresholds

The CVA records counts; it does not print a grade on the form. Because the Physical Assessment is based on the 2004 grading system, the heritage SCA classification is still useful context:

The heritage classification also called for specialty coffee to have moisture between 9% and 13%, at least one distinctive attribute in the cup, and screen size within tolerance. Many buyers specify narrower targets in contracts, often 10–12%.

Worked example

A 350 g sample of washed Guatemalan coffee shows:

Total Category 2 full defects: 1.33 + 1.80 + 0.60 = 3.73. Color is Bluish-Green and moisture reads 11.0%. Under the heritage classification this sample would meet specialty grade physically, with zero Category 1 and fewer than 5 full defects. On the CVA form you simply record these values.

Exam technique

• Work systematically. Spread the beans in a single layer and move through them in rows.
• Look at both faces of suspicious beans.
• Count each bean once, under its most severe defect (Section 8.3).
• Keep categories separate in labeled piles so you can recount quickly.
• Do the arithmetic twice. Rounding to two decimals is fine, but be consistent.