TCVN 4193 green coffee grades

Vietnam's national standard TCVN 4193 ('Cà phê nhân', green coffee) has been revised in 2005, 2012 and 2014. It grades arabica and robusta by the share of beans retained on specified round-hole sieves and by a total defect value on a 300 g sample, with a 12.5% moisture ceiling and rules on how much arabica, robusta and excelsa may be mixed per grade. In practice robusta is traded on screen size and black-and-broken percentages.

Vietnam

Grades
3
Defect sample
300g
Screen sizes
4listed
Origins using it
1

The grades

In this atlas's own words
GradeWhat it requires
Special grade and Grades 1-4 (TCVN 4193:2005)Grades defined for arabica and robusta by screen-size ratios and total defect value per 300 g.
Grades 1-3 with sub-codes (TCVN 4193:2014)Current edition: arabica (A) and robusta (R) grade codes 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3 set by minimum mass retained on round-hole sieves, maximum defect percentage by volume, and allowed blends of arabica, robusta and 'Chari' (excelsa) coffee; moisture 12.5% maximum.
Trade terms (Grade 1 screen 18, Grade 2 screen 13, etc.)Exporters quote robusta as 'Grade 1 screen 18/16' or 'Grade 2 screen 13' with black-and-broken percentages; these mirror but do not copy the TCVN codes.

How it is measured

Screen sizes

  • 18
  • 16
  • 13
  • 12 (trade quotes)

Defects per 300 g

Defect value calculated on a 300 g sample per the standard's annex; moisture limit 12.5% in the 2014 edition.

Altitude terms

None used.

The pages hosting the full TCVN text returned 403 to we; grade codes come from search-engine extracts of those pages and should be re-verified.

Other grading systems