Understanding grades: what inspectors look for

Grading turns a sack of beans into a contract everyone can trust. Inspection follows a cut test on a 300-bean sample drawn across the lot.

What is measured

• Moisture: maximum 7.5-8%. Wet beans mould in transit.
• Mouldy beans: Grade I allows at most 3%; visible mould in the cut.
• Slaty beans: at most 3% for Grade I - slate grey means unfermented.
• Insect-damaged / germinated / flat: capped together.
• Bean count: around 100 beans per 100 g or better for main crop.
• Foreign matter: stones, husk and string - effectively zero.

Grade II tolerates roughly double the defect levels; anything worse is sub-grade and sells at deep discounts for grinding. The premium between sub-grade and Grade I routinely exceeds the whole cost of proper fermentation and drying - quality is the best-paying work on a cocoa farm.

Thresholds shown are indicative teaching values; confirm the current official standard with LACRA.