A specialty coffee bag packs a lot onto a small label: where the coffee grew, what plant it came from, how it was processed and roasted, and when. Each line is a clue about the cup, and some lines are just marketing. Here’s how to tell them apart.
An example label, line by line
This label is invented for illustration; the farm and roaster don’t exist. Its details are typical of a washed Kenyan coffee.
| On the bag | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Kenya · Nyeri | The country and the region. A starting point for flavor, not a promise |
| Example Factory | A named washing station (in Kenya, a “factory”), so the coffee is traceable beyond its country |
| SL28, SL34 | The varieties. World Coffee Research rates both “Exceptional” for quality potential at high altitude |
| Washed | The process. Washed coffees tend toward more acidity and a cleaner cup |
| 1,700–1,900 masl | The growing altitude, in meters above sea level |
| Roasted on: a day, month and year | The most useful line on the bag for freshness |
| Blackcurrant, grapefruit, black tea | What the roaster tasted. What it can taste like, not a guarantee |
| 340 g (12 oz) | The net weight |
The roast date tells you where the beans are in their life. Our Freshness tool counts the days from it.
The origin, region and altitude are easier to judge against the country they came from. Coffee Origins shows each country’s growing-altitude band, harvest months, common varieties and processing.
The roast date
Look for the actual date the coffee was roasted. James Hoffmann’s rules in The World Atlas of Coffee start there: buy coffee with a clear roast date, try to buy within two weeks of roasting, and buy only enough for a couple of weeks at a time.
A “best by” date doesn’t do the same job. Hoffmann notes that supermarket coffee often carries a best-before date 12 to 24 months after roasting, because coffee is safe to drink that long, not because it tastes good.
Once you have the date, these are the typical windows our Freshness tool uses for whole beans brewed as filter coffee:
| Days since roasting | Stage | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 0–3 | Very fresh | Fine to brew, though Hoffmann finds coffee tastes better after two or three days |
| 4–6 | Opening up | Ready to brew; most coffees keep getting sweeter |
| 7–21 | Likely at its best | Brew it |
| 22–30 | Probably still good | Finish it soon, or freeze what you won’t use |
| 31–59 | Likely fading | Taste it; buy fresher next time |
| 60 and up | Likely stale | Fine for cold brew or baking |
For espresso, the tool keeps beans in the resting stage through day 6. These are typical windows, not a forecast for your bag: roast level, the bag and how you store it can move them by days to weeks. The bag itself matters. Hoffmann explains that sealed foil bags with a one-way valve let gas out without letting air in, that bags flushed with nitrogen stale slowest of all, and that once a bag is opened, staling speeds up. Our guides to coffee freshness, storing beans and freezing them go further.
Origin, region and farm
The more specific the place, the more you know about the coffee. Hoffmann’s best buying advice is to buy as traceable a coffee as possible, and he explains why it matters: keeping a lot traceable through the whole supply chain adds cost, so it usually only pays for high-quality coffee.
- Country: the broadest clue. Each origin has flavors it’s known for, but they vary with region, process and roast. Coffee Origins lists the flavor tendencies importers describe for each country, with the conditions that change them.
- Region: a narrower clue, such as Nyeri in Kenya or Huehuetenango in Guatemala.
- Farm, washing station or cooperative: a named source. Hoffmann notes that in much of Latin America coffee can be traced to a single small farm, while elsewhere land ownership or trade rules make that harder, so a cooperative or washing station may be as specific as a coffee gets.
- Lot: the most specific line. One farm can sell several lots, harvested or processed differently.
Hoffmann also suggests that a coffee kept traceable, with the producer’s, farm’s or cooperative’s name on the bag, has probably earned the farmer a better price. For what the seals on a bag mean, see our guide to coffee certifications.
Altitude
Altitude is usually printed in meters above sea level (masl), sometimes as a range. Some bags use an altitude grade instead, and those differ by country. In Hoffmann’s country chapters:
- Guatemala: “Strictly Hard Bean” (SHB) means grown above 1,300 m (4,300 ft), “Hard Bean” 1,220 to 1,300 m.
- El Salvador: “Strictly High Grown” (SHG) means above 1,200 m (3,900 ft), “High Grown” above 900 m.
- Honduras: SHG means above 1,200 m, “High Grown” above 1,000 m.
So the same initials don’t mean the same height everywhere. Hoffmann adds that in El Salvador the grades have no relation to quality or traceability, and that in Honduras they’re most often seen on less traceable lots.
Altitude still matters. Hoffmann writes that great coffee requires altitude, and some varieties do better high up: he notes that Caturra’s quality increases with altitude while its yield drops, and that SL-28 performs better at higher altitudes. But a number on its own isn’t a quality grade, and what counts as high depends on the country, so compare it with that country’s band in Coffee Origins. Our altitude guide explains the reasons.
Variety
A variety is the type of coffee plant. (Hoffmann reserves “varietal” for a specific instance of a variety, such as one farm’s 100 percent Bourbon.) Plenty of coffee is sold without one, because it’s traded by origin; a named variety means someone kept track.
World Coffee Research publishes a catalog of varieties with a rating for each one’s quality potential at high altitude. Here are some you’ll often see on specialty bags:
| Variety | WCR quality potential at high altitude | What Hoffmann says |
|---|---|---|
| Typica | Very Good | The original variety; capable of excellent quality, with a small yield |
| Bourbon | Very Good | Many in specialty believe it has a distinctive sweetness |
| Caturra | Good | A Bourbon mutation; quality considered good, rising with altitude |
| SL28 | Exceptional | Capable of a distinct fruit flavor, often described as blackcurrant |
| SL34 | Exceptional | Generally considered inferior to SL-28 in cup quality |
| Geisha (WCR’s Panama entry) | Exceptional | Considered exceptionally aromatic and floral |
| Pacamara | Exceptional | Can taste of chocolate and fruit, but can also be herbal or onion-like |
The two sources don’t always agree: WCR rates SL34 as highly as SL28, while Hoffmann reports that most consider SL34 the lesser of the two. A rating is a potential, not a promise about one bag. Hoffmann deliberately gives few flavor descriptions for varieties, because so many factors affect the cup and so little organized research separates out the variety.
Many Ethiopian coffees are labeled “heirloom” or “landrace” instead of a variety. Hoffmann explains that many Ethiopian trees aren’t selected cultivars but indigenous varieties whose diversity has barely been catalogued. Our guide to Ethiopian heirloom and named varieties explains what those labels mean, and our variety guide covers more varieties.
Process
The process note says how the cherry became a green bean, and it’s one of the most useful lines for predicting flavor. In Hoffmann’s account:
- Washed: the fruit is removed before drying; washed coffees tend toward more acidity, more complexity and a cleaner cup.
- Natural: the coffee dries inside the whole cherry; it often adds fruit flavors, and sometimes wild, fermented ones.
- Honey or pulped natural: the skin comes off but some of the sticky flesh stays on during drying, which tends to add sweetness and body.
- Semi-washed or wet-hulled: common in Indonesia; lower acidity, more body, and earthy, woody flavors.
A label that says “anaerobic” or “carbonic maceration” describes an extra fermentation step, not the whole process; a careful roaster also names the base method and how long the step lasted. Our processing guide explains every method.
Roast level
Not every roaster prints one, and “light” or “dark” alone doesn’t say everything: Hoffmann points out that a roast is the product of the final color and how long it took to get there, and the two can taste quite different at the same color. In general, he writes, acidity falls the longer a coffee is roasted, bitterness rises the darker it goes, and sweetness peaks somewhere in between. Very dark roasts, sold as French or Italian roast, tend to be heavy in body and bitterness, with many of the raw coffee’s characteristics lost.
That’s why a dark roast on a coffee sold for its farm and variety is worth a second look: the roast may hide much of what you’re paying for. Our guide to roast levels goes further.
Cup score
Some bags print a score out of 100. Under the Specialty Coffee Association’s 2004 cupping protocol, the scoring key called 90 to 100 “outstanding”, 85 to 89.99 “excellent” and 80 to 84.99 “very good”, all specialty, and below 80 “below specialty quality”. The SCA notes that most coffees cupped that way scored between 80 and 88.
The system has changed. On November 4, 2024 the SCA adopted its Coffee Value Assessment as its official cupping standard, superseding the 2004 protocol and form. On the new scale, a coffee rated neither high nor low on every attribute scores 79, so the same number can mean a different judgment. Either way, a score is a trained taster’s rating of one sample, cupped in a standard way; your bag may be roasted and brewed differently. Our guide to coffee scores explains both systems.
Tasting notes
“Blackcurrant, dark chocolate, honey” describes what the roaster tasted, and what the coffee can taste like. Most of those flavors are smells, Hoffmann explains: we detect acidity, sweetness and bitterness on the tongue, but chocolate, berries or caramel through the nose. Your grinder, water and brewing will shift them. Treat the notes as a direction: a bag that says citrus, floral and tea-like is pointing somewhere different from one that says chocolate, nuts and caramel.
Claims that tell you little
- “100% arabica”: it means no robusta, and nothing about quality. Arabica isn’t rare: USDA forecasts 105.9 million of the world’s 189.7 million bags for 2026/27 to be arabica, about 56 percent (calculated). It does mean less caffeine: Hoffmann notes robusta has about twice the caffeine of arabica.
- A strength number: Hoffmann explains that the strength guides on many supermarket bags have nothing to do with strength, which depends on how much coffee you brew with. They mostly reflect roast level, and so how bitter the coffee is likely to be, and he avoids coffees that carry them.
- A “best by” date without a roast date: see above.
What’s often missing
- The harvest date. The roast date says nothing about when the green coffee was harvested, and green coffee ages too: Hoffmann cites early research that coffees dried too quickly can lose their good qualities within months, or even weeks, of reaching the roaster. Some roasters print the harvest; our harvest calendar shows when each origin is picked.
- The importer. Some roasters name the company that brought the coffee in, which adds another link to the chain you can check.
Two lines matter most when you’re standing in front of the shelf: the roast date and the process. Start there.
Sources
- James Hoffmann, The World Atlas of Coffee, 2nd ed. (Octopus/Mitchell Beazley, 2018): “Buying and Storing Coffee” (strength guides, traceability, golden rules for fresh coffee, freshness and best-before dates, resting, packaging); “How Coffee is Traded” (advice to consumers); “Coffee Varieties”; “Processing”; “Harvesting Coffee”; “Coffee Roasting”; “Tasting and Describing Coffee”; “Arabica and Robusta”; “Guatemala”, “El Salvador” and “Honduras” (altitude grades); “Kenya” (washing stations, or factories)
- World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog, entries for Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, SL28, SL34, Geisha (Panama) and Pacamara (“Quality potential at high altitude”), checked October 15, 2026: varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org
- Specialty Coffee Association, “Protocols & Best Practices” (Cupping Protocols: Final Scoring and the scoring key), sca.coffee, as archived December 15, 2019: web.archive.org
- Specialty Coffee Association, A System to Assess Coffee Value: Understanding the Specialty Coffee Association’s Coffee Value Assessment, June 2024, §8.5, “The Cupping Score” (pp. 40–41)
- Specialty Coffee Association, “The SCA Officially Adopts CVA Descriptive and Affective Assessments as New Cupping Standards,” November 4, 2024: sca.coffee
- USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Coffee: World Markets and Trade, July 2026, p. 7, Coffee Summary (arabica and robusta production, 2026/27 forecast): apps.fas.usda.gov