Every Lot We Sell Is Signed Off by a Licensed Q Grader
A cupping score means nothing unless you know who put their licence behind it. At FnB Coffee, no coffee enters the catalogue until our Q Arabica Grader has graded it green, roasted it, cupped it, and approved it under his own name.
What a Q Grader Licence Actually Certifies
“Q Grader” is not a job title a company can award itself. It is a licence earned by passing a multi-day battery of examinations under an accredited instructor, and it expires unless the holder requalifies.
The examination is deliberately unforgiving. A candidate is tested on sensory acuity, on the ability to distinguish coffees in blind triangulations, on identifying defects in green coffee by hand, on roast colour and roast fault recognition, and on cupping the same coffees to a repeatable score. Failing a single component means retaking that component — which is precisely why the licence carries weight with importers who have never met the grader.
The programme has also moved on. The industry has shifted from the 2004 cupping form to the Specialty Coffee Association’s Coffee Value Assessment, and graders had to be retrained and recertified against the new standard rather than coast on an old score sheet. Our curator completed that transition in July 2025 before renewing his licence, so the scores on our lot sheets are issued under the current protocol — not a legacy one.
Sensory & olfactory
Identifying reference aromas and discriminating intensity on a calibrated scale.
Blind triangulation
Finding the odd cup among three, repeatedly, across origins and processing methods.
Green grading
Counting and classifying physical defects by hand against the published defect tables.
Roast identification
Reading roast colour and diagnosing roast faults before they reach the cupping table.
A lot-specific cupping profile from our Medan bench. Every quotation we issue carries the report for that lot, not a generic product sheet.
The Documents, in Full
Two certificates, both dated July 2025, both checkable. We publish the numbers so you can confirm them without taking our word for anything.
Q Arabica Grader Licence
The core licence. Held in the grader’s own name, tied to a licence number, and time-limited — it lapses without requalification.
Coffee Value Assessment for Cuppers
The SCA course that retrains working cuppers onto the Coffee Value Assessment system, and the prerequisite for carrying a Q licence forward under the current standard.
Company-level certification — Halal, association membership, and export accreditation — is listed separately on our certificate page.
Why We Call Him the Curator, Not the Taster
A taster describes a coffee. A curator decides whether it exists on our price list at all. That distinction is the whole point of this page.
He decides what enters the catalogue
Lots arriving from Aceh, Mandailing, Java, Bali, and Toraja are cupped before they are listed. A lot that fails does not get a discount and a lower grade label — it does not get listed.
He sets the score you are quoted
The number on your offer sheet is the number he recorded for that specific lot, on a stated date. It is not a marketing figure carried over from a previous harvest.
He signs the lot documentation
Cupping report, flavour descriptors, defect count, and moisture reading travel together with the lot. If a claim is on the sheet, it is attributable to a named licence holder.
He calibrates the rest of the bench
Scores drift when a lab has no reference point. He runs the calibration cuppings that keep our internal scoring aligned between seasons and between graders.
He fronts buyer cupping sessions
When a container buyer cups with us in Medan, he is across the table — so disagreements about a score are settled on the spot, not by email afterwards.
He reviews what we publish
Technical claims in our articles — scores, processing descriptions, defect figures — are checked against lab records before they go live.
The short version: the curator can veto a coffee our sales desk would like to sell. That authority is uncomfortable internally and valuable to you, because it is the only structural reason a supplier’s quality claim is worth anything.
How a Lot Gets Approved
Six checkpoints between a farmer’s delivery and a line on our pricelist. A lot can be stopped at any one of them.
Intake sample
A representative sample is drawn from the delivered lot and logged against its origin and harvest window.
Green grading
Defects are counted by hand, screen size is measured, and moisture is read. Out-of-spec lots stop here.
Sample roast
Roasted to cupping standard so the cup reflects the coffee rather than the roast.
Blind cupping
Cupped blind against reference lots and scored on the CVA descriptive and affective forms.
Decision
Approve, re-sort and re-cup, or reject. Approved lots are assigned their grade and score.
Lot sheet issued
Score, descriptors, and physical specification are written up and attached to every quotation for that lot.
The processing side of this chain is documented on our beans process page, and the resulting grades appear on the wholesale pricelist.
One Signature, Across Everything We Publish
The same licence that approves a container also stands behind the technical content on this site. That is deliberate: a supplier should not have one standard for its coffee and a looser one for its writing.
Cupping reports and lot sheets issued with every quotation
Technical review on articles published across our blog
Score validation on our specialty lines, including kopi luwak
Buyer cupping sessions booked through our cupping service
Verify this independently
Licence numbers on this page are published so a buyer’s QC team can check them against the issuing body’s register before signing a contract.
Questions Buyers Ask About Our Grading
What is a Q Grader, and why should a buyer care?
A Q Grader is a cupper who has passed an accredited, multi-day examination in sensory analysis, blind triangulation, green defect grading, roast identification, and calibrated cupping, and who holds a licence in their own name. It matters because it makes a score portable. When a licensed grader records 87 on a lot, another licensed grader anywhere in the world is working from the same protocol and should land in the same range. Without that, a supplier’s score is just an opinion with a number attached.
Is the licence current, and how can I check it?
Yes. Licence Q-102093 was issued on 24 July 2025 and runs through 22 July 2028. We publish the number rather than a badge image precisely so your QC team can verify it against the issuing body’s register, and the holder’s professional record is public on LinkedIn and on our editorial profile page.
What does “official curator” mean in practice?
It means the grading decision sits with the grader rather than with the sales desk. He determines which lots are approved for the catalogue, what score and grade they carry, and when a lot should be re-sorted or rejected. A coffee our sales team would like to sell can be stopped by that decision, which is the only reason a quality claim from any supplier is meaningful.
Why does the CVA certificate matter on top of the Q licence?
The industry moved from the 2004 SCA cupping form to the Coffee Value Assessment, and working cuppers had to be retrained onto the new descriptive and affective forms rather than keep scoring on the old one. Completing the CVA for Cuppers course in July 2025 is what puts our scores on the current standard. If a supplier is still quoting you a score without being able to say which protocol produced it, that is a fair question to press.
Do you score every lot, or just the specialty lines?
Every lot offered on our pricelist is cupped and graded before it is listed, from commodity robusta through to specialty micro-lots. The depth of the report differs — a specialty lot carries full descriptors and a cupping score, while a commercial grade is documented against its physical specification and defect count — but nothing is listed uncupped.
Can I cup alongside your grader before committing to a container?
Yes, and we prefer it. Our cupping sessions in Medan are run for buyers placing container orders: you cup the actual lot on our bench with the grader present, so any gap between your score and ours is resolved in the room. Details and booking are on the cupping service page. If travel is not practical, we ship a 350 gr sample from the lot instead.
What happens if my own cupping disagrees with your score?
We treat it as a calibration question rather than a dispute. The grader will re-cup the retained sample from the same lot, share the original score sheet and defect count, and if the readings genuinely diverge we either re-sort the lot or withdraw it from your offer. A score is only useful if it survives being challenged.
Who else is on the quality bench?
Curation is not a one-person operation: origin specialists, senior buyers, and an export compliance lead all sit in the chain between a farmer’s delivery and a loaded container, and technical claims we publish are peer-reviewed before release. The full contributor list, with each person’s remit, is on our our author page, and the management structure is on board management.
Cup the Lot Before You Buy It
Book a session at our Medan bench and score the coffee with the grader who approved it — or have a sample from the lot sent to your own cupping table.
