Norman Grant earns Coffee Quality Institute Q-Arabica Grader certification

Managing Director and CEO of the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, Norman Grant, has earned the designation of Q-Arabica Grader from the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), which is the highest level for quality in coffee. Grant is the first Jamaican from the private sector and only the fourth Jamaican to earn the qualification.

Grant, who is also the chairman of Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association, got his accreditation recently in San Francisco at the Boot Coffee Campus, where principal Willem Boot presented him with his golden cupping spoon and the designation, after his successful completion of all the courses and examinations.

A Q-Arabica Grader is a highly trained and calibrated coffee taster who evaluates coffee using SCA cupping standards and protocols. CQI’s Q Coffee System is an internationally recognised programme for evaluating cup quality based on a standardised system for arabica coffee using protocols developed by the Speciality Coffee Association (SCA) and the Coffee Quality Institute.

Grant said: “This is an exciting accomplishment with which I will aim to implement programmes that appreciate the value of having globally recognised quality standards in coffee, and to help in the improvement of the quality of life for the 5,000 coffee farmers in Jamaica. It will also redound to the benefit of my own company, the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, which is now celebrating its 100-year anniversary, our excellent staff and shareholders, as well as our customers, locally and globally.”

In addition to his CQI-certified Q-Arabica Grader accreditation, Grant is also an international coffee taster and has been cup-tasting coffee for over 35 years.