TRM:
The Ranking Method
What makes a coffee better? The Better Coffee Ranking Method — TRM — is our proposal to answer that question with honesty, transparency, and courage.
Traditional rankings focus on flavor scores, price premiums, or the loudest marketing stories. We refuse to accept that.
The TRM combines descriptive sensory evaluation with affective (emotional) analysis, assessing coffee not only in terms of taste, but also in terms of its social impact — the significance it has for the people and communities that produce it.
The red line acts as a clear threshold — a pass/fail border that defines whether a coffee meets the minimum ethical and sensory criteria to belong in The Better Coffee system.
High-End
These are exceptional coffees, not just for their flavor, but for how they transform their communities, protect the environment, and challenge the current system of coffee value. High-end is not just rare taste; it is rare responsibility.
Essential
These coffees meet the red line, achieving fair, dignified, and transparent standards for both quality and social impact, supporting people’s right to a decent life.
Below the Red Line
These coffees do not meet the minimum social or sensory baselines and are excluded from The Better Coffee system. We offer their producers support and education to help them move to a higher ranking in the future.
No C price. No stock market.
Under TRM, price reflects the actual cost of sustainable production, including fair wages, health security, education, rest, and retirement for coffee workers across the entire supply chain.
That means higher prices — unapologetically — adapted to local and regional realities.
The TRM is not just about coffee quality.
It is about meeting the needs of the people who make coffee possible.
If those needs are not respected, no flavor can justify exploitation.
We are all responsible
Affiliated in support
TRM places responsibility on everyone — farmers, roasters, baristas, and consumers — to uphold dignity, equality, and mutual aid. We reject hidden slavery, soil poisoning, forced labor, greenwashing, and price exploitation, no matter how normalized they have become.
TRM is a ranking born of values.
It draws a red line against harm — and lifts up coffees that nourish both people and land.
👉 You can find more details about TRM criteria and its application in The Better Coffee Standard — and soon, we will release a full explanatory document as part of The Places Series: The Ranking Method, going deeper into how this system works. We will also begin publishing a transparent list of coffees evaluated by TRM, so that the public can see, learn, and verify for themselves.
