SHB / SHG
also: Strictly Hard Bean, Strictly High Grown
Altitude-based green coffee grades implying denser, higher-quality beans.
SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) and SHG (Strictly High Grown) are green coffee grades that classify beans by the altitude they were grown at. The two terms mean essentially the same thing: SHB is common in Central American countries like Guatemala and Costa Rica, while SHG appears more often in Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico.
Why it matters: higher elevation usually produces a denser, harder bean (hence “hard bean”) with more developed sweetness and acidity. Roughly, SHB or SHG lots come from above about 1,200 to 1,350 meters, with lower grades like Hard Bean (HB) or High Grown (HG) sitting beneath that. Exact cutoffs vary by country, so the same label can mean slightly different elevations depending on origin.
These grades are a proxy, not a tasting score. A SHB stamp tells you the green coffee grew high and dense, which tends to correlate with quality, but it says nothing about variety, processing, or how well the lot was picked and dried. Treat it as one useful clue among several when reading a label.