Problems of the green (raw) coffee mainly due to poor management of one or more of the main phases of the process: cultivation of the plant, harvesting, processing, storage, shipping.

To name but a few: foreign matter (sticks, stones, nails), parchment beans, dried cherries, shells (beans with a huge inner cavity), broken beans, beans with severe or slight insect damages, broken or chipped beans. According to the protocol of the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) the defects are divided into primary or secondary.