Processing the Coffee Beans.

Welcome back to Bean&Machine, as we discussed in out last post that we will be discussing the process of how the beans travel from the plants to your cup of coffee.

In the last blog we talked about Planting and Harvesting the coffee in this blog we will be talking about Processing.    

Depending on the location, technological resources coffee is processed in one of the two ways

Dry Method- This is an age old method which is still used in many countries where water resources are limited. This is a pretty simple way of processing coffee; the picked cherries are spread on huge surface and timely raked, therefore let in sun to dry. This process is done in batches as it might take a batch few weeks to dry properly. Process is carried out until the moisture level of the cherries drop to 11%, which is set moisture for a good coffee bean.

Dry Processing

Wet Method- In this process the pulp is separated from the seed, so as to only dry the beans. This process takes a lot of water and machinery like rotatory drums, rotatory belts and so on. The bad fruit keeps on floating whereas the ripped fruit sinks in the drums which are then sent through a machine and a screen to remove pulp. Then the bean goes through the process of washing which is done by 1:1 ratio with water so as to remove the remaining pulp. Later the beans are dried either in the sun or by machine (only if the place has high humidity and the place is at a premium).

Wet Processing

That’s it for this week make sure you guys come back next week so you can get to know what are the next steps. Have a good week guys!!

Fun Fact: It only takes 10 minutes to start feeling the effects of caffeine after you take your first sip!!

Planting and Harvesting Coffee Cherry Fruit.

Welcome back to Bean&Machine hope everyone is getting a little education on coffee. Today’s post is going to be a bit deep dive into the process of how coffee travels from plants to the cups.

It’s a long process so we will be posting the process in parts so that it’s easy for our audience to consume all the information.

Coffee plant which carries the coffee cherry can grow up to around 10 feet, from these cherries the coffee beans (seeds of the coffee cherry fruit) are extracted and then further process is carried out on them. Keep on reading we will be now discussing the process in further detail.

Cherry Fruit

The process starts from Planting, a green coffee bean is actually a seed if it’s not processed (roasted) it can be planted in large beds in shaded nurseries. After planting, the seeds need a lot of water and sunlight until they are ready to be planted permanently. The final planting takes place in wet season so as the soil have enough moisture for the roots to be established firmly.

After planting is done successfully the next step is to Harvest the Cherry Fruit,  it takes 3-4 years for a coffee tree to mature properly so as the cheery fruit can be harvested. When the fruit is properly matured it turns out to be bright and deep red. Typically there is one major harvest a year; exceptions like Colombia are there as they get two harvesting seasons one as main and other as secondary crop. Majorly the crop is picked by hand in labor intensive which is a difficult process. But in countries like Brazil the harvesting has been mechanized due to the flat plains. All coffee is harvested in two ways

·         Strip Picked: In this process all the cherries are striped off the branch either by hand or by machine.

·         Selective picked: This is a more expensive process only used on harvesting the Arabica beans as in this process the labour hand picks the fully ripped cherries.

After harvesting the beans are then transported to the processing plant. We will be discussing the next steps in our next blog, stay tuned for more information on your Coffee!!

Fun Fact: Just to surprise you all, Coffee is a FRUIT!!