GROW COFFEE

COFFEE CULTIVATION

Coffee trees grow in tropical regions, between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, that have abundant rainfall, year round warm temperatures averaging 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and no frost. They grow at altitudes ranging from sea level to 6,500 feet and above.

The condition required for coffee Plantation/growing are:

 ☼  Heavy Rainfall

 ☼  Volcanic Soil

 ☼  Good Sunlight

 ☼  Under-Shadow

HARVESTING

Depending upon cultivation area and altitude a coffee tree can bloom every season. Nine to ten months after the main bloom time, the cherries will be harvested. The cherries normally contain two beans.

 

There are three methods used for Harvesting:

 ☼  Striping Method

 ☼  Mechanical

 ☼  HAND-PICK

PROCESSING

The two coffee beans make up only one third of the coffee berry, the rest consisting of fruit flesh (also known as pulp), skin and husk, all of which must be removed so that only the green beans remain. Two different methods of processing the coffee beans have now been adopted worldwide: wet processing and dry processing.

 ☼ Wet Processing: In the wet process, the cherries are soaked in containers of water. As in the cleaning stage of the dry process, the ripe red cherries sink to the bottom while the unripe float to the top. Not all of the pulp is removed from the beans at this stage so further steps are required. The wet processing method is more expensive, requiring extensive use of water and special equipment. A layer of skin and parchment still remain on the bean after the De-pulping.

At this time, the beans are dried either in the sun or by machine, or both. They are brought to the right moisture content. Once dry, the parchment is crumbly and removed easily during the hulling process.The extra work and costs that go into this method of processing the beans are justified because the connoisseurs of coffee consumption find the "washed" coffees to provide a smoother and rounder cup of coffee, and beans processed by this method generally can demand higher prices.

 ☼  Dry Method: The oldest method, also known as natural, or unwashed, is the dry method. Dirt, twigs, soil, undesired beans, and other debris are removed by winnowing with a sieve and/or by placing the harvest in a washing channel and allowing the ripe cherries to sink to the bottom and the rest to float to the top.

Once clean, the coffee cherries are placed on a patio to get dry in the sun. Mechanical dryers are used by some processing facilities to speed up the process once the coffee has spent some initial drying time in the sun, usually a few days. Once the cherries are dry, they are stored in silos until they are sent to the mill for the next processing steps which include hulling, sorting, grading, and bagging. Whereas the outer layers of the dried cherries are removed by the hulling machine in these later stages of the dry process.

SORTING

Most fine coffee goes through a battery of machines that sort the coffee by density of bean and by bean size, all the while removing sticks, rocks, nails, and miscellaneous debris that may have become mixed with the coffee during drying. First machines blow the beans into the air; those that fall into bins closest to the air source are heaviest and biggest; the lightest (and likely defective) beans plus chaff are blown in the farthest bin. Other machines shake the beans through a series of sieves, sorting them by size.

Finally, a machine called a gravity separator shakes the sized beans on a tilted table, so that the heaviest, densest and best vibrate to one side of the pulsating table, and the lightest to the other. The final step in the cleaning and sorting procedure is called color sorting, or separating defective beans from sound beans on the basis of color rather than density or size. Color sorting is the trickiest and perhaps most important of all the steps in sorting and cleaning.

POLISHING

This is an optional process in which any silver skin that remains on the beans after hulling is removed in a polishing machine. This is done to improve the appearance of green coffee beans and eliminate a byproduct of roasting called chaff. It is described by some to be detrimental to the taste by raising the temperature of the bean through friction which changes the chemical makeup of the bean.

GRADING

Grading is the process of categorizing coffee beans on the basis of various criteria such as size of the bean, where and at what altitude it was grown, how it was prepared and picked, and how good it tastes, or its cup quality. Coffees also may be graded by the number of imperfections (defective and broken beans, pebbles, sticks, etc.) per sample. For the finest coffees, origin of the beans (farm or estate, region, cooperative) is especially important. Growers of premium estate or cooperative coffees may impose a level of quality control that goes well beyond conventionally defined grading criteria, because they want their coffee to command the higher price that goes with recognition and consistent quality.

ROASTING

Roasting coffee transforms the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavor of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to expand and to change in color, taste, smell, and density. Unroasted beans contain similar acids, protein, and caffeine as those that have been roasted, but lack the taste. It takes heat to speed up the Mail lard and other chemical reactions that develop and enhance the flavor.

As green coffee is more stable than roasted, the roasting process tends to take place close to where it will be consumed. This reduces the time that roasted coffee spends in distribution, helping to maximize its shelf life. The vast majority of coffee is roasted commercially on a large scale, but some coffee drinkers roast coffee themselves in order to have more control over the freshness and flavor profile of the beans.

BLENDING

It's important to remember that coffee is a natural product, therefore no two harvests are the same. In order to produce the optimum flavour, various types of coffee beans are blended together. The aim of blending coffee is to ensure that the flavour and aroma are consistent throughout the year.

PACKAGING

Extending the useful life of roasted coffee relies on maintaining an optimum environment for the beans. The first large scale preservation technique was vacuum packing. However, because coffee emits CO₂ after roasting, coffee to be vacuum packed must be allowed to degas for several days before it is sealed. To allow more immediate packaging, pressurized canisters or foil-lined bags with Pressure-Relief -Valves/Uni-Valves can be used.

DISTRIBUTION

Once the Coffee is roasted and packed it is transported to warehouse for storage and distribution.