Harvesting the Cherries

Depending on the variety, it will take approximately 3 to 4 years for the newly planted coffee trees to bear fruit. The fruit, called the coffee cherry, turns a bright, deep red when it is ripe and ready to be harvested.

In most countries, the crop is picked by hand in a labor-intensive and difficult process, though in places like Brazil where the landscape is relatively flat and the coffee fields immense, the process has been mechanized.

Processing the Cherries

Once the coffee has been picked, processing must begin as quickly as possible to prevent fruit spoilage. Depending on location and local resources, coffee is processed in one of two ways:

• The Dry Method is the age-old method of processing coffee, and still used in many countries where water resources are limited.
• The Wet Method removes the pulp from the coffee cherry after harvesting so the bean is dried with only the parchment skin left on. First, the freshly harvested cherries are passed through a pulping machine to separate the skin and pulp from the bean.

Then the beans are separated by weight as they pass through water channels. The lighter beans float to the top, while the heavier ripe beans sink to the bottom. They are passed through a series of rotating drums which separate them by size.

Drying the Beans

Coffee can be sun-dried by spreading them on drying tables or floors, where they are turned regularly, or they can be machine-dried in large tumblers.

The dried beans are known as parchment coffee, and are warehoused in jute or sisal bags until they are readied for export.

Milling the Beans

Before being exported, parchment coffee is processed in the following manner:

• Hulling machinery removes the parchment layer (endocarp) from wet processed coffee. Hulling dry processed coffee refers to removing the entire dried husk — the exocarp, mesocarp and endocarp — of the dried cherries.
• Polishing is an optional process where any silver skin that remains on the beans after hulling is removed by machine. While polished beans are considered superior to unpolished ones, in reality, there is little difference between the two.
• Grading and Sorting is done by size and weight, and beans are also reviewed for color flaws or other imperfections.
• Beans are sized by being passed through a series of screens. They are also sorted pneumatically by using an air jet to separate heavy from light beans.
• Finally, defective beans are removed either by hand or by machinery.

Exporting the Beans

The milled beans, now referred to as green coffee, are loaded onto ships in either jute or sisal bags loaded in shipping containers, or bulk-shipped inside plastic-lined containers.

Tasting the Coffee ("Cupping")

Cupping coffee is repeatedly tested for quality and taste. This process is referred to as cupping and usually takes place in a room specifically designed to facilitate the process.

• First, the taster — usually called the cupper — evaluates the beans for their overall visual quality.
• The cupper noses the brew to experience its aroma, an essential step in judging the coffee's quality.
• To taste the coffee, the cupper slurps a spoonful with a quick inhalation. The objective is to spray the coffee evenly over the cupper's taste buds, and then weigh it on the tongue before spitting it out.

An expert cupper can taste hundreds of samples of coffee a day and still taste the subtle differences between them.

Roasting the Coffee

Roasting transforms green coffee into the aromatic brown beans that we purchase in our favorite stores or cafés.

• Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of about 550 degrees Fahrenheit. The beans are kept moving throughout the entire process to keep them from burning.
• When they reach an internal temperature of about 400 degrees Fahrenheit, they begin to turn brown and the caffeol, a fragrant oil locked inside the beans, begins to emerge.
• After roasting, the beans are immediately cooled either by air or water.

Roasting is generally performed in the importing countries because freshly roasted beans must reach the consumer as quickly as possible.

Grinding Coffee

The objective of a proper grind is to get the most flavor in a cup of coffee. How coarse or fine the coffee is ground depends on the brewing method.

The length of time the grounds will be in contact with water determines the ideal grade of grind Generally, the finer the grind, the more quickly the coffee should be prepared. That’s why coffee ground for an espresso machine is much finer than coffee brewed in a drip system.