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| Coffee plant nursery in Mexico. Photo: Starbucks Corp. |
Editor’s note: While
much of the content of Pillar to Post’s
weekly coffee coverage has been called “aimed at a second grader’s level of
coffee awareness” we need to stop here and understand all of us had to
experience the second grade before becoming Ph.d. level blog critics. The mission of this blog is simply to move
the queue toward better coffee appreciation for everyone even the last being in
line.
Having said that, Pillartopost.org daily
online magazine begins a three part series.
Today’s article is on what is coffee?
The following weeks will touch upon the ten
step journey of a flavorful coffee bean and finally, how to brew better coffee.
All this information (except the main
headline) came from the National Coffee Association and the information mill it
offers journalists and bloggers. www.nca.org
Let’s start.
PART 2. (Part 1 archived at Pillartopost.org
for June, 16, 2016.)
The coffee you enjoy
each day has taken a long journey to arrive in your cup. Between the time
they’re planted, picked and purchased, coffee beans go through a typical series
of steps to bring out their best:
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| Mature coffee plant carrying red cherry beans |
1. Planting
A
coffee bean is actually a seed. When dried, roasted and ground, it’s used to
brew coffee. If the seed isn’t processed, it can be planted and grow into a
coffee tree.
Coffee
seeds are generally planted in large beds in shaded nurseries. After sprouting, the seedlings are removed
from the seed bed to be planted in individual pots in carefully formulated
soils.
The
seedlings will be watered frequently and shaded from bright sunlight until they
are hearty enough to be permanently planted. Planting often takes place during
the wet season so that the soil remains moist while the roots become firmly
established.
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| The coffee cherry harvest Photo courtesy of Steve McCurry via Lavazza |
2. 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.
There
is typically one major harvest a year. In countries like Colombia, where there
are two flowerings annually, there is a main and secondary crop.
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. Whether by hand
or by machine, all coffee is harvested in one of two ways:
Strip
Picked: All of the cherries are stripped off of the branch at one time, either
by machine or by hand.
Selectively
Picked: Only the ripe cherries are harvested, and they are picked individually
by hand. Pickers rotate among the trees every eight to 10 days, choosing only
the cherries which are at the peak of ripeness. Because this kind of harvest is
labor intensive and more costly, it is used primarily to harvest the finer
Arabica beans.
A
good picker averages approximately 100 to 200 pounds of coffee cherries a day,
which will produce 20 to 40 pounds of coffee beans. Each worker's daily haul is
carefully weighed, and each picker is paid on the merit of his or her work. The
day's harvest is then transported to the processing plant.
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Many central American small sized coffee farmers use cement patios to dry the beans. Beans are resacked overnight to keep them dry from the rain. If next day is sunny they spread out the beans to continue the drying process. Other farmers used covered green houses to dry the harvest. Larger growers use sun drying machines.
Photo courtesy the Valesquez Family Coffee Farm, Honduras
http://www.vfamilycoffee.com/
|
3. 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 freshly picked cherries are
simply spread out on huge surfaces to dry in the sun. In order to prevent the
cherries from spoiling, they are raked and turned throughout the day, then
covered at night or during rain to prevent them from getting wet. Depending on
the weather, this process might continue for several weeks for each batch of
coffee until the moisture content of the cherries drops to 11%.
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.
After
separation, the beans are transported to large, water-filled fermentation
tanks. Depending on a combination of factors -- such as the condition of the
beans, the climate and the altitude -- they will remain in these tanks for
anywhere from 12 to 48 hours to remove the slick layer of mucilage (called the
parenchyma) that is still attached to the parchment. While resting in the
tanks, naturally occurring enzymes will cause this layer to dissolve.
When
fermentation is complete, the beans feel rough to the touch. The beans are rinsed by going through
additional water channels, and are ready for drying.
4. Drying the Beans
If
the beans have been processed by the wet method, the pulped and fermented beans
must now be dried to approximately 11% moisture to properly prepare them for
storage.
These
beans, still inside the parchment envelope (the endocarp), 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.
5. 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.
Typically,
the bean size is represented on a scale of 10 to 20. The number represents the
size of a round hole's diameter in terms of 1/64's of an inch. A number 10 bean
would be the approximate size of a hole in a diameter of 10/64 of an inch, and
a number 15 bean, 15/64 of an inch.
Finally,
defective beans are removed either by hand or by machinery. Beans that are
unsatisfactory due to deficiencies (unacceptable size or color, over-fermented
beans, insect-damaged, unhulled) are removed. In many countries, this process
is done both by machine and by hand, ensuring that only the finest quality
coffee beans are exported.
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| Vintage dockside photo shows how bags of green coffee were loaded aboard a freighter a century ago for export from a Brazilian port |
6. 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. World coffee production for 2015/16 is forecast to be
152.7 million 60-kg bags, per data from the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service.
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| Costa Rican coffee judge cupping local coffee Photo courtesy Lindsay Fendt /Tico Times, San Jose, Costa Rica |
7. Tasting the
Coffee
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 beans are then roasted in a small laboratory roaster,
immediately ground and infused in boiling water with carefully-controlled
temperature.
The
cupper noses the brew to experience its aroma, an essential step in judging the
coffee's quality.
After
letting the coffee rest for several minutes, the cupper breaks the crust by
pushing aside the grounds at the top of the cup. Again, the coffee is nosed
before the tasting begins.
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.
Samples
from a variety of batches and different beans are tasted daily. Coffees are not
only analyzed to determine their characteristics and flaws, but also for the
purpose of blending different beans or creating the proper roast. An expert
cupper can taste hundreds of samples of coffee a day and still taste the subtle
differences between them.
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| L-R: Light to dark coffee roasted beans |
8. 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. This process called pyrolysis is at the heart of roasting — it
produces the flavor and aroma of the coffee we drink.
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.
9. 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.
Espresso
machines use 132 pounds per square inch of pressure to extract coffee.
We
recommend taking a moment to examine the beans and smell their aroma — in fact,
the scent of coffee alone has been shown to have energizing effects on the
brain.
10. Brewing Coffee
Pillartopost.org
blog will post the National Coffee Assn.’s guide for tips and methods on how to
make the perfect cup for any preference next week.
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