Hello my caffeinated friends!
I'm back to give you the low down on coffee bean (specifically arabica bean) processing! Because there's a right way and a slightly-less right way, and I want to get you that perfect cup of joe!!
We've determined that the arabica bean is the right one for you... so now lets go over how that arabica bean leaves the farm and enters the process of going into your coffee grinder!
Coffee beans are the seeds of the fruit of the coffee plant. These plants produce "cherries" (although I don't think you'd snack on these specific cherries or prepare them in a pie...). After these cherries are harvested, coffee farmers go through the process of extracting the coffee bean from the ripe, quality-tested fruit and drying the coffee bean out.
There are two ways that arabica beans are dried out. This can be done by machine, or the older method of fermenting and washing. The ferment-and-wash method involves removing the remaining pulp from the coffee bean by letting it ferment in its own juices or added water. The beans sit for a bit (usually a little over 24 hours) and then washed to remove the loosened pulp.
The machine method is newer and allows the farmer to cut down on pollution and water usage. This method does, however, result in the loss of flavor because the coffee isn't sitting in its own flavor.
This analysis of each processing style leads us to the need to decide between the perfect flavor or the risk of environmental pollution. For our purposes, we are going to choose the ferment-and-wash method. Feel free to prefer the machine wash method, but we're currently looking for the perfect taste in your morning coffee mug, not the greenest taste!
The ferment-and-wash method allows the bean to acquire the most flavor, thus allowing the avid coffee drinker to enjoy the most depth of coffee flavor.
After the coffee bean is washed and cleared of all remaining pulp, it is dried. The most effective method of drying is allowing the coffee to be spread out in rows and raked every couple hours to promote circulation. This step is important because coffee that is too dry will become brittle and more beans will break, thus will become defective. Coffee that is too wet will spoil and become unusable in a short time span.
When the coffee beans are appropriately dry, they are hulled to remove any remaining pulp and polished to an attractive sheen. The beans are then ready to be graded!
The beans are graded by size. Size is usually associated with the quality of the bean. The largest beans are grade AA in general, however other factors may allow other grading scales to be introduced, for example Grade 1 coffee is described with a 9-13% moisture, no coffee bean defects, and all beans range between 5% of the standard grade 1 size. Grading may also take into account the density/hardness of the coffee bean.
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