One of the most consumed drinks worldwide is coffee. Coffee fruit grows on berries, sometimes termed “trees.” After the fruit from the coffee plants is harvested, the cherries need to be processed. This entails removing the seed’s peel and pulp.
There are three main methods for producing coffee: natural, washed, and honey. Every single one enhances the aroma and taste of your everyday cup of coffee. However, what exact effect do they have on the bean, and how do they work?
Here, we provide a brief overview of the various coffee processing techniques.
Natural Processing Method of Coffee
The most traditional and ancient way is this one. Initially, the ripest cherries are selected. The fruit dries on the bean without being upset using this processing method. After being picked, these cherries are arranged in thin layers to dry in the sun.
Turning the cherries frequently keeps them from fermenting, rotting, or molding. Once the cherries are totally dry, remove the skin and dried fruit flesh. The growers then store the green coffee beans to “rest” them before roasting them.
Washed or Wet Process
The “wet” or “washed” method describes the second procedure. As soon as possible after picking, this procedure separates the fruit from the seed before drying. Before being fed through depulpers, the cherries are floated and sorted to ensure uniform ripeness. Machines press the fruit between rollers until the seeds emerge.
Preparing seeds involves removing the skins, allowing them to ferment using yeast and microorganisms, washing them under water or with machine assistance, drying them in the sun, storing them, dry milling them, and shipping them to roasters or importers. The method gets rid of fruit leftovers, sticky sugar, and mucilage.
Honey Process
Countries in Central America often use the honey method. The cherries are mechanically de-pulped; nevertheless, the process is designed to maintain a specific amount of flesh on the beans. The beans are de-pulped and then quickly dried on patios or drying tables. Less tissue surrounding the beans reduces the possibility of overfermentation compared to a natural procedure, but the residual flesh’s sugars add body and sweetness to the cup.
Coffee that has been honey-processed has the same sweetness and brightness as natural coffees. It comes in four colors: black, red, yellow, and white honey. The color of the honey determines how much flesh it has; black honey has more, while white honey has less.
The Art of Roasting
While roasting turns green coffee into delicious brown beans, leaving it unroasted preserves its qualities. At 550°F, roasting occurs, frequently turning the beans to prevent scorching. They smell toasty and turn yellow after drying. The beans get aromatic coffee oil, double in size, and turn light brown.
Types of Coffee Roasters
They add heat to coffee beans. Putting a pail of green coffee beans into a big grinder, letting them grind for a bit, and then pouring out the roasted coffee is more complex than that.
Professionals often use one of two types of coffee roasting equipment: Commercial fluid bed coffee roaster or drum coffee roasters. Drum coffee roasters, which use conduction and convection heating, are frequently used to roast coffee beans on a big device. The roasted coffee is then discarded once the beans have had a chance to whirl.
