pick

The coffee plant usually begins producing flowers three or four years after it is planted, and it is from these flowers that the fruits of the plant (known as coffee cherries) emerge, with the first possible beneficial harvest about five years after planting. Cherries ripen about eight months after the flower appears, by changing the color from green to red, and it is at this time that they should be harvested. In most countries where coffee is grown, there is only one major harvest per year; Although in countries like Colombia, where there are two flowers per year, there is a major and a secondary crop, the first from April to June, and the smallest in November to December.

In most countries, the choice of coffee by hand crop, labor-intensive process and difficult, although in places such as Brazil, where the landscape is relatively flat fields and huge coffee, and the process has been Mekanikitha both have been selected by hand or by machine, are harvested each coffee One of two ways:

Random cut

All coffee fruit is removed from the tree, regardless of maturity status. This can be done by machine or by hand. In the first method, breeders generally lay the canvas on the ground. Then they pluck the branch near the stem with their hands and pull it out, knocking both fruits on the ground. After doing this with all the branches and trees along the piece of cloth, the coffee collectors collect the coffee in bags. This process can be facilitated through the use of mechanical strippers.

selective picking

Only ripe cherries are harvested and picked individually by hand. Coffee pickers search the trees every eight to ten days, picking only cherries, which are at the peak of ripeness. It usually takes two to four years after a coffee plant has been planted to produce coffee beans that are ripe enough for harvest. The plant eventually turns into small white flowers that fall off and replace them with green berries, and these green berries turn dark red when ripe, and this takes about 9 months. Because this type of harvesting is labor-intensive, and therefore more expensive, it is primarily used to harvest fine Arabica beans. Workers who pick coffee by hand get paid from the basket. As of 2003, wages per basket range from $2.00 to $10, yet the vast majority of paid workers are on the lower end. An experienced coffee picker can collect up to six or seven baskets per day. Depending on the farmer, coffee pickers are sometimes instructed specifically not to pick green coffee berries since the seeds in the berries are not whole or ripe. This distinction usually only occurs with farmers who harvest for high-end/specialty coffees where the owners are paid better for their work. Many unripe fruits are often used to make cheap spent coffee beans, which have a bitter flavor and sharp aroma, and red berries with high essential oils and organic acid content are the most fragrant, smooth and juicy. As such, coffee selection is one of the most important stages of coffee production

processing

wet processing process

In the wet process, the fruit seeds are removed in the wet process before they are dried) coffee that is processed in the wet process is called wet coffee and the wet method requires the use of specific equipment and large amounts of water. The coffee beans are sorted by immersion in water, after which the bad or immature beans will float and the well-ripened ones will sink. The skin is removed from the kernels and some of the pulp by squeezing them through a machine that resides in water through a screen. The seeds are filled with a large amount of pulp sticking to them that needs to be removed. This is done either by the classic fermentation method and the classic washing method or another, more recent procedure called wet treatment using a machine, acobulging or mechanical demulsifying:

Sorting coffee into water In the brewing and washing method of wet processing, the remainder of the pulp is removed by breaking down the cellulose by fermenting the seeds with microbes and then washing them with large amounts of water. Brewing can be done with additional water or, by “dry brewing”, in special fruit juice only. The brewing process must be carefully monitored to ensure that the coffee does not acquire undesirable flavors such as sour flavours. For most coffees, tissue removal through brewing takes between 24 and 36 hours, depending on temperature, membrane thickness, and enzyme concentration. The end of fermentation is assessed by sensation, as the greenish parchment of the seeds loses its fine texture and acquires a “pebble”-like hardness. When brewing is complete, the coffee is washed thoroughly when brewing is complete with clean water in tanks or in special washing machines.

In wet machine-assisted processing, fermentation is not used to separate the bean from the rest of the pulp; But this is done through mechanical washing. This process can reduce water use and contamination during fermentation and water washing off. In addition, tissue removal by machine is easier and more predictable than removal by fermentation and washing. However, by eliminating the fermentation step and separating the seeds from the coffee beans. Mechanical desicilling can remove an important tool from the grinder which has an effect on the flavor of the coffee. Moreover, ecological critiques of the fermentation and washing method are becoming more and more used, since the combination of low water equipment plus settling tanks allows mill operators to conduct fermentation with limited contamination. Any wet processing of coffee produces residues from coffee water that could be contaminated, and ecologically sensitive farms reprocess this residue with husk and toxins as fertilizer for use in soil fertilization programmes. The amount of water used in the treatment can vary, but most often it is used in a 1 to 1 ratio. After the pulp is removed, the kernels remain surrounded by two additional layers, silver skin and parchment. The coffee beans must be dried with water, which is about 10% before they settle. Coffee beans can be dried in the sun or by machine, but in most cases they are dried in the sun to 12-13% moisture, which drops to 10% with the use of the machine. And the drying is usually done completely by the machine where the moisture is too high in the seeds to dry before mold. Sun drying coffee is often spread in rows in large patios where it needs to be collected every six hours to promote even drying and prevent mold growth. Some of the coffee is dried on large high tables where the coffee is collected by hand. Drying the coffee in this way is characterized by allowing air to pass around the beans, which enhances drying but increases cost and labor significantly. After the drying process (in the sun or through machines), the thin skin is completely dry, and is easily removed in the peeling process. Coffee is sometimes sold and shipped in parchment, but most often a machine called a huller is used to break up the thin skin before the coffee is shipped. .

dry treatment

Dry processing, also known as unwashed or natural coffee, is the oldest method of processing coffee. In which the whole coffee after harvest is first cleaned and then placed in the sun to dry on tables or in thin layers in the courtyards. The harvested coffee is usually sorted and cleaned, to separate the immature, ripe and damaged coffee and to remove dirt, soil, twigs and leaves. This can be done by winnowing, which is usually done by hand, using a large strainer. That is, unwanted coffee or other substances are not sown out of love and can be picked from the top of the sieve. Ripe coffee can also be separated by flotation in washing channels near the drying areas. The coffee beans are spread in the sun, either on concrete patios or large bricks or on a mat raised to waist height when pregnant. The dry coffee is also collected by hand to ensure it is dry and to prevent mold. It may take up to 4 weeks before the coffee is dried to its optimum moisture content, depending on weather conditions. On larger farms, machine drying is sometimes used to speed up the process after the coffee has been dried in the sun for a few days. The drying process is the most important stage, because it affects the final quality of green coffee. Coffee that is dried becomes brittle and produces a lot of coffee broken during hulling (broken coffee beans are considered defective). Coffee that is not dry enough is too moist and prone to rapid deterioration caused by the attack of fungi and bacteria. Dried coffee beans are stored in large quantities in special silos and then sent to a mill where they are peeled, sorted and packed. All the outer layers of dried coffee are removed in one step by a peeling machine. The 90% dry method is used for Arabica coffee produced in Brazil, most coffees produced in Ethiopia, Haiti and Paraguay, as well as for some Arabicas produced in India and Ecuador. Almost all Robustas coffees are processed in this way. But it is not practical in very rainy areas, where the humidity is very high or it rains a lot during harvest.