Whether you French Press, Drip, Cold Brew, or use pods for your cup of Joe, learn more about Coffee Beans From Picking to Roasting.
Coffee is one of the two beverages that people love and consume globally. If you are reading this article, it is pretty evident that you are too a coffee fan. The energy kick you get from coffee every morning is unmatchable. Yet, we often don’t value the journey coffee goes through to reach our kitchen and make our morning 100 times better.
It doesn’t matter whether you love whole beans in your coffee or prefer Nespresso compatible pods coffee; the journey they go through is long and extraneous, say the experts at Express Pods. The result is sweet and aromatic coffee that gives us energy and life.
Coffee beans- Two types of coffee trees
Although there are 100 types of coffee trees in the world.
The one we drink comes from two yearly varieties- Coffea canephora tree and coffee arabica tree.
The latter sells the best in the market.
Around 70% of the market is Arabica beans says We Are Littles.
The remaining 30% is of Robusta beans from the canephora tree.
It has a high caffeine quantity.
Thus, people do not prefer it much.
Though it is perfect for blends, the instant coffee you find in the market has this variety of coffee.
Journey of coffee- from planting to roasting
Step 1: Planting
The coffee bean is a seed that is not processed. Farmers plant it, and then it grows into a full-fledged tree.
The perfect for planting coffee seeds is between February and March.
During this time, the shaded nursery where seeds are has beautiful flowers and fragrances.
Step 2: Harvesting the cherries
Coffee seeds take around 3-4 years to bear fruits.
The fruit known as coffee cherry is bright deep red when it is ready to be harvested.
Before that, it was green and small.
During this time, farmers prune the trees, which means cutting the non-productive part of the tree.
There are two processes of picking the berries:
- Strip picked: In this, the planter picks every berry from the tree either with a machine or manually.
- Selective picked: In this, the planter picks only those ripe cherries. It is a labor-intensive task, and they use it for finer Arabica beans.
Step 3: Processing cherries- two ways
After picking the cherries, the processing begins immediately, so the fruit is not spoiled. There are two ways to process cherries:
- Dry method: The traditional method for drying seeds. The farmers use it in areas with limited water resources. In this, they spread the coffee cherries under the sun. It is a long and labor-intensive process as you must continue soaking every batch of the beans under the sun until the remaining moisture content is only 11%.
- Wet pulping: It is a faster process that uses a machine. The beans go through a pulping machine that separates skin and pulp. To understand the whole process, watch this You Tube Video.
Step 4: Drying
Now, they place the beans under the sun for drying for three days.
After that, it is ready for storage and removal.
Step 5: Time to mill the beans
The process is all about making the beans fine.
The first step is:
- Hulling: For removing the parchment layer from the wet coffee after processing. It removes the entire dried husk.
- Polishing: An optional process for removing any silver skin on the beans
- Grading and sorting: After polishing, planters grade the beans as per their weight. And that means that they are ready for roasting. You can get non-roasted beans as well.
Now, your coffee beans are ready for exporting, and goodness is delivered to your house and in your cups.
Few more steps for a pod’s coffee
- The manufacturer uses a separate machine for finely grinding the coffee beans into a uniform size. Every Nespresso compatible pod goes through this process for consistency and quality purpose.
- A packaging machine holds the pod’s container to fill the cups with different flavors of coffee.
- Aluminum caps are placed on the pods to seal the ground coffee into the pods.
- They are ready to be delivered to your house for you to enjoy a quick but delicious cup of coffee.
Wrapping up, the coffee that you enjoy every single day goes through an adventurous journey. The next time you brew your favorite coffee, take a moment to remember this extraneous process and the hard work of coffee planters.