Polishing – This is an optional process in which any silver skin that remains on the beans after hulling is removed in a polishing machine. While polished beans are considered superior to unpolished ones, in reality there is little difference between the two.

Grading & Sorting – Before being exported, the coffee beans will be even more precisely sorted by size and weight. They will also be closely evaluated for color flaws or other imperfections.

6. EXPORTING THE BEANS

The milled beans, now referred to as “green coffee,” are ready to be loaded onto ships for transport to the importing country.

7. TASTING THE COFFEE

At every stage of its production, 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.

8. ROASTING THE COFFEE

Roasting transforms green coffee into the aromatic brown beans that we purchase, either whole or already ground, in our favorite stores. Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of about 550 degrees Fahrenheit.

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 method by which the coffee is to be brewed.

10. BREWING COFFEE

Think of the many processes that beans go through since the day they were hand-picked and sorted in their origin country. Consider the long way they have traveled to the kitchen.

The statistical information in this document is based on facts provided by the National Coffee Association.

1. PLANTING

A coffee bean is actually a seed. When dried, roasted and ground, it is used to brew coffee. But if the seed is not processed, it can be planted and will grow into a coffee tree.

2. HARVESTING THE CHERRIES

Depending on the variety, it will take approximately three or four years for the newly planted coffee trees to begin to bear fruit. The fruit, called the coffee cherry, turns a bright, deep red when it is ripe and ready to be harvested. Whether picked by hand or by machine, all coffee is harvested in one of two ways: Strip Picked – the entire crop is harvested at one time. This can either be done by machine or by hand. In either case, all of the cherries are stripped off of the branch at one time.

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 thus more costly, it is used primarily to harvest the finer Arabica beans.

3. PROCESSING THE CHERRIES

Once the coffee has been picked, processing must begin as quickly as possible to prevent spoilage. Depending on location and local resources, coffee is processed in one of two ways.

Dry Method – This is the age-old method of processing coffee and is 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.

Wet Method – In wet method processing, the pulp is removed from the coffee cherry after harvesting and the bean is dried with only the parchment skin left on.

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 percent moisture to properly prepare them for storage.

5. MILLING THE BEANS

Before it is exported, parchment coffee is processed in the following manner:

Hulling – Machines are used to remove the parchment layer (endocarp) from wet processed coffee. Hulling dry processed coffee refers to removing the entire dried husk — the exocarp, mesocarp & endocarp — of the dried cherries.

The statistical information in this document is based on facts provided by the National Coffee Association.