While we take our enjoyable cup of coffee every morning, it would be fascinating to find out the
entire process how this beverage is made. Like all great things, the production of coffee is a very lengthy
and meticulous process which would be explained below.
Planting. Coffee is a crop that mostly grows on tropical and subtropical climates. Usually, these
plants grow on what is called ‘The Coffee Belt’, where countries that are located near the equator
(approximately 1000 miles) are situated. These parts of the world are suitable for planting coffee since
they are tropical and also, coffee grows at altitudes between see level up to 7,000 ft.
A small coffee plant in a nursery.
Usually, coffee are planted on nurseries where they are watered, fertilized and taken care up to
a year or where they grow 18 to 24 inches. This is the indicator that the coffee tree would now be
producing coffee cherries and can be harvested. Even though coffee can grow up to twenty feet, they
are usually pruned once they grow eight to ten feet tall for easier harvesting. Afterwards, these plants
are transported to a farm where usually they are 10 to 12 feet apart. In here, they are also taken care of
where it takes four to five years after they produce coffee cherries. Then flowers appear that cover the
branches of the coffee tree for two to three days where a familiar scent of a jasmine is released.
Within six to nine months, small green cherries with coffee seeds start to appear where it would
proceed to its ripening process evolving from green to yellow in color. When it turns to deep red, it
serves as the indicator that the cherries are now ripe. Even though they are scientifically berries, farmers
call it coffee cherries because of their similarity with a cherry in terms of color, size and shape. It is
noted that these cherries have several layers – within the tough outside layer there is a fleshy pulp that
surrounds a layer of protective parchment and silver skin. This encloses two round or oval seeds or
beans that are flat on one side. These beans can be planted again to produce more coffees or can be
used to produce green coffee beans that will be soon roasted and ground.
Harvesting. Coffee farmers are the ones responsible in this process. This is the point where all
the time coffee trees are being nurtured give back in return in the form of their fruit, which are the
coffee cherries. Normally, it takes three to four years for the newly planted coffee trees to begin to bear
fruit. There are two processes of harvesting the said cherries – manually, which is through hand and the
other is through a machine. However, both can be simultaneously used depending on the manufacturing
process of a certain company. The two ways of harvesting coffee cherries are:
Selectively Picked – in this method, ripe coffee cherries are carefully selected and picked
through the hand and pickers follow a certain time frame to rotate which is usually around 8 to
10 days. The pickers do not pick the entire fruits at one time; for example, in a day they pick a
portion of the trees that are ripe and the next day they return to pick those that will be ripe.
They allot time to make sure that all cherries are ripe and suitable for further coffee production.
Workers hand-picking coffee cherries.
Strip Picked – in this method, the entire coffee crop are harvested usually either through a
machine or hand at one time. The cherries are not selectively taken according to their ripeness.
Companies that use this method have other filtering processes to separate the ripe cherries
from the rejects.
Processing of Cherries . After the cherries have been selected, picked and harvested, the actual
process starts. Basically the coffee seeds are the primary raw material that is needed so that we
have our morning brew. There are two methods where the cherries can be processed.
Wet Method – in this process, it begins with the depulping process where the outer layers of
the flesh are being separated from the seeds. This is done by placing the coffee cherries on large
vats filled with water to undergo fermentation. It is easier to be depulped once the cherry mucilage
are loose from the beans where afterwards the beans are sun or machine-dried to a moisture level
of about 12 percent.
Typically, back in the days, laborers manually separated the outer layers from the seeds by
putting them in a basin with water so that it would be easier for the outer layer to come off.
However, with the advancement of technology, depulping machines are made so that the process
would be convenient and much faster, boosting productivity. A hand depulper is one of the earliest
machines made for this process. It is a machine with a small rotating burr that tears off the layer of
the coffee flesh, exposing the two coffee seeds inside. Workers operate the machine where ripe
cherries are poured and ground, producing the separated results of the outer layers and the seeds.
What happens to the separated remaining skin and flesh are stored for compost.
A hand-operated depulping machine.
Most companies though rely on centralized pulping stations where it is usually run by
electricity or some kind of sustainable energy source. This hastens the entire process where manual
work is not required for the separation. Similarly with hand depulpers, the outer layer of the cherry
is removed and separated from the beans that are deposited into a tank to begin the process of
fermentation.
Fermentation. This is considered as one of the most crucial process of the entire coffee-
making process. In this one, the flavor and body of the coffee beans are determined and
accentuated. It begins with the depulped coffee beans being deposited into a large, clean tank that
are usually made of cement, wood and sometimes plastic water collection receptacles. It is
important that these tanks are properly cleaned since the chances of bacterial growth are quite high
in this process. The coffee beans ferment in the mucilage that is left on the bean after the depulping
process. This allows the natural sugars to transform into liquid. Usually, fermentation process can
take a minimum of four hours to three days. It actually depends on the climate of the country where
it is being produced where factors like altitude and humidity are considered. A method that is
commonly used to determine if the fermentation process is complete is by submerging a stick into
the fermentation tank then pulled out. If the circle created by the stick remains, it would indicate
that the sugars have not yet dissolved enough and the coffee is not ready to be washed to end the
fermentation process. If the coffee beans easily flow back together, this would signal that the
fermentation process is complete and the beans are now ready to be washed.
A basin of fermented coffee cherries.
Dry Method – in this method, the freshly picked cherries are simply spread out on huge surfaces
and are allowed to dry in the sun. This process is widely used by countries that lack water resources
to proceed with wet method. The cherries are actually dried to prevent them from spoiling.
Depending on the weather, this process can actually take weeks. However, with technological
advances and also given that in some tropical countries that rainy seasons could occur, machines are
also used to proceed with this method. By using a rotating drum where heated air is being pumped,
coffee can be dried. It is indicated that the process is complete once the moisture content of the
cherries drops to 11 percent where they are removed to warehouses for storage.
Milling the Beans. In this process, devices called hulling machines are used to remove the
parchment layer which is also known as the endocarp from the wet processed coffee. This process
makes sure that only the desired raw parts of the coffee beans are used for the further production.
A hulling machine.
Next, it could be possible that there are beans with still the parchment layer that could go
through. That is why there is an optional process called polishing to ensure that this would not
happen. In polishing, any silver skin that remains on the beans after hulling is removed in a
polishing machine.
The final step for the milling process would be the grading and sorting. The coffee beans are
sized by being passed through a series of different sized screens. Often times, they are also
sorted pneumatically by using an air jet to separate heavy from light beans. This is considered as
the filtering process of the milling process where beans of unsatisfactory size, color or that are
otherwise unacceptable are to be removed. When it comes to the scale size, the beans are
represented to a scale of 10 to 20. These numbers actually represent the size of a round hole’s
diameter in terms of 1/64’s of an inch. For example, a number 10 bean would be the
approximate size of a hole in a diameter of 10/64 of an inch.
Afterwards, the defective beans are to be removed. The process can go through hand but
some companies have electronic conveyor belts. The defective beans are not limited to over-
fermented beans, those with insect damage or those that are not hulled. Most coffee
companies make sure that only the finest ingredients would be used in making the final product.
Exporting the Beans – after the beans have been milled, graded and sorted, most of them are ready
for exporting. At this stage they are now referred as ‘green coffee’. Green coffee is shipped in either jute
or sisal bags which are loaded into shipping containers. Also, there are times that these beans are
shipped in a bulk within plastic –lined containers where approximately seven million tons of green
coffee is produced and exported worldwide each year. Some of these beans now arrive other parts of
the world that are not within the coffee belt and are mainly purchased by coffee lovers.
A worker preparing the coffees to be exported.
Sampling and Tasting – most companies want to make sure that their customers only get the best
quality of their products. Which is why in this process, coffee is repeatedly tested for its quality and of
course for its taste. The process called ‘cupping’ is one of the primary quality assurance processes and it
usually takes place in a room that is specifically designed to facilitate the process.
First, the taster which is referred as the cupper carefully evaluates the beans for their overall
quality visually. After they are satisfactory visually, the beans are then roasted in a small roaster within a
laboratory then immediately ground and infused in boiling water. It is made sure that the boiling water’s
temperature is carefully controlled. The cupper then noses the brew to experience its aroma which is a
very integral step in the evaluation of the coffee’s quality. After letting the coffee rest for several
minutes, the cupper breaks the crust by pushing aside the ground at the top of the cup. The cupper
noses again before the official tasting begins. In tasting the coffee, the cupper slurps a spoonful with
quick inhalation. The objective of this process is to spray the spoonful of coffee evenly over the taste
buds which is then weighed then spat out. Samples from a variety of batches and different beans are
tasted on a daily basis. This process not only determines the coffee’s inherent characteristics and flaws
but as well as to verify if different beans can be blended to make a proper roast. It is known that an
expert cupper can taste hundreds of samples of coffee a day and can differentiate the subtle differences
between them.
An example of a coffee-tasting scenario where the cupper takes a spoonful of the brewed coffee.
Roasting and Grinding the Coffee. In this part, the raw material which is the green coffee are
now turned into our beloved aromatic brown beans that we purchase from the stores either whole
or already ground. In this process, the beans are being roasted at a right amount of temperature or
until it reaches perfection. Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of about 550 degrees
Fahrenheit. The beans are kept moving throughout the entire process to keep them from burning
and when they reach an internal temperature of about 400 degrees Fahrenheit where they begin to
turn brown and the caffeol or oil, locked inside the beans can be noticed to emerge. This process is
actually called pyrolysis and is considered the heart of roasting because it produces the aroma and
flavor of the coffee we drink. Overroasted or burnt coffee is made sure to be rejected since its
quality is already low and has a very bitter taste. When the beans are removed from the roaster,
they are immediately cooled by air or water. Once the coffee is perfectly roasted, they are then
ground so that it would be easier to dissolve using hot water. The coarseness of the coffee actually
determines the brewing method it can go through. Some people buy roasted coffee beans since
they have traditional hand grinding machine but most people buy that are already ground by large
grinding machines and packed.
An example of coffee being roasted.
Brewing Coffee. This is the final part where the most celebrated beverage comes to life. They
even say that coffee preparation is personal, meaning each has his own way of preparing this drink.
Basically in this process, the ground coffee is now mixed to hot water or cold water. Also, there is
this general guideline called the “Golden Ration” where one to two tablespoons of ground coffee
are mixed to every six ounces of water. Coffee machines are employed to make sure that the coffee
would be tasted at the best quality. Also, there are real coffee lovers that design their own machines
for the brewing process.
