Coffee Harvesting and Cleaning

Harvesting coffee is a very long and laborious process, since the berries on one tree do not mature at the same time and they will not mature once they have been picked. A good harvester will be able to recollect around 80 kilograms a day, which will only constitute for thirteen to fourteen kilograms of dry coffee beans. Even though it is such a laborious and intense job, people have to do this job by hand to be able to recollect the high quality coffee, since this is the only way to ensure the mature fruit is getting picked.

In some of the biggest coffee plantations for cheaper coffee, all the beans are taken off of the bush. This not only produces a lower quality coffee, since part of the immature beans become mixed in with the dry beans, but it also severely damages the trees and it takes them around two years to recover.

In some parts of Africa the mature berries are picked by placing a huge cloth or canvas underneath the tree and then the tree is vigorously shaken and the mature fruit falls on the cloth. The seeds are then immediately shifted to take the dust, branches, leaves, stones etc, off.

The fruit or “berry” because of its similarity to this fruit is round. Inside of it there is a pulp, which is gluey, and inside hide two coffee seeds that are tightly up against each other, like a round Jewish garden. These are covered by a covering under which there is a semitransparent skin.

There are two ways of cleaning the beans, dry and wet. The dry way, or natural way is by extending the beans out on thin layers and letting them dry out in the sun, they are raked over and stirred up regularly so that they all dry out evenly. Once they are dry, it is much easier to get rid of the wrinkled shell or covering, this can be done with the help of machines or like is done in the more primitive regions, with a molar stone.

When the beans are prepared the wet way, or washed, a machine first gets rid of the gluey pulp; then the coverings are left to soak in natural enzymes that cause the covering to ferment, after which it is easier to take them off by washing them. The beans are then dried by leaving them out in the sun, or a mechanic dryer is used, and what is left is a silvery looking skin. Sometimes in the higher quality coffees, it is left as a beans so that it has some protection during the trip, but in general it is taken off with a peeling machine. Finally the grains are picked up, are classified and are given a bit of a shine so that they have an attractive look and are then packaged in sacks to export.

Washed coffee is in general considered superior to the natural coffee, since it is easier for these last ones to become rancid or moldy or to suffer from other inconveniences if they have not been very carefully dried. However there are people that consider that natural coffee has a superior flavor and aroma and that the beans mature better this way.

Desserts Recipes Cheese & citrus pie Tarts & Pies Quick Easy Brownies Holidays Favorites Pavlova Light Delicacies Coffee Cake Puddings Preparing Sweets Other Sites Site Map Instant Recipes Jams Jellies Spanish Desserts Homemade Desserts Chocolate Recipes Coffee Recipes Coffee Arab/European History Coffee Shops Coffee Heroes Coffee Facts And Figures Cultivating Coffee Coffee Harvesting and Cleaning Classification and Coffee Mixes Buying Your Own Coffee Beans Coffee Toasting and Grinding Coffee on the Stove Coffee Grinding How to Store Coffee How to Make a Good Cup of Coffee Cooking With Coffee Coffee Beauty Treatments Site Map Ice Cream Sherbet Recipes Pastry + Ice Cream Recipes Cake Pie Recipes Chinese Cooking Sweets Recipes Dessert Recipes Chocolate Dessert Ice Cream Recipes 100 Sweet Recipes Fruit Ice Cream Popsicle Recipes Contact the Cook Fruit Dessert Recipes Sweet & Salty Pie Recipes Marshmallows and Gummies Fruit Wine Cake Decoration Recipes Fried Snacks and Caramelized Peanuts Children Birthday Cake Recipes How to Make Jam; Making Jam Yogurt and Yogurt Ice Cream Recipes Christmas Dinner Recipes Barbecue Chef's Guide

Healthy Foods