On the treatment of coffee beans after picking

After the fruit of the coffee tree is picked, the four layers of skin wrapped around the coffee beans need to be removed before the desired coffee beans can be obtained. There are two methods to remove the outer epidermis of coffee beans: wet treatment and dry treatment.

1. Wet treatment method:

Wet treatment is also known as "washing method", and coffee beans processed in this way are called "washed beans". The process of processing coffee beans in this way is as follows:

(1)Picking: picking coffee beans is mostly manual operation. When picking, select ripe coffee cherries of similar size for processing with a peeling machine.

(2)Cleaning: Soak coffee cherries in water, remove over-ripe coffee cherries first (peeling with dry treatment), and other coffee cherries need to be soaked for 12-36 hours.

(3)Peeling: Soaked coffee fruit will soften, remove and put into the peeling machine for processing. At this time, the pulp of the coffee fruit will also be partially removed.

(4)Pulp removal: Put the coffee cherries that have not been completely pulped into a washing tank and wash them repeatedly with water to remove the pulp remaining on the fruit surface.

(5)Cleaning the mucosa: Put the fruit with the pulp removed into a clean cleaning tank and clean the mucosa on the surface of the fruit (coffee beans) with water.

(6)Soak screening: Soak the washed coffee beans in water to remove coffee beans floating on the water due to over-ripening.

(7)Drying: coffee beans exposed to sunlight for 1-3 weeks, or drying with a machine, the moisture content of coffee beans from 50% to 12% below.

(8)Storage and Polishing: Coffee beans can be stored after drying. Usually before sale, coffee beans need to be polished with special equipment to remove the silver skin remaining on the surface of the beans.

2. Dry treatment method:

After the coffee fruit is fully ripe, it will fall off from the coffee tree itself, and after natural drying of the coffee fruit, the fruit (coffee beans) will come out from the coffee fruit and become mature coffee beans. This most primitive method of obtaining coffee beans eventually evolved into the "dry processing method" of coffee beans, also known as "drying processing method". Coffee beans processed in this way are also known as "Dry Beans" or "Natural Beans". The basic processing of coffee beans is as follows:

(1)Picking: coffee berries are picked by special machines.

(2)Drying: Put coffee cherries in the sun for 2-3 weeks, or dry them in a dryer. After the humidity drops to 12%, the dried coffee cherries are stored in the cellar.

(3)Shelling: removing husks with a special hulling machine.

(4)Filming and polishing: coffee beans are usually kept on the surface of the silver skin until they are sold. Only when the delivery order is received will the silver skin be removed and the surface of the coffee beans polished.