What do you mean by washing coffee beans? advantages and disadvantages of washed coffee beans

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Another method to treat raw coffee beans is water washing (Washed Processing / Wet Processing).

● process

1) picking (in the same sun). It is divided into machine picking and manual picking.

High-quality coffee must be picked manually and choose fully ripe coffee cherries. Some estates even wait for cherry redness to turn purple before picking (for example, the famous Manor Alida Elida in Panama).

2) screening-removal of peel and pulp

It is divided into manual screening and machine screening.

The peeling machine also has the function of separating immature beans and removing peel and pulp.

First put the raw beans in a large pool. According to the principle of gravity, the ripe fruit sinks, and the immature fruit floats and is separated.

Remove the peel and pulp, and once again separate the immature beans (the flesh of the immature beans is too hard to pass through the small mouth of the pulp machine.

3) fermentation in the pool for 12-36 hours. The purpose of fermentation is to use microorganisms to remove pectin from the residual coffee endocarp. During this period, the fermentation must be checked and confirmed to avoid excessive fermentation. Excessive fermentation leads to sour coffee beans.

It has to be mentioned that the water used for the fermentation of raw beans will cause greater pollution to the surrounding environment. At present, some estates (such as the Black Angel Manor in Guatemala) treat the fermented water and recycle it for irrigation, while the coffee peel is made into organic fertilizer to reduce environmental pollution.

4) cleaning.

Wash the coffee beans in a living pool, using the friction between the beans and the impact of water to wash the coffee beans until smooth. At the same time, it can also screen out lighter beans such as moth-eaten beans.

5) dry. Sun / machine drying, or a combination of both.

Turn at least every six hours during the sun to ensure uniform drying, ventilation and avoid mildew. Until the moisture content of raw beans is 10-12%.

6) selection of defects and grading.

7) remove parchment (endocarp) before export.

● 2. Appearance.

The raw beans of washed coffee beans are greener and have more silver skins than those of sun-treated beans. The central line of water-washed cooked beans is very obvious.

● 3. Flavor

For the same raw beans, washing coffee beans with water will be cleaner and brighter in acidity than in the sun.

Some members of the boutique coffee association once thought that washed coffee beans could represent the quality of fine coffee. However, with the improvement of various treatment methods, this view has now been questioned and opposed, and some people even think that some soluble substances have been lost in the coffee washing process, which may lead to the loss of some flavor. it may also be the main reason why the thickness of washed coffee is not as thick as that of sun-cured or semi-washed beans.

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