Coffee planting methods and steps growing environment and process tutorial _ can coffee trees be planted at home?

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Is there no coffee growing in Europe? how are the coffee beans from Ethiopia, Colombia and Panama so famous? what are the conditions for growing coffee? how is the coffee grown? what is the process of producing coffee? where is the good quality coffee generally grown? next, I will tell you one by one.

In botany, coffee belongs to the coffee genus of Rubiaceae, which is dominated by Arabica and Robsta, while fine coffee is mainly composed of tin card, bourbon and Kaddura under Arabica. Coffee trees are evergreen shrubs planted in more than 70 countries with suitable climates, about 25 degrees north and south latitudes in tropical and subtropical areas, blossom and produce cherry-like coffee fruits after planting for about 3 to 5 years.

After removing the exocarp and pulp of the coffee fruit, the seeds with endocarp were planted in the nursery. After 1 or 2 months, the seeds will slowly germinate, grow into the main root and support the seedlings. After about 9 months, they will grow into a sapling with 12-16 leaves about 50cm, and then transplanted to the manor. Coffee will not blossom for the first time until it has been planted for 3-5 years (at least 3 years). White coffee flowers usually have five petals and usually have some jasmine aroma. The flowering period of the coffee tree is very short. It will wither in about 3 days and wither in a week. After the flowers bloom, the fruit grows slowly. After 6-8 months, the coffee fruit ripens slowly. At the beginning, the coffee fruit is green and hard, slowly changes color and softens, and turns into ripe red fruit (there will also be special beans such as yellow bourbon. The color will turn yellow when ripe. ), so the coffee fruit is also called "red cherry" or "coffee cherry".

Good quality coffee fruits generally have a good shading effect, shade can block the high temperature sun at noon, reduce the metabolic rate of coffee, and contribute to the development of nutrients, fruit acids and aromatic substances; or have higher altitude, lower temperature and large temperature difference between day and night, which can slow down the production speed of coffee, increase the content of sour aroma and sucrose, and accumulate more nutrients. Volcanic rock producing areas are easy to produce good coffee with good acidity and good acidity, and the sour, sweet and bitter flavors are also well balanced. the study found that this is because volcanic rocks contain high concentrations of sulfur and sulfide. these ingredients happen to be necessary factors before the synthesis of some aromatic substances, and this soil is also rich in potassium, which helps to increase the alcohol thickness of coffee and increase the weight of beans. In addition, the quality of coffee fruit is also affected by latitude, bean species and rainfall.

Well, coffee is generally grown in tropical and subtropical areas before latitude 25 degrees north and south, and only these countries and regions have the conditions to grow coffee; it takes 3 to 5 years for coffee to blossom and bear fruit; good shading effect, high altitude, volcanic rock areas, good bean seeds can produce better quality coffee fruit.

Coffee grower

It all starts with the grower. The most important factor in quality production is human. Nature defines the parameters of quality potential, while farmers determine whether the quality potential is converted into cups. That's why we established a direct trade model in 2003 and have been working directly with coffee growers since then. These partnerships are based on mutual respect for and commitment to quality transparency and value. We share what we have learned and invest in each other's success. Our partners are committed to constantly improving the coffee beans they provide to us.

We are committed to generating benefits that enable them to make a profit and continue to reinvest in the process. The duration of these direct trade relationships, up to more than 10 years, suggests that this approach is working. Coffee seeds take weeks to germinate, months to grow into transplantable seedlings, and years to bear fruit. Each season, the short flowering period of the coffee tree releases an intoxicating fragrance, while the nine-month harvest begins a countdown, which ripens slowly over a few months. But when the ripe coffee cherry is gently twisted off its stem by the picker's hand, the patient coffee production process enters the final stage, which is particularly important in determining the quality and durability of the coffee. it consists of a series of successive processes through which coffee changes from ripe fruit to stable beans on the shelf within a few weeks. During this period, coffee beans have undergone many biological and chemical changes, which are infinitely complex, which are only just beginning to be fully understood, and are full of opportunities and traps for growers.

Farm data

Because our green coffee buyers spend so much time in the fields with growers, we are able to collect details about all aspects of the farm and its operations. In order to enable you to make decisions based on what is important to you, we guarantee that you will find that this information is relevant to each type of coffee bean. We tell you the name of the coffee bean grower, the name of the coffee bean farm, the size of the farm, many less than 1 hectare, how long did it grow? And the mode of growing coffee beans, whether it's on a manor, a small farm, or a small farmers' organization.

Altitude

Altitude may just be a farm data point, but it is a very important data point. It contributes as much to the potential of growing extraordinary coffee beans on the farm as other variables in a single environment. Why? Because higher elevations tend to correspond to higher daily temperature ranges-the difference between the highest temperature recorded on warm days and the lowest temperature recorded on cool nights. Those cool nights help slow the ripening of coffee cherries, concentrate the sugar in the fruit in the seeds, and help increase sweetness, acidity and the complexity of the chemicals that give coffee a unique flavor. However, the temperature drop does not guarantee quality, and altitude is not directly related to the quality of coffee beans. The varieties farmers choose to grow and the way they manage their farms may also lead to poor coffee quality at high elevations, while coffee is better at lower elevations. But in general, coffee beans grown at low altitudes (below 1200 m) are less sweet and less hierarchical than those grown at medium altitudes (1200-1600 m) and high altitudes (above 1600 m), ironically, given that the peaks are gradually sharpening, there is the greatest shortage of favorable places to produce quality coffee beans.

Tillage method

We work with our direct trading partners to monitor many variables related to how they manage their farms-we have found over the past 20 years that these variables contribute to coffee quality, agricultural productivity or both in direct and important ways. These include: planting density, or the number of coffee trees planted per hectare; planting as many coffee trees as possible into available space can improve efficiency and help growers increase yields, but overcrowding can have negative effects. Determining the distance between trees is a balanced behavior affected by variety, environment, mode of production and individual production goals.

The type and number of varieties planted; we encourage growers to plant different varieties as one of the strategies to reduce their vulnerability to disease and increase their likelihood of producing different and unique flavor characteristics, which are encoded in the genes of each coffee. Fertilization strategies have a significant impact on plant health, yield and obtaining nutrients necessary for growth and fruit development. The specific methods of fertilization affect the production cost and have an important impact on soil health and the life span of coffee trees. Other products grown or raised on the farm, such as fruits, vegetables or livestock; although this variable may not contribute as directly to the quality or flavor characteristics of coffee production as native species or special harvesting processes, but they are important indicators of the overall environmental and economic well-being of the farm.

Direction: sunlight exposure to the south or west of a farm can affect the amount of sunlight exposure to coffee trees. Shade trees regulate the ambient temperature of coffee plants by adding organic matter and retaining moisture to improve soil fertility and protect coffee trees from strong winds.

Shade is also important, because in terms of the quality of coffee beans and the earth, all shade is not the same: it can affect everything from coffee trees on coffee farms to wild coffee trees growing in old rural forests.

Soil type

Nutritious volcanic soil is an ideal medium for growth. This is especially true in volcanic active areas, where falling ashes constantly replenish the soil's minerals. Sandy soils are usually malnourished and require plants to work harder to thrive. The unique Terra Rossa ("laterite") soil is composed of clay-limestone and is common in the Mediterranean climate. Red soil drains well, and it is not surprising that people are eager to plant vines here. Clay is an ideal soil for agriculture in arid areas because of its excellent water and nutrient retention characteristics. Each soil type gives coffee trees unique characteristics, which translates into the unique flavor characteristics of coffee.

Precipitation and irrigation

Water plays a vital role in agriculture, and coffee cultivation is no exception. Too much water can drown the roots of plants, causing mold and fungal problems. Plants do not have the ability to produce fully ripe coffee cherries without water. It will become more important for us to pay attention to the annual rainfall in the area. Because climate change is reducing rainfall year by year and has also contributed to significant changes in rainfall distribution, while some farms can survive on rainfall alone, others are increasingly dependent on irrigation, mainly through sprinklers or more controlled drip irrigation systems to provide sufficient water for coffee factories.

Harvest

Time determines everything. Pick a green banana from the product aisle and you will find it tastes terrible and has no sweet taste. Choose one with spots or brown, and the taste is not good-looking. But those uniform yellow bananas provide the best hardness and just the right sweetness. Coffee is a kind of fruit, and like other fruits, harvesting at the highest ripening stage of coffee is an important part of realizing the full potential of coffee beans. Underripe fruits lack sweetness, tenderness and flavor, while overripe fruits exhibit an annoying and unpleasant taste, similar to overfermented coffee. Due to the uneven ripening of coffee cherries, even on the same coffee tree, growers and workers need to go through the coffee garden as many as six or more times during harvest to choose the most mature cherries. If the coffee cherry they choose is too raw, the coffee beans will not fully develop their sweetness or complexity. It's too late. The coffee may smell vinegar or alcohol. This is why we are very careful about the flowering month, harvest time, harvest month, cherry ripening time and harvest length of each kind of coffee.

If you track all this farm-level data and continue to mine it to get insights that can help us make coffee better, it seems to be hard work because it is. But we know that only in this way can we deliver on our commitment to the source, roasting and service of the world's most extraordinary coffee.

Pick

Most of our coffee is picked by hand in the old-fashioned way. Why? There are two main reasons. The first is practical; most of the world's best coffee trees are planted on remote farms on rugged plateaus and cannot be mechanized.

The second point is related to quality. Like grapes in wine, the maturity of coffee cherries is crucial to quality. But unlike wine grapes, all coffee cherries do not ripen at the same time. This is why we require our direct trading partners to harvest coffee cherries only at the peak of maturity-a task that requires sharp eyes, keen touch and skills that only trained farmers and workers have.

The labour-intensive manual harvesting process involves millions of workers who have been walking on the steep slopes of coffee islands in Africa, Asia and the Americas for weeks and months. For those coffee cherries that have reached the peak of ripening, they will be gently wrung off the stem, while the rest will be left until ripe. In a harvest season, they repeat this selective process as many as six or more times until the coffee beans are bare.

Harvest time varies from country to country and can also vary from year to year, but it is usually divided into three stages: early harvest, peak harvest and late harvest.

Sorting

Picking thousands of coffee cherries a day, even the most discerning and experienced farm workers occasionally make mistakes. Since the last part of the coffee cherry to ripen is the area around the stem, which faces the trunk of the shrub and is difficult for pickers to see, even coffee cherries that look good from one side may actually be underripe. This is why even the finest manual harvests are sometimes manually sorted again according to color and then processed further. This includes the separation of pulp, the removal of overripe and underripe coffee cherries, and the removal of leaves and branches inadvertently collected during harvest.

Many farms also put the coffee cherries they choose into flotation tanks, which can eliminate defective coffee cherries that are invisible to the naked eye. Normally developed ones sink to the bottom of the sink, while coffee cherries with malformed or damaged seeds are less dense and float to the top of the sink, where they can be discarded and left for separate processing.

Washing treatment method

Water-washed coffee cherries are fed into a machine within hours of being picked, which squeezes coffee cherries tightly to separate seeds from the pericarp. The seeds are covered with a sweet, sticky pulp, usually after a short fermentation period, then stirred or soaked in water to remove any residual pulp or mesocarp.

The washing method highlights the inherent aroma characteristics of coffee beans and emphasizes clarity and detail. This is a process that allows the inner beauty of coffee to experience in high definition, in which nuances and exquisite taste properties are clean and transparent. Most boutique coffee beans are washed for good reason: the washing treatment shows the unique differences of coffee beans due to the intersection of varieties, environment and plant cultivation. Organic fruit acids and other compounds help to show richness and make the sense of hierarchy more obvious.

Sun treatment

Sun treatment is the oldest treatment of coffee cherries after harvest. Coffee cherries are picked, sorted, and then dried in the sun until they contract, just as grapes turn into raisins. It dries completely inside the pericarp and the seeds are not peeled off until they are exported.

Sun-cured coffee beans have very different characteristics from washed coffee beans-sun-cured coffee beans tend to have more obvious fruit and sweetness, which is usually associated with wine. Because the subtle taste of organic acid is overwhelmed by a more conspicuous taste, the aroma is obviously like fruit and can be very strong. Compared with washed coffee beans, like photos of natural scenery stacked with bright color filters, the mold burns some details and enhances the dramatic impact. The extended contact time between the peel, pulp and seeds of coffee cherries gives a taste that water-washed coffee beans do not have, which are developed as a by-product of specific fermentation types.

Honey treatment method

There is an alternative intermediate route between washing and solarization, which combines the elements of the two. This method is common in Brazil and has recently become popular as an alternative in other parts of Latin America, particularly in Costa Rica.

The ingenious combination of washed beans and sun beans can produce coffee beans that are completely different from these two flavors. The term "honey treatment" is used to describe a process in which the peel of coffee cherries is mechanically removed and the coffee seeds are dried, with some or most of the pulp mucus still attached. It has the cleanliness of washed coffee beans, but it also tends to be soft and sweet fruit.

Ferment

In the process of fermentation naturally occurring microorganisms interact with sugars in mucus in a complex way which has a subtle and significant effect on flavor. Fermentation in coffee production has long been used by farmers as a practical way to break down pectin in order to remove it before washing or drying. Many chemical changes occur in the fermentation process, as well as many by-products, which can lead to different flavor results. There is still a lot to be studied and learned about the operation of fermentation parameters and how to preserve and change the complex flavor of coffee through the application of more fine and precise control at this stage of processing. Using natural coffee, fermentation occurs when coffee cherries are dry. Because complex microorganisms propagate inside the fruit and are not easy to observe, farmers have less control over the fermentation of the sun treatment than the water washing treatment.

When the pulp is removed by washing, when the mucus breaks, the coffee cherries covered with sticky mucus will stay in the sink for 12-36 hours or more. Growers can choose to ferment in damp or open air. The duration of this process depends largely on environmental conditions, especially temperature. The fermentation process ends when the coffee cherries are washed with water and stirred to remove the remaining mucus from the seeds. Some growers also soak the coffee cherries underwater for a period of time after washing the cherries to rest the coffee beans before drying and make sure the last bit of mucus is removed.

Dryness

Each region tends to a single dominant drying process, which develops with the combined influence of history, culture, climate, geography and many other factors. Drying coffee beans on cement, stone or brick courtyards is common in much of Latin America, although many farmers who do not have access to the courtyard space still dry coffee beans on plastic tarpaulins or roofs, and some farmers have adopted the standard viaduct method in much of East Africa.

The viaduct technology is simple-a waist-high wooden table with a gauze on which coffee cherries are scattered to dry and often produce the best results. When coffee cherries are shelved on cement courtyards or other platforms that maintain high calories and poor air circulation, these elevated beds give farmers the ability to adjust the drying rate more effectively.

These basic drying technologies vary endlessly, involving permanent and temporary building structures for sunshade, shelves for portable drying beds, greenhouses with vents or electric fans to regulate air flow and ambient temperature, and even buildings with drying racks on the rafters and sheltered ceilings on open and closed track wheels. Adjust the drying time of coffee beans exposed to the sun.

There are also a series of mechanical drying processes. Some of them, like blast furnaces, are fueled by wood, gas or by-products of the coffee-cherry peeling process, and are common in large farms and mills with higher yields. They are also most commonly used in places where environmental conditions are particularly humid and outdoor drying is difficult to sustain.

Shelling

No matter how our coffee is processed and dried, it must be shelled before it can be exported. At the very least, the shelling process involves stripping the parchment shell (endocarp) from the internal green seeds and sorting to some extent to eliminate defects and separate coffee beans by grade. Usually these are carried out in three stages: first by particle size, then by density, and finally by color. Although there are still many places where coffee beans are sorted mechanically or even manually, the final separation of colors is now usually done using optical and electronic color separators. The exfoliation accuracy of coffee beans varies greatly according to the desired results. For high-quality batches, the use of particularly stringent standards usually means a significant reduction in production, which means increased costs. Sorted and shelled coffee beans are stored in grain bags or vacuum bags to maintain their quality and then travel long distances to our baking plant.

Coffee processing

In the final stage of the coffee cherry processing process, our direct trading partners adopted traditional technology, absorbed some modern innovation, and put in countless hours of hard work before their coffee beans began to travel to our roaster. Thank them!

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