Why is the method of coffee processing becoming more and more complicated?

Recently, a friend of wine and coffee Shuangxiu complained to Qianjie: "there were only a few treatments when I studied coffee in the past, but I didn't pay attention to coffee information for only two years. Why are the current treatments so complicated? I really want to treat one bean at a time."

The complexity of coffee treatment also indicates a change in the purpose of coffee processing. At first, different treatments appeared not to highlight the more special flavor performance, but to adapt to the environment of the place of origin to process coffee fruits into coffee beans more efficiently. For example, the emergence of water washing treatment is not originally intended to make a flavor different from the sun treatment. But in Indonesia, tanning doesn't work. Indonesia is different from the environment of East Africa and Arabian Peninsula. Moist and rainy days make sun-treated coffee beans very easy to dry and rot. So the Dutch at that time invented washing treatment (wet treatment). With the removal of pericarp pectin, which is easy to ferment and rot, the quality of coffee beans is better, and the drying time is shortened. In these humid and rainy environments in Indonesia, sun treatment may take 3-4 weeks to dry, while water washing treatment can be reduced to 2 weeks, greatly reducing the risk of damp corruption. Later, in order to maximize the drying time, Indonesia gradually evolved into a wet planing method. Half-sun treatment in Brazil and honey treatment in Central America are also developed in accordance with local conditions. Of course, from the results, we can tell that the difference in coffee flavor performance of different treatments is mainly involved in the different fermentation substances. For example, it is generally believed that sun-treated coffee beans will be sweeter and more layered than water-washed coffee beans. This is because in the process of sun treatment, pericarp, pulp, pectin and coffee beans are involved in fermentation. And washing treatment is the first 1-2 days is pectin and coffee beans, and so on after the pectin layer falls off, leaving the coffee beans themselves. The coffee treatment method is complicated because we can see that different treatment processes can show different flavor, that is, the current treatment method is to explore the pursuit of flavor. Some manors in Central America realize that the amount of fermented substances will affect the flavor performance of coffee beans, so they derive black honey, red honey, yellow honey and other treatments in the honey treatment category. Some estates in Colombia realize that the flavor will be different if they are fermented in different environments, so the anaerobic treatment process is gradually applied to the treatment of coffee beans. For example, the conventional anaerobic sun drying is to put the coffee fruit into a sealed container for anaerobic fermentation before drying, and then to dry it.

The anaerobic process is also very complex, such as anaerobic time, anaerobic environment temperature, anaerobic colony control, PH control and so on, there is not a standard formula, there is each manor's own experience. In other words, in order to highlight some selling points, some manors will also make corresponding modifications in the name of the treatment method. For example, the selling point of some manors is to do different versions of anaerobic time, in the treatment will add time to distinguish, such as 72 hours of anaerobic solarization, 144 hours of anaerobic solarization and so on.

For example, some manors highlight the control of anaerobic temperature environment to control the fermentation of coffee beans, in the name of the treatment may be low temperature and slow anaerobic washing treatment. For example, some manors will add some enzymes (proteases) to assist fermentation, which will be written as anaerobic enzyme washing treatment. Another reason why the current processing method looks more and more complex is that the naming of the treatment method is not too detailed in the past. For example, it is also expressed by washing treatment, and there is a big difference in the washing process between Ethiopia and Kenya. The conventional Ethiopian water washing treatment is to screen out bad beans and sundries by flotation first. After peeling, place the coffee beans in a fermentation tank for 48-72 hours, then wash the fermented coffee beans into another water purification tank and soak for 4-8 hours, wash off the pectin beans and dry them.

The conventional Kenyan water washing treatment is to screen out bad beans and sundries by flotation first. After peeling, the coffee beans were placed in the fermentation tank for 12-36 hours, and then manually washed the coffee beans were led to another water purification tank to soak and ferment for 12-36 hours. Then dry the clean shell beans.

In Kenya, some treatment stations use dry fermentation (water washing) treatment, which differs from the above one in that the fermentation tank is first introduced without water, usually after 6-8 hours of anhydrous fermentation, the coffee beans are washed with water, then drained and repeated several times. The second sink in the back is treated the same way.

The same washing treatment, the treatment process is different, the coffee flavor performance will be different. However, in the description of the treatment method, it is also marked by washing treatment. Generally speaking, the current processing method is so numerous and complicated, in fact, it is the consumer market's pursuit of coffee flavor and attention to the traceability information of coffee beans.

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