Basic knowledge of high-quality coffee beans

Coffee beans grow in tropical or subtropical agricultural gardens around the equator, called coffee belts, and travel to Japan with ships. When the brown coffee beans appear in front of your eyes, they have actually gone through a variety of different circulation processes and the hands of many people.

Coffee is widely distributed in South America, Central America, the West Indies, Asia, Africa, Arabia, the South Pacific and Oceania. In terms of output, Brazil ranks first in the world's output (about 30%), followed by Central and South America with Colombia (about 10%) as the center, accounting for 60%, followed by Africa and Arabia accounting for about 30%. The remaining 10% are distributed in Asian countries and most islands.

Small and round dark brown coffee beans, quietly emitting a fragrant fragrance in the grinder, injected into the cup showing the beautiful color of amber, these are the three very deep impressions of coffee.

As you explore the history and beauty of coffee, you can also see the coffee trees that are caressed by the tropical sun and whose leaves twinkle. It has a small white flower similar to jasmine, its fruit from green to yellow-green, and finally to red, coffee beans are the seeds in its fruit.

Moreover, if you go to the coffee bean refinery, you will surely see the red pulp called coffee cherry and the fresh and green coffee raw beans with the endocarp and silver skin removed. These are the coffee beans for export.

At present, there are about 60 coffee-producing countries, most of which are located in areas with elevations of 300,400m. Sometimes coffee trees are cultivated on highlands with elevations of 2000-2500 meters, but those planted on slopes above 1500 meters above sea level are said to be of better quality.

The most suitable conditions for the cultivation of coffee trees are areas where the annual rainfall is 1500-2000 mm and the average temperature is about 20 degrees.

Coffee trees are evergreen plants of the Akanaceae family. If they are wild, they can even grow to more than eight meters. However, in the farm, the height is cut to about two meters to ensure the quality of coffee beans and facilitate management.

At present, the main tree species planted are Arabica species, Robusta species (Carneva species) and Liberika species. It can be subdivided into dozens of varieties, which will be distinguished in production, circulation and trading.

Even in the same producing country, it will have a subtle influence on the flavor and quality of coffee beans and produce their own characteristics because of the differences in climate, altitude and soil quality in different regions. Therefore, according to the variety, origin, there will be different attributes: therefore, it is impossible to describe the characteristics of a country's coffee beans in one sentence!

● from coffee cherries to raw coffee beans

About raw coffee beans

A coffee tree can bear about 3-5 kilograms of coffee cherries and can be refined into 1/5 weight raw coffee beans. Among them, through the hands and time of many people, coffee cherries are transformed into raw coffee beans.

Arabica species and Robusta species

Arabica accounts for about 2/3 of the world's coffee production, so it is not suitable to grow in areas with high temperature, low temperature, more rain and less rain. The beans are oval shoulder flat, characterized by strong fragrance and good quality.

Robusta is bitter but not sour, and the flavor is not very good, so it is suitable for making mixed-flavor coffee. Mixed with the right amount of robusta in Arabica, it is usually used to make iced coffee, instant coffee and canned coffee. It is characterized by growing in lowlands. Strong disease resistance.

The quality and output of Liberika are not good. Most of them are exported to Europe, but not imported to Japan.

Flat beans and round beans

Ripe and red coffee cherries have multiple structures. In the middle is the predecessor of the coffee bean, the light green seed. Generally speaking, the fruit of coffee is made up of two oval seeds opposite each other. The side that connects with each other is a flat joint, so it is called flat bean. But some are made up of a round seed, and its taste is no different.

From harvest to shipment

After the fruit is harvested, the outer skin, pulp, endocarp and silver skin should be removed before shipping. There are two kinds of methods: drying (also known as natural or non-washing) and washing.

The drying method is relatively simple. First of all, spread the freshly harvested fruit on the exposure field for a week or two until the fruit crackles and dries naturally. After that, the dried pulp, endocarp and silver peel are removed by a sheller.

Coffee beans refined in this way are slightly sour and slightly bitter. Almost all coffee beans produced in Brazil, Ethiopia, Yemen and other places are obtained in this way. The disadvantage of this method is that it is easily affected by weather and is easy to be mixed with defective beans and other impurities. Therefore, teachers must be carefully selected.

Another way is to wash the fruit, in which the fruit to be harvested is put into a flowing trough. After the floating fruit is removed, the skin and flesh are removed by a pulp remover. Then put it in the sink to remove the emerging pulp. After that, move into the fermentation tank, soak for half a day to a day, and then dissolve the gum on the surface of the fermented coffee beans. After washing with water, drying it for a few days, drying it with a machine, and finally using a sheller to remove the endocarp to become a commercial raw coffee bean.

Water-washed coffee beans are more beautiful in color and less impurity than those obtained by drying. Colombia, Mexico, Guatamara and other countries adopt this method for about 70% of their output.

Sometimes in the fermentation process, if not handled properly, it may give off fermentation odor and its unique sour taste, but if handled properly, all kinds of beans can give off their unique coffee aroma.

In order to be delivered completely to the destination, raw coffee beans are packed in sacks and placed in special containers for long-distance merchant shipping trips.