The selection of coffee

Change coffee from fruit to "raw bean"

The fruit of coffee, also known as "Coffee Fruit", has a pair of oval seeds in the center, which are covered by the outer skin, endocarp and pulp. If the ripe coffee fruit is not processed after harvest, it will deteriorate and rot in a very short time, so the purpose of refining is to preserve the coffee for a long time so that it can be stored and circulated. Refining is to remove the exocarp and pulp of the coffee fruit, and then take out the seed (Coffee Bean). In general, 5 kg of coffee fruit can get 1 kg of raw coffee beans.

There are three kinds of refining methods: drying method, water washing method, and this kind of semi-washing method of both. The color of refined coffee beans varies according to the type or water content of coffee beans. But they are generally dark green, so coffee raw beans are also known as "Green Bean".

1. Drying refining method is also called "natural drying method" Nature Dry "or non-washing method" Un-Washed ".

After the fruit is harvested, the raw beans are dried, shelled and removed by natural (sun) drying or mechanical drying. The natural drying method, as literally explained, is to spread the coffee fruit in the open air and dry it with sunlight exposure. In order to avoid uneven drying or fermentation, it must be stirred at the right time, and the number of days required for sunlight depends on the maturity of the coffee fruit. The mature coffee fruit only needs to dry for a few days, while the immature fruit takes 1 or 2 weeks.

The natural drying method has a long history because of its simple operation process, low equipment investment and relatively low cost, so it has been adopted by almost all coffee producing countries in the past. However, this method is restricted by weather conditions and time-consuming. Now, with the exception of Brazil, Ethiopia, Yemen, Bolivia, Uruguay and other foreign countries, almost all Arabica coffee producing countries have adopted the washing refining method.

Brazil regularly uses natural drying for a reason: first, it does not have enough water to cope with the coffee refining process that produces a large amount of coffee; secondly, the vast flat terrain peculiar to Brazil is also suitable for mass production by natural drying. Recently, however, areas such as Bahia have begun to use water-washing refining to produce highly refined coffee beans with almost no defective beans. The disadvantage of natural drying is that it is easy to mix with too many defective beans and other impurities. Just from the appearance of coffee beans, which is better than natural drying or washing refining coffee beans, you can see at a glance.

When it comes to Yemen, people will naturally think of its most famous "Mokha Mattari" coffee, which is regarded as "the best" by coffee consumers in most areas for its unique sour taste and mellow thickness. Ethiopia is also worth mentioning, best known as "Mokha Harrar" coffee, which is refined by natural drying, but the production of Ethiopian water-washed refined coffee beans has also increased recently, and these high-quality coffee buckets are mainly sold in Europe.

N washing refining process (Washed)

The washing refining method was made in the middle of the 18th century. In the refining process, the pulp of the coffee fruit is first removed, then the residual mucous membrane on the inner pericarp is removed by a fermentation tank, and the beans are washed and dried. The difference between non-washing refining and water-washing refining is that the non-washing refining method is to remove the pulp after the coffee fruit is dried, while the washing method is to remove the pulp before drying.

Water washing refining can remove impurities (stones, branches, etc.) and defective beans from coffee through every step, so the quality of raw beans is very high and the transaction price is higher than that of natural drying coffee beans.

However, the more detailed the work steps, the higher the requirements of operation and hygiene management, and the operation risk will naturally increase relatively, and the washing type is not necessarily equal to high quality. The biggest disadvantage of water-washed coffee is that during fermentation, coffee beans will have a bad smell of fermentation, and some experts even point out that a coffee bean with a bad smell of fermentation will destroy the overall taste of 50 kilograms of coffee beans. The main reason for the fermentation flavor of coffee beans is the lack of proper management and maintenance of the coffee fermentation tank.