It turns out that it takes 10 steps to go from coffee seed to coffee.

A coffee bean is actually a seed. After drying, baking and grinding, it can be extracted. If the seed is not processed, it can be raised and planted. Coffee seeds are usually planted in sheltered nurseries. The germinated seeds will be transplanted into flowerpots carefully prepared by the soil. Coffee seedlings need to be watered regularly and protected from bright light. Coffee seedlings are usually planted in the rainy season.

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two。 Pick berries

It takes about three to four years from coffee seedlings to fruit. Coffee fruits are called coffee cherries, and ripe berries are bright crimson. Coffee is a major crop, usually harvested once a year, and in some countries (such as Colombia) there are two harvests a year. Coffee is mostly picked by hand. Whether it is manual or mechanical picking, there are two ways:

Strip Picked: peel off the branches of coffee cherries at one time by machine or manual.

Selectively Picked: walk through the trees several times at intervals of 8-10 days and pick only those red berries that are ripe. Because of the high cost of this picking method, it is usually used to harvest better Arabica beans.

Good pickers can pick 45kg to 90kg berries on average every day and produce raw beans from 9kg to 18kg coffee. Each picker's daily harvest is carefully weighed because it is paid according to the weight of the berries. The picked berries will be sent to the coffee processing plant.

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3. Treatment method

After the coffee is picked, in order to prevent the berries from rotting, the sooner the better. Depending on the climate, coffee beans can be treated in two ways:

Tanning: an ancient method of coffee treatment, which is still widely used in many countries where water is scarce. It is to put the berries directly in the sun. In order not to let the coffee berries rot, they turn the berries during the day and cover them at night and on rainy days. Depending on the weather, the processing of a batch of coffee may last for several weeks until the water content of the coffee drops to 11%.

Washing method: this method first uses a pulper to remove the pulp of coffee berries, then uses water to screen the heavier coffee beans (light beans will float on the surface and heavy beans will sink to the bottom), and then use a rotating drum to separate them. After separation, the coffee beans will be transported to a large fermentor filled with water. Depending on the condition, climate and altitude of the coffee beans, it will take 12 to 48 hours to ferment in order to remove the slime smooth layer attached to the silver skin. When the fermentation is finished, the beans feel rough. Then the coffee beans pass through another water channel and are ready to dry.

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4. To dry.

If the coffee beans are treated by washing, the fermented beans should be dried to reduce their moisture content to 11%. These shell beans can be placed in a drying bed for drying and can be turned manually or by machine. Such dried coffee beans are called shelled beans.

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5. Coffee shelling

Before export, shell beans need to go through the following treatment:

Shelling: use a sheller to remove the endocarp of washed beans; remove the endocarp, mesocarp and exocarp of sun beans.

Polishing: remove the silver skin of coffee beans (this is an optional process). Polished beans are usually considered to be better than unpolished beans. In fact, the gap between the two is not big.

Coffee beans are classified and graded according to their weight and size, and defects are also reviewed according to the color of the beans. Coffee beans can be graded according to size, put them on a sieve and shake them back and forth, and beans smaller than the mesh will be screened out, and these beans will be screened again with a smaller sieve, so that after layers of selection, coffee beans can be graded. The mesh size is calculated in 1 stroke 64 inches. The size number of the bean is usually numbered 10-20, 10 if the diameter of the screen is 10 beat 64 inches, and 15 if the diameter of the screen is 15. 64.

Finally, defective beans are removed manually or mechanically. defective beans usually refer to beans with unacceptable color or size, fermented beans, worm-eaten beans, or shelled beans. The purpose of this process is to ensure the quality of coffee beans.

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6. Export raw beans

Raw coffee beans, formerly known as milled beans, are packed in sacks and then shipped to various countries in containers. From 2015 to 2016, the global production of coffee was about 100 million bags. (USDA data)

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7. Coffee cup test

People will use the cup test to test the quality and taste of coffee. This process is usually carried out in a special cup testing room. First of all, the cup tester evaluates the coffee beans as a whole from the appearance. The beans are then baked in a small experimental roaster, then ground and brewed with strictly temperature-controlled hot water. Next, the cup tester will smell the wet smell of the coffee. After a few minutes, the cup testers smelled the coffee again. Finally, the cup testers will sip the coffee liquid and test the flavor. A professional cup tester can taste hundreds of kinds of coffee a day and can tell the nuances between them.

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8. Roast coffee

Roasting converts raw coffee beans into aromatic ripe beans, and most roasters keep the temperature around 288 degrees Celsius. Coffee beans need to be flipped constantly during roasting to prevent them from being burnt. When the temperature reaches about 204 degrees Celsius, the coffee beans begin to turn brown, and the aromatic oil in the coffee beans begins to emit. This process, called pyrolysis, occurs in the middle of the baking process and produces the taste and aroma of the coffee we drink.

After baking, coffee beans can be cooled by air or water. Baking is usually carried out in importing countries because it ensures that consumers get fresh coffee beans.

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9. Ground coffee

The purpose of proper grinding is to get a cup of coffee with good flavor. The thickness of coffee powder depends on the extraction method. The time of contact between coffee powder and water determines the degree of grinding. the finer the coffee powder, the faster the extraction time. That's why an espresso machine is better than a hand-flushing machine. The espresso machine uses 132 pounds of pressure per square inch.

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10. Extracted coffee

After this series of steps, we can finally taste the delicious coffee in the cup.