Have you observed that coffee lovers are always curious in getting to know about the origin of coffee they are drinking? Keeping in mind the benefits of drinking coffee as well as the delicious flavor and rich aroma, more and more people are showing their signs of interest in different sorts of coffee. This ever-increasing interest is the main reason for Specialty coffee movement and the coffee industry is working deliberately in providing their top-notch services.
In this article, there is a brief description for all the coffee drinkers who are eager to know how coffee beans become their morning drink which they prefer the most. We’ll talk about the journey of seed to the first sip of your morning drink.
Main Phases of Making Coffee
- Planting
- Harvesting
- Processing
- Tasting & Grading
- Roasting
- Grinding & Brewing
Planting
We know that coffee beans are actually seeds that are planted and they develop into a small plant i.e. seedling. For proper growth, they need to be planted in such an environment that is suitable for particular coffee beans. Many kinds of research depict that the ideal climate for proper coffee production is warm weather and moist soil. It has been observed that many areas in the world have proved inappropriate for coffee production like North America and Europe.
In order to flourish, many key points must be kept in view such as soil must be moist but not soaked. The soil needs to have high Nitrogen content and a low pH. All Seedlings should be shielded from the sun, as intense daylight can harm the growth.
Harvesting
It requires 4 years to get a new plant which bears fruits. And the final product is known as “cherries”. These cherries abandon a green shade to a dim or dazzling red tone. At low elevations and high temperatures, the cherries will ripe quicker.
Depending upon the crop size and growth rate, many areas prefer harvesting twice per year. But if we talk about the standard rate of harvesting, it usually happens once a year. Colombia and Kenya are where 2 harvests are the standard. Most of the roasters prefer to purchase the second-harvesting as its yield proves to be more fruitful.
Coffee cherries are regularly hand-gathered to guarantee that ready cherries are picked and that the unripe are left to develop. This implies that during reaping, pickers may go through the yield on various occasions. A few nations will machine collect; Brazil, for instance, machine harvests in light of the fact that the land is compliment and the farms are huge.
Processing:
After picking the coffee, the processing is the next and immediate strategy to prevent food spoilage and it must be processed as soon as possible. Keeping in view the importance of immediate processing as well as location and available resources, you can choose any two ways to process the beans.
The Dry Method: is the deep rooted strategy of processing coffee, still many countries adopt this method because of limited water resources. This process is carried out by spreading the freshly picked cherries on the surfaces and are left to dry in the sun. To keep the cherries fresh, they are raked and turned for the entire day. To cover the cheeries at night and during rain is also essential measure to prevent them from being soaked in rain.
In order to maintain the moisture content less than 11%, this process can be continued for several weeks for each batch of coffee.
The Wet Method works on different strategies as it eliminates the pulp from the coffee cherry and afterward beans are dried. This phenomenon is done by using the pulping machine as it operates to remove the pulp from the coffee beans. After removing the pulp, the beans are separated through water channels. Obviously, the light weighted beans begin to float on the top, while the heavier ones remain in the bottom. After this, coffee beans are separated by size and for this purpose, a series of rotating drums are utilized.
Water-filled fermentation tanks are used to complete the phase of processing. Depending upon the different factors such as climate, nature of beans and altitude, the beans are placed in these tanks. Removing the slick layer of mucilage (called the parenchyma) that is still attached to the parchment is an essential measure to ensure the quality of coffee beans, they remain in these tanks for 12 to 48 hours. Within required time period, the naturally occurring enzymes play an integral role to dissolve this slick layer.
After the completion of fermentation, the beans need to be rinsed further as it feels rough to the touch. So, the beans are passed through additional water channels to make it ready for drying process.
Grading:
This process is the stage where the beans are evaluated for flaws, and arranged by weight and size. It’s either done by hand, which is the really difficult strategy, or by a machine to isolate light and weighty beans.
Tasting:
Tasting is another name of Cupping. Experts examined the Coffee beans for their visual quality, then they mark it perfect for roasting, grounding and brewing under controlled conditions. The tester then evaluates the rich aroma and takes a taste (without completely gulping).
Roasting
This phase of journey from seed to cup is very interesting when we want to achieve the state of green coffee beans to beautiful, rich and brown beans that we prefer. In order to get the desired beans, different roasting machines operates on specific temperature range such as temperature of approximately 550 degrees Fahrenheit / 287 degrees Celsius. To prevent the batch of coffee beans from burning, the beans are preferred to move in a large drum.
The unique flavor and rich aroma are achieved easily when the internal temperature reaches 400 degrees Fahrenheit / 204 degrees Celsius. At this point, the bean’s oil releases and beans are browned. In order to get your desired roast profile i.e. light, medium or dark, beans are roasted for variety of variety of duration and different ranges of temperature.
Grinding and Brewing:
This phase plays an integral role to get the desired flavor of the roasted beans. The size of grind either fine or coarse depicts that how the coffee is being brewed. The grind is simpler to understand it generally demonstrates the time period that the water will be passing through the coffee. Most of the coffee drinkers prefer coffee machine for much finer grinding than the coffee that is being brewed in a drip format or French Press.
Final Stage
Now, you can enjoy every sip of your morning coffee and indulge into the feelings of how the world is changing through the eyes of cup of coffee.