Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Berries, sometimes called “trees,” are home to coffee fruit. The cherries must be treated once the fruit from the coffee trees is picked. That means peeling the seed and extracting its pulp.
The three primary coffee-making processes are natural, washed, and honey. Each one contributes to the flavour and aroma of your daily cup of coffee. But how precisely do they affect the bean, and what is the methodology behind each one?
Here, we briefly describe the different coffee processing methods.
The Natural Processing Method of Coffee
This method is the oldest and most conventional process. First, the cherries are picked at their ripest point. With this processing procedure, the fruit remains on the bean and dries without being disturbed. These cherries are harvested and laid out in thin layers to dry naturally in the sun.
The cherries are turned regularly to prevent fermentation, rotting, or molding. The cherries’ skin and dried fruit flesh are removed once completely dry. After that, the farmers “rest” the green coffee beans in storage before sending them to be roasted.
The Washed or Wet Process
The “washed” or “wet” method refers to the second process. This process separates the fruit from the seed as soon as possible after picking, before drying. Before the cherries are put through depulpers, machines squeeze the fruit between rollers until the seeds come out—they are floated and sorted to guarantee consistent ripeness.
Seeds are removed from skins, fermented using microbes and yeast, washed with water or machine-assisted, dried in the sun, and then stored, dry milled, and shipped to importers or roasters. The process removes mucilage, sticky sugar, and fruit remnants.
The Honey Process
The honey process is commonly used in Central American countries. The cherries undergo mechanical de-pulping, but the machinery is programmed to preserve a particular quantity of flesh on the beans. The beans are immediately dried on drying tables or patios after being de-pulped. Because there is less tissue around the beans, there is less chance of overfermentation than in a natural process, but the sugars in the remaining flesh boost the cup’s overall sweetness and body.
Honey-processed coffee has positive attributes like natural coffees, with sweetness and brightness. It comes in black, red, yellow, and white honey colors, with black honey having more flesh and white honey having less, affecting the coffee’s flavor.
The Art of Roasting
Unroasted green coffee retains its flavors while roasting transforms it into aromatic brown beans. Roasting occurs at 550F, turning the beans continuously to avoid burning. After drying, they turn yellow and smell roasting. The beans double in size, turn light brown, and emerge with fragrant coffee oil.
Coffee Roasters and its Types
They give coffee beans heat. It’s more complicated than tossing a pail of green coffee beans into a large grinder, letting them whirl for a while, and then pouring out the roasted coffee. Professionals mostly employ two types of commercial coffee roasters: drum coffee roasters and fluid bed coffee roaster. With conduction and convection heating, drum coffee roasters are commonly used for roasting beans to a large apparatus, allowing them to whirl before discarding the roasted coffee.
