How to treat coffee

After removing the coffee fruits, two methods of their processing are used; wet (wet) and dry.

The first is used if the coffee is of high quality, and dry is used for less aromatic beans, as it is simpler and does not require expensive equipment.

For example, the best Colombian, Costa Rican, and Kenyan coffees are always wet processed.

At the same time, many varieties of Brazilian coffee intended for wide, mass consumption are processed by the dry method.

Dry (natural) method

The dry method has been known since ancient times and consists in the fact that coffee fruits are scattered in a layer of several centimeters in a sunlit place.

In the process, coffee must be mixed repeatedly to avoid mold, and sheltered from dampness at night.

After about 15 days, the flesh dries completely, the skin turns brown, and if you bring the fruit to your ear and shake, you can clearly hear two grains hitting each other inside.

This method is older than wet and more natural. Three-fifths of the world's coffee volume is processed using this method.

In Yemen and Ethiopia, the fruit dries right on the trees. & nbsp; Then it falls on its own onto the fabric spread out below, and sometimes workers don't wait for it to happen and shake the trees themselves.

Once the raw materials are collected, they are screened to remove debris and dust.

Wet method

The wet method involves passing ripe fruits through a special mill and removing all the pulp so that the grains remain only in a thin shell called parchment.

First remove pulp using cylinder or disk machines.

The fruits are squeezed, trying not to touch the emerging grains covered with part of the mesocarp.

Then they start washing the grains in small circular or serpentine channels: healthy people stay at the bottom, and those affected by any bacteria float up. The first sort is also performed.

Insoluble mucus particles tightly adhering to the grains can only be removed by fermentation. For this, grains with a layer of about one meter are placed in large pools and mixed as often as possible.

During fermentation, lasting from 12 to 24 hours, the remains of the pulp are destroyed, after which the grains are washed with a large amount of water. As a result, clean, smooth and wet grains are obtained.

Use this method to get excellent quality coffee.

Initial coffee processing is completed in factories and large wholesale warehouses, where there are numerous operations for sorting and selecting coffee beans.

They are first purged by blowing. For this, special machines are used, with the help of which light impurities are removed & mdash; earth, dust, as well as: heavy impurities, for example, small pebbles.

This is followed by a magnetic cleaning step to remove any metal impurities that accidentally enter the coffee beans.

Next & mdash; cleaning the grains with special machines from the horns, as well as polishing them in order to remove the silver shell from the seeds.

So-called granulometric sampling & mdash; the next process operation. This is the sorting of grains by size using a special sieve. The largest grains are considered the best.

To remove black grains that are dangerous for the entire batch, as well as other grains that differ in color, another selection is carried out.

This is a long and expensive operation, both manually and with machines.

Finally, mechanical sorting operations are complemented by manual sorting - ensuring the best possible product quality.