Coffee is a Living and Organic Being

• Coffee beans come from a tropical plant named after their source of origin (regions where they grow--such as, Indonesia, Africa/Arabia, South/Central America.)
• All coffee originates from Africa
• Brazil is the largest producer of coffee. Most coffees used in our grocery stores come from Brazil. Colombia is the second largest coffee producing country.

There are two types of Coffee -- Arabica and Robusta

Arabica: Arabica grows best in high elevations (3,000 to 6,000ft.), in thin soil and a mild weather condition. A fruit bearing tree will yield one to two pounds of coffee per harvest. The coffee beans are small, hard, and flavorful. Only ten percent of all Arabica coffee qualifies as a great or fine quality coffee!

Robusta: Robusta originated in the Congo Basin. The combination of the rich soil and constant rainfall provide ideal conditions for growing Robusta. The Robusta crops can withstand the diseases and insects that live and grow in the Congo. Survival and reproduction are phenomenal. Robusta trees can bear fruit all year around. One tree will produce four to six pounds of beans per year; whereas, Arabica will produce one to two pounds per year. The fruit of the Robusta has very little flavor substance, and the beans are big and spongy. Robusta has an earthy, woody, dirty flavor and is high in caustic acidity. The coffee is very high in caffeine (over twice as much as Arabica--two to four percent by weight).

Coffee is dramatically affected
by its environment
The elevation, climate rainfall, soil content, sunlight, and the vegetation surrounding the coffee trees will determine the taste and quality of the coffee. Antigua and Coban are both grown in Guatemala, but the characteristics of the two coffees are completely different due to their environmental conditions. Antigua grows at an elevation of four to five thousand feet in a valley surrounded by active volcanos. Nature has created its own little micro-climate. The protection of the valley, the rich volcanic soil, and the sunlight all contribute to the highly desireable characteristics of Antigua. It is mild and well balanced (acidity and bodies are equal).

Now, Coban also grows at an elevation of five thousand feet, but it is covered by a cloud layerninety percent of the year. The Carribbean climate is wet, cool and humid. It drizzles most of the year. The soil is a combination of limestone and granite. These conditions produce a wonderfully rich, syrupy bodied coffee. A coffee that is very different from the Antigua that is grown only one hundred miles away!

The productive life span: Coffee trees produce coffee for approximately twenty-five years if they are well cared for. The coffee bean is a living and organic being. Trees are generally maintained at six to eight feet tall so that the cherries can be easily picked. Yes, coffee comes from a cherry--more about that to come.

Fruit bearing cycle
1.	Flowering (self pollination) is set off by the first rain of the rainy season.
2.	During the rainy season the fruit develops and matures (eight to nine months). The higher the elevation the shorter the rainy season.
3.	At the end of the rainy season the cherry is developed.
4.	When the cherries turn a deep red, they are hand picked. The harvest takes place during the dry season.

Processing
Coffee cherries must be processed before they can be transformed into the coffee that we know and love to drink. The purpose of the processing is to remove the natural outer cover that nature provides to protect the coffee bean. This cover is made of four layers, the cherry skin or pulp, mucilage, parchment skin, and finally the silver skin. The outer cover is removed by one or two processes-- 1) wet process, 2) the dry process.

Wet Process
1.	The ripe cherries are hand picked.
2.	During the initial washing, defects float to the top and are removed
3.	The first wash squeezes the bean out of the cherry pulp, and there are generally two beans in each cherry.
4.	Fermentation is next. This is when the mucilage is removed. The sugars begin to ferment and create an enzyme that eats the mucilage. This process takes about 24 hours.
5.	The beans are rinsed to stop fermentation, and to wash off the remaining mucilage.
6.	The beans are spread out on a patio to sun dry. The drying process takes from three to four weeks. The beans are constantly turned during the day. At night, the beans are stored in shelters. They must be protected from moisture both day and night.
7.	The coffee beans are shelled out of the parchment skin.
8.	The beans are put on a conveyor belt and sorted into different sizes. Eventually all that remain are broken beans and debris.
9.	The beans ar then sorted into density by vibrating on a gravity table. The largest beans have the highest density.
10.	The final process is a visual inspection. The beans travel on a conveyor belt passing in front of people who pick out the defects.
11.	The Wet Process is now completed, and all that remains on the green bean is the silver skin.
* Wet processing produces a clean crisp flavor. It can be described as bright, or light. The coffee does not linger on the tongue.

DryProcess
1.	The beans are allowed to ripen on the trees before they are picked.
2.	They are spread out on patios to complete the drying process.
3.	Once the drying process has been completed, the beans are processed just the same as the beans that went through the Wet Process.
*Coffees from Yemen are the oldest strain of coffee, and this coffee is ONLY dry processed. Depending on the water available, coffees such as Sulawest, Sumatra, Ethiopian or Kenya can be processed either way. *Dry Processed coffees can be associated with the term full body. The coffee lingers on the tongue. It can be described as fruity, spicy, or even syrupy.

Analyzing Green Coffee Beans:

Smell - looking for freshness and moisture
Color - jade green color
Color Uniformity - looking at the tray in general, no selecting and comparing individual beans
Size - nice plump good sized beans
Defects - should be a very low percentage
*Green coffee beans stay fresh for approximately nine months if they are stored in the right conditions. As they age, they begin to turn yellow.

Classification terms:
High Grown/Strictly High Grown
Hard Bean/Strictly Hard Bean (The higher the altitude, the harder the bean.)

Roasting Process:
A chemical transformation takes place during the roasting process. The oils and aromatics become unstable and begin to break down. As soon as the coffee has been roasted it begins to lose its flavor. Fresh roasted coffee has lost close to half of its flavor by the end of two weeks. Consider coffee much like a freshly baked loaf of break without preservatives! The fresh loaf of bread is not fresh for very long.

Oils in the coffee beans begin to break down during the roasting process. Oils are what give coffee its flavor (approximately seventy different oils).

Freshly roasted coffee needs to degas for eight to ten hours before it is brewed.

The shelf life is two weeks from the roast date.

The shelf life is much shorter when the coffee is ground. The ground coffee loses up to sixty percent of its flavor within 15 minutes of grinding. The aroma you smell while grinding the coffee? That aroma is the flavor!

Store coffee in an air tight container on the counter away from sunlight. Storing the coffee in an air tight container prevents moisture and aromas from spoiling the coffee.