Hello surfers of the world wide web. My name is Luke Reynolds and I am one of your devoted baristas at 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. I’m writing today to fill in some details of how coffee is processed. If you’ve ever joined me for one of our daily 11a.m. coffee tastings, then you’ve probably politely and patiently permitted me to pontificate on the process for processing coffee. Admittedly, I am often a bit verbose at the tasting table explaining how “processing methods” can affect coffee taste. Ergo, here I am today as this page provides me with a nice venue to get detailed. So let’s get to talking about coffee!
Exactly 1 year ago I was in the municipality of Dipilto, Nicaragua, test running a 10 day intensive coffee course that focused on coffee processes, from the seed all the way to the cup.
Although there is much to discuss about coffee nurseries, adult coffee plants, picking, husking, roasting and tasting, today we will just discuss what is referred to in the industry as the “wet processing method.”
Ripe coffee cherries, roughly the same size and color of a ripe cranberry, (here’s a photo of one with a pest related defect, see if you can spot the hole) arrive fresh-picked from the coffee farm and are dumped into a large tank above a depulping machine. The coffee is channeled with water through a trough with baffle that prevents low density (bad) coffee cherries from continuing on to the depulper. Coffee from the top falls into a hopper and is then pressed through the textured metal screen of the spinner cylinder. The pulp gets shot out to a pile, the coffee bean gets channeled to a fermentation tank.
Although the coffee bean is now devoid of its fruit, there is still a tenacious and slippery skin called mucilage that remains. The fermentation tank– which is very much like a large bathtub- is simply an environment in which the coffee can begin to decompose so that the mucilage can be removed. In these tubs hundreds of pounds of coffee will sit for 12 to 24 hours (depending on if it was depulped with or without water).
Once the coffee has sat in the tank it is ready to be “washed,” or rinsed out into another trough and agitated with water. Here I am at the trough with a large paddle to agitate the beans back and forth before being bagged and sent to the drying patio.
Washed coffees are typical of Latin America (though not exclusive) and the process is to which washed coffees owe their bright acidity, chocolate and mildly nutty flavor profiles; the characteristics which make them excellent coffee and especially suited for breakfast and pairing with subtle desserts. Indeed, one of my favorite coffees at 15th is and has been the Guatemala Medina. This coffee is from a single farm in the Antigua region of Guatemala and possesses all the hallmarks of a great washed coffee with the subtle and soft flavor notes one finds in an excellent small-batch coffee.
I have a much greater appreciation for coffee after having worked on a farm and seen all of the processes first hand. When it comes to producing coffee, each step along the way is soberingly labor intensive; from seed to cup. I love sharing my knowledge, so please, if I have sparked your interest whatsoever today in any step of the process, please comment so I may address whatever questions you may have. Or, comment, and then come on in and ask me in person!
Until then,
-Luke
Hey Luke, glad you had such a rewarding experience at origin! I also worked at a coffee farm last year in the Antigua region of Guatemala, during the summer. Unfortunately, the harvest ends in December, so by the time I arrived, it was a little late to get my hands dirty. However, the farm I worked for was also a museum so I got to spend a month explaining coffee processing to tourists. Would love to see future posts about your experiences!
Luke – great post & photos ! You should print this and put it in-store for everyone to read ~ thanks ! See you at 15th. Ave !