Most people enjoy their specialty coffee without ever thinking about the incredible amount of work it takes to arrive at their doorstep. So let’s take a quick look at what’s involved.
Let’s start at its origin. First, it was likely picked by hand on a steep mountain slope.
Next, the beans are sorted and then floated to remove any defects, under or overripe cherries, and remove foreign matter.
Then, the beans are processed. They could be pulped with the wet process and then dried or processed naturally with the pulp left on the coffee—or potentially somewhere in between with the honey process.
Many times today there is also some fermentation that happens as well either with or without the cherry on the seed. There are hundreds of variations this could take.
Then the coffee is dried anywhere from 6 to 40 days. The drying can be done in shade or sun, on raised beds, patios, solar houses or mechanically—or a combination.
Once the coffee is processed and dried, it’s milled to remove the husk or parchment, and sorted by density, color and once again for defects.
Then it’s packed in bags for export. The process of exporting the coffee looks a bit different for every origin. Regardless of the specifics, the coffee likely makes a long journey from origin to its final destination. The trip can take weeks or months.
After arriving at the roaster, the coffee is likely cupped and a roast profile is created to maximize the potential of the coffee beans.
From there it is roasted, packaged, and shipped to arrive at your door for you to start brewing.
It’s a pretty special and involved process and one we shouldn’t all take for granted.
See this process in action on reel on Instagram: