Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Mommy, where do coffee beans come from?



If you've taken a tour at Chazzano Coffee Roasters, you might have heard me talk about coffee cherries. You may have heard about my crazy hope that my coffee tree seedlings may produce coffee cherries. Above, you'll see the coffee cherries growing on Coast Three Coffee farm in El Salvador. There are two coffee beans in each cherry. The cherries are handpicked from the trees because it is highly impractical to machine pick coffee grown on mountainsides.

Then the coffee is milled and processed. Will it be dry processed or wet processed? How much water do you have around your farm? What is the preferred flavor profile for your particular coffee varietals? Below: The cherry and most of the outer layers of the coffee bean have been removed and the coffee beans are drying out in the sun.