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processing

Coffee starts with a cherry: the drupe.

The fruit of the coffee plant, known as a drupe, is similar in appearance to a cherry. As it ripens it changes colour, from green to bright red or yellow. The skin of the drupe is thick and shiny, while its flesh is soft and sweet. Inside the drupe, the seeds (destined to become future coffee beans) are covered in mucilage – a sticky, sugary layer – and two membranes, one thicker than the other: the silver skin and the parchment.

Harvesting and selection

The harvest stage is a crucial point for the fruit, one which will determine the final quality of our coffee. Fruit ripens according to different time scales, depending on rainfall. This means that we can find unripe, ripe, and overripe fruits all on the same plant. This is what makes harvesting such a delicate task.

The most traditional form is manual picking, with only ripe drupes being selected and gathered by hand.
Stripping is another method, in which all the fruits on a given branch are harvested in one go.
Drupes can also be harvested mechanically, using machines which shake them loose from the tree. These can only be used on flat land, like Cerrado Mineiro in Brazil.

From drupe to bean

Once the harvest is complete, it’s time to begin the processing. This starts by removing the flesh and mucilage from the drupe to obtain the green coffee. There are two different types of processing, each of which must begin on the very same day as the harvest.

PICKING

The most traditional method is the manual one, also called picking, in which only the ripe drupes are selected by hand.

STRIPPING

Stripping is the method by which all the fruits present on a single branch are shucked.

MECHANICAL HARVEST

It is possible to harvest the drupes mechanically, using shaking machines operating only on flat land such as in the Cerrado Mineiro in Brazil.

dry process

The dry process begins with drying the drupes either naturally, by leaving them in the sun, or mechanically. Then, once they have dried, the beans are removed from the drupes by means of a hulling machine to obtain the natural coffee.

wet process

In the wet process, the beans are immersed in vats of water where the mucilage decomposes to release the bean. The result of this process is called washed coffee.