GOOD COFFEE REQUIRES WORK!

Where your coffee comes from may determine many things.

Different countries in the world will use different forms of labeling and bagging. Traditionally processing methods were determined by local resources (sun, access to water, flat land, etc.). Bag materials like jute, hemp, etc. where also determined by local and readily accessible materials. While some of these bags look great and have myriad craft or recycling uses, the green coffee should always be stored in a hermetic bag (like Grain-Pro or Eco-tact) to ensure that the green coffee is protected from smells and taints.

Today we enjoy the modern convenience of international trade with the old world traditions of culture and natural resources. However, one challenge can be the lack of a unified weight (mass) in trading volumes. Before signing a contract for a pallet of bags in green, be sure that you know how much coffee you should expect in every bag.

We typically get 10 jute bags of coffee stacked per pallet. If that is 10 bags of Colombia you'll have 700kg (or 1,500lbs) whereas if you order 10 jute bags of Ethiopia you'll only get 600kg (or 1,320lbs). When you set your pricing as a roaster or retailer, you'll want to ensure your inventory projections and blending plans line up with your coffee purchases.

Another note (for the exam) is that coffee statistics globally are quoted in a specific measure. That measure is a standard measure of __millions__of__60kg__bags___. For example a quick Google search shows me that Australia purchased 1.87 M. bags @ 60kg in 2019. That's 1,870,000 x 60kg = 112,200,000 kg coffee or 246,840,000 lbs coffee (green). You can see why "1.87M" is a much easier number to report than 112,200,000kg or 246,840,000lbs. : )

FOCUS ON THE SMALLHOLDER

The vast majority of Arabica coffee grown globally is produced by farming families and cooperatives. These groups of family and friends collectively produce the majority of our Arabica coffees worldwide. Grown and harvested on mountainsides in small and remote villages, these coffees are collected at community processing centers and mills to collectively amass info a large aggregate of coffee.

These families plant trees and wait 2-3 years (minimum) before a harvest can be produced. Natural fertilizers (like animal refuse) are used with traditional pruning and multi-culture planting practices. The global coffee industry relies on these small holder families and cooperatives for our supply of Arabica and specialty coffees.

AFTER HARVEST - PROCESSING

Specialty coffee should be selectively picked. Because it is grown on mountainside it should be hand picked (not by machine) and in order to get coffee when it is ripe - the coffee should be hand-picked.

Immediately after the coffee is harvested it should be taken to a mill or processing center so that the beans can be removed from the fruit.

After the coffee is harvested the seed must be removed from the fruit within 24-48 hours. This means a processing facility should be very near to the small holder farms and collective cooperatives.

When harvesting specialty coffee we do not use machines. Machine harvesters are suitable to low elevation (Robusta plantation) style coffees. All coffee must be processed to remove the fruit from the seed (bean). If those beans are not processed immediately a loss of flavor or defects will infect the coffee bean from the aging fruit.

STRIP PICKING VS. SELECTIVE PICKING

Strip picking is a method where harvesters will comb through a coffee harvest in one session to remove all coffees from the trees. This is in contrast to Selective Harvesting where 3-5 passes of harvesting will ensure that only ripe coffee cherries are picked. Unripe coffee cherries are left for subsequent pickings.

Another way to consider strip picking (stripping the branch of all cherries) versus selective picking (multiple harvests) is to consider how unripe, ripe and overripe coffees may all be present in a single harvest. In strip picking the ripe and unripe all come off the tree together.

A major difference in specialty and commercial coffee is the difference between hand or strip/machine picking.

This is a direct result from small holder versus large holder farming practices.