GROWING

Specialty coffee is hand picked in most countries (read: labor intensive) and requires specific geographical and weather conditions to develop the desirable characteristics that we look for in a cup of coffee. Most coffee is produced in what we call the Bean Belt - the area between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, where the humidity, temperatures, soil, and climate conditions in the mountainous areas of this region allow the coffee plant to thrive and taste best. 

Farms

The farms that grow coffee can vary vastly in size, production volume, access to funding, technology for coffee processing, and certifications. Farms can be as small as a few trees - often called “gardens” - to as big as the size of Colombia!

You can learn more about farming and processing in out blog on growing and farming!

PROCESSING

Once the coffee cherries become ripe, farmers and pickers harvest them. The next step is to separate the cherry and the sticky sweet residue (kind of like the sticky coating that you see on grape seeds when you take them out of the grape) from the seed. The method and timing of this step is referred to as processing, and it dramatically affects the taste of the coffee. More often than not, a coffee that is processed a certain way will share more attributes with a coffee that is processed the same way but comes from a different country than a coffee from the same country that is processed differently.

Washed processing

Washed (wet) processed coffee is the most common form of coffee processing. Washed processing involves removing cherry from the bean as soon as possible. What remains on the bean is the sticky tissue, mucilage - remember the sticky coating grape seeds have when you take them out? The bean is then soaked for a few hours to up to a day to allow bacteria to break down the mucilage to the point that it can easily be washed off, hence the name, washed processing. The beans are then dried and hulled to remove the “parchment” layer, a thick skin that protects the bean. This process results in a coffee flavor profile that is often described as “clean” and many argue showcases more of the innate flavor of the coffee varietal. Washed processing is very common in South and Central America.

Natural processing

Natural processing - the older and more traditional form of coffee processing often done in Ethiopia - involves leaving the whole cherry, bean still inside, and drying it on raised beds for weeks, not unlike a raisin. After the cherry is dry, the bean is removed through hulling. As you might expect, the flavor profile of this coffee tends to be more fruit-forward, as the extended drying period allows yeasts and bacteria to ferment the coffee cherry and impart more aromatic compounds to the coffee bean. Well-processed naturals will taste clean and intensely fruity. This process is difficult to monitor, as it requires low humidity, minimal rain, constant turning, and lots of space for thin layers on raised, aerated beds to ensure no mold or funk develops. Fermentations that are very extended can also impart a markedly boozy, winey, fermenty, and alcoholic character to the coffee.

Honey Processing

Another common processing method is honey processing, in which some of the mucilage is left on the bean to dry. Depending on the amount of mucilage intact, and the length of the drying time, coffees are called white, yellow, red, or black honey processed (white honey having the least mucilage and fastest drying time and black honey having the longest drying time). The color designations reflect the color of the dried parchment (the papery layer inside the fruit that protects the beans from sudden changes in moisture). 

New & Experimental Processing Methods

New and experimental processing methods inspired by wine-making techniques have made a huge surge in recent years. These methods employ fermentations under more controlled conditions, with oxygen levels, temperature, time, and added microbes being some of the variables that producers modulate. These methods often have unique, distinct flavor overtones. We have been partnering with the forward-thinking producers at La Palma Y El Tucán in Colombia, headed up by Felipe and Elisa, since 2014 and have continued to purchase coffee from both their Neighbors & Crops as well as Estate and Varietals, both of which employ these newer types of fermentations.

Check out out in-depth blog on processing here.

IMPORT / EXPORT

When coffee leaves a producer, it can get to the roaster in several, often complicated ways. The following must be done to get a coffee from origin to a roastery: coffee must be consolidated, exported, imported, and sold to a roaster. This chain can contain as few as two or as many as over five+ different parties, depending on the export laws of the country where the coffee comes from. For examples, one of our longest standing partnerships, Equation Coffee, acts as a consolidator (the party that collects coffee from a larger region to help fill a large shipping container), exporter, and importer. We buy coffee that they have grown on one of their farms or bought from neighboring farmers, and they handled all the export, shipping, and warehousing. We have also worked at times with several separate parties for export and import.

We talk about the ins and outs of importing and exporting in our blog!

Coffee ROASTING

Roasting is a complex, dynamic process. In specialty coffee especially, a  roaster approaches coffees of different processing types and origins differently. Traditionally, however, people talk about three broad levels of roasts: light, medium, and dark. 

Light roast 

A light roast, as its name suggests, produces lighter beans. These beans are roasted for a shorter period of time and to a lower temperature than medium and dark roasts, just past the “first crack.” First crack refers to the popcorn-like popping sound that happens at around 395°F (can be differ depending on placement of probes in the roaster) that is caused by evaporating moisture that makes the bean to swell and pop. Light roasts are generally more acidic and can have delicate floral and fruity flavors that highlight the innate characteristics of the coffee.

Medium roast

A medium roast is a blurry and subjective category that ranges just a bit longer past first crack than a light roast all the way up until before the “second crack,” (a less intense popping sound that is associated with the structure of the bean degrading and cracking). Because of the great variability of this roast category, a medium roasted coffee can express a wide range of flavors, though they will often have varying degrees of caramel and chocolate notes.

Dark roast

This coffee is roasted past “second crack” and results in dark brown to black coffee beans. The trademark sign of a dark roast is oil on the exterior of the beans. This coffee exhibits the fullest body and a chocolate, smoky, and more bitter profile that results from the long roasting process. Because dark roasted coffee is heated to the point of degradation of bean structure, the innate characteristics of the coffee bean are pretty much nonexistent, and you will often find that most dark roasts taste the same. Roasting dark is a great way to utilize coffee that may have more defects.

Want to learn more about roasting? Check out our blog we wrote on it!

Storage

How should you store your roasted coffee? In an air tight or airless container. Check out some of our favorites here. Enjoy your coffee within 3-6 weeks of it’s roast date (and don’t buy coffee without a roast date!). If you’re going to hang on to it for longer, freeze it. Frozen coffee will last a long time; if you vac pac and then freeze it, it will taste fresh indefinitely. 

Acidity

Alkaloids

Arabica

Balance

Bar of Pressure

Beneficio

Blend

Body

Bourbon

Brightness

Caffeine

Cinnamon Roast

City Roast

Coffea

Coffee Cherry

Cold Brew

Consolidator

Cultivar

Cupping

Dark Roast

Direct Trade

Distribution

Dry Mill

Dry Processing

Espresso

Espresso Neat

Eugenoides

Exporter

Extraction

Fair Trade

Fermentation

Flavor

French Press

French Roast

Full City Roast

Full Immersion

Grinding

Hectare

Importer

Italian Roast

Liberica

Light Roast

Macchina

Macinatura

Mano

Medium Roast

Miscela

Mouthfeel

Neat

Particle Distribution

Percolation

Pour Over

Preinfusion

Pressure

Processing

Roast

Robusta

Shot

Single Origin

Stockfleth

Tamper

Tamping

Taste

TDS

Typica

Total Dissolved Solids

Varietal

Wet Mill

Wet Processing