What is coffee and the stages from beans to your cup?
Coffee:
coffee is a brewed drink. So, It prepares from roasted coffee beans. The flavors of coffee depend upon varying of roasting. This beverage has popularity, because of its energetic quality.
Coffee beans like a seed:
Coffee beans are the main source of coffee. It is a seed of the coffee plant. Coffee beans grow on trees. Beans have different shapes, sizes, and colors.
All these factors depend on the climate conditions. In reality, they are not beans but they just look like. Beans grow on trees and show resemblance with seed, or pit of the fruit. The coffee trees produce bright red fruit which is unique as coffee cherries. Coffee beans’ color urged to ask them coffee cherries because they have bright red and purple color like cherries.
How do coffee beans produce?
Coffee beans plant:
The branches of coffee plants cover with dark green waxy leaves. These branches are growing in pairs with coffee cherries. Coffee plants require sunlight and enjoy a steamy environment. In the beginning season of the plantation, they require heavy rain. The plants will start flowering in the following 3 to 5 years.
Availability of coffee plant:
Coffee plants are available in different varieties according to their structure. They are showing more production during the age of 7 and 20. At the start, they are green in color. But when mature, they may finish up with brown leaves. Coffee plants demanded the average temperature for growing is between 70 to 80-degrees Fahrenheit in a daytime.
Conversion from seed plant to Tree:
As earlier described, the coffee bean is a seed. These seeds through the process convert from plant to coffee tree. To brew coffee, the seed processes through pulping, roasting, and grounding. Then like any other seeds, coffee beans a seed used to grow a whole tree.
Conditions for maximum growth:
Coffee plants require a particular environment to grow as healthy and strong plants. Some specific conditions are they will be watered properly and retain safe from the anxious elements which are harmful to their growth. Nurseries must establish for coffee seedlings to make them strong and ready for the plant. The seedlings will remain in nurseries for more than 15 months. This period is most crucial for planting the seedlings. Then, A newly planted coffee tree takes up to 4 years to give coffee cherries.
The Coffee cherries:
The coffee cherry has different parts. Its composition is very complex. The coffee tree normally 16 to 33 feet in height. The rainy season is the most favored for cherries at the development of fruits and less suitable during the ripening of fruits. The coffee tree contains more fruits and leaves when it goes too old.
The flavor of Cherries:
When coffee cherries fully mature they turn bright red, orange, or yellow from green beans. The formation of coffee beans through different processes makes their taste different from all beverages. The flavor of these coffee cherries depends upon their varieties. Most of them sweet as honey and some have herbal and berries-like tastes.
How is coffee harvesting occur?
Yielding process:
Coffee cherries take almost 9 months to mature and ready for and ready for harvesting. There are two types of coffee yielding: strip picking and selective picking.
Strip picking:
It is a very fast method of yielding the cherries. In strip picking, we can strip off all the cherries from the branches at one time. This can do either by machine or hand. One of the benefits of strip yielding is that it needs less time to complete. And one of the main disadvantages of this process is that we get mature and immature fruit as a result of yielding.
Selective picking:
Red cherries harvest during selective pricking. During this process, we select only the ripest fruits of coffee and leave the unripe fruits of coffee on the tree. The disadvantages of this are that it requires many people or more cost for harvesting. The cherries of coffee pick by hand. With the help of good workers, we can produce 100 to 200 pounds of coffee cherries in a day. This process then moves to the processing of the plant.
What Are The Methods of Coffee Processing?
Methods of Coffee Processing:
As we have picked the coffee, the method of processing must start as soon as possible to inhibit fruit spoilage. There are three methods through which the processing of coffee occurs: washed, natural, and honey.
Washing Method:
Firstly, we have used the pulping machine to Separate the cherries’ skin and pulp from the beans. Then these beans pass through the water channel. In this, the lighter beans float on the water and heavier beans sink in the bottom of the channel.
After this separation, the beans passed through the water-filled tank. We are using water as a cleaning agent. From this method, we get the best quality coffee that is ready for drying. If the beans process through washing then considers it as wash coffee.
Natural Method :
The other name of the natural method is the dry process or unwashed process. This method used in those countries where water resources are finite. Because the natural method is the old-age processing method of coffee. At the start, the coffee fruits stretch out in the sun. It is a cheap and simple method of producing low-quality coffee.
The dry method requires a vast surface and enough light for achieving the desired coffee. No other raw material need for drying. The positive point of this method is that beans absorb the sweet and fruity qualities of cherry. According to weather conditions, it can take 3 to 4 weeks and the husk of cherry removed after this period.
Honey Method:
The honey process is a method in which less water use to prepare it. In many cases, this method enables the coffee cherries to dry without washing. after this, The stability between the original taste of beans and the sweetness of cherries can achieve through this process.
Yellow, Red, and Black Honey Method:
During the honey method, when we are drying the coffee beans, and let them for fermentation. In this way, golden yellow color beans oxidize firstly. Yellow honey harvests in the summer season with a sweet flavor. Then we get red color beans after further oxidizing. At last, we acquire black color, honey. Black honey strong and flavor full than others. Honey should store in a dry and safe place. Because unsuitable storage methods can cause problems.
Testing Process
Within the whole process, coffee tests continually for quality searching. This tasting technique referred to as coffee cupping. The steps use to taste coffee are smell, slurp, experience flavor on the tongue, and description. Experts taste hundreds of samples of coffee and then decide which is better than others. The basic elements of taste acidity, bitterness, sweetness, saltiness, and sourness. All of these processes use for tasting then we can attain the best flavor of the coffee.
Roasting Process
The process of modifying green beans into brown beans is the roasting process. Roasting is a very essential process to determine the flavor of the coffee. Because green coffee beans don’t have a smell like coffee. During roasting, beans are passing through the different burning stages.
Stages of Roasting :
There are three stages of roasting. All of them use to produce an original taste of coffee. The name of these stages is the dry stage, browning stage, and development stage. We must keep away from the chemicals released from the roasting process. Because they may cause lung disease.
Temperature For Coffee Roasting:
195 degrees F to 205 degrees F can consider the ideal brewing temperature for roasting. When you start roasting, don’t forget to see that all the beans remain regular in motion. The temperature is sufficient for darker and lighter roasted coffee. Darker roasted coffee is less soluble as compared to lighter roasted coffee. After the roasting process, the beans refresh through air and water.
Grinding Process
The main grinding of coffee is medium-coarse grounds, medium grounds, medium-fine grounds, fine grounds, and superfine grounds. But the best coffee grind is the medium-coarse grind. Proper grind is very essential for getting the best desire flavor of coffee in a cup. The coffee brewing process is very necessary for grinding. In another word, we can say that the grinding process depends on the brewing types. Because of the ignorance of this process, grind size can change the taste of coffee and convert it from a unique flavor to a bitter taste.
Methods of Grinding:
For brewing, you can choose the four methods of grinding: Burr-grinding, Chopping, Pounding, and Roller grinding. By applying all these methods, your coffee will change in flavorful and delicious taste. Therefore, You should make sure about the grinding method which you choose is right for your coffee maker or not. You can find the best grinder with experiments. Because each shows different qualities such as consistency, size, cost, capacity, speed, and heat.
Brewing Process
Many different methods used for brewing. Here we explain some categories of brewing.
Coffee Filtration:
In this procedure, hot and cold water is passing through the coffee for filtration. Most coffee-making experts use cold water for filtration. Because when we use hot water the temperature needs to be between 195 F degree to 205 F degree.
Steeping of Coffee:
Steeping is a technique in which dry ingredients mix with hot water to make intense flavor coffee after boiling. Because this is an easy way to produce stronger and desire flavor coffee.
Pressure:
Firstly, High-pressure requires for extracting more flavors of coffee beans. In this process, we utilize the pressure of air to brew coffee. Delonghi coffee machine, Mocha pot, Nespresso Essenza coffee machine, and espresso machine consider the best machine that works with this method.
Boiling:
This is an old and traditional method used in the preparation of coffee. As the name indicates, coffee boils with water until two minutes. Then remove the pot from the heat because it may lead to over-extraction or show complexity. So the boiling method will make the coffee bitter in taste.