You’re about to follow the amazing journey of the coffee bean, which travels over 7,000 miles from a tiny seed to your breakfast table.
It starts in shaded nurseries where seeds grow into seedlings, cared for 9-18 months before being moved.
As the plant grows, it blooms with white flowers that turn into ripe, bright red cherries in 3-4 months.
Then, workers hand-pick the cherries, process them, dry them, and mill them into green coffee beans.
This is just the beginning of their journey.
- Coffee seeds germinate in shaded nurseries during the wet season, taking 4-8 weeks to sprout and grow roots.
- After 9-18 months of care, young coffee plants bloom with sweet-smelling white flowers that turn into coffee cherries.
- Ripe, bright red cherries are hand-picked, then undergo processing methods like Dry or Wet Method to remove pulp and skin.
- Drying coffee beans to 11% moisture level is crucial for flavor and mold prevention, with sun-drying and machine drying as common methods.
- Finally, green coffee beans are hulled, sorted, packaged, and shipped to countries like the United States, where they will be roasted and brewed.
Seed Germination and Growth
When you start learning about coffee production, you’ll find that it all begins with seed germination. This happens in shaded nurseries during the wet season. Coffee seeds sprout and grow roots in just 4-8 weeks.
This is a very important stage because it’s when the coffee plant’s life starts. The nursery helps the young seedlings grow by giving them the perfect conditions. Once the seedlings are about 24 inches tall, they move to raised beds or containers. Here, they keep growing with lots of care.
It takes about 9-18 months of attention before the seedlings are strong enough to grow on their own. This process needs patience and love, but the result is a healthy coffee plant ready to thrive in its new home.
Source – YouTube
Cherry Development and Maturation
After taking care of the young coffee plants for almost two years, you’ll see them bloom with sweet-smelling white flowers. These flowers will turn into coffee cherries.
This is an important time in the coffee plant’s life. The green cherries will grow and in about 3-4 months, they’ll become ripe, bright red cherries ready to pick. Watching the cherries change color is a beautiful sight.
It’s an exciting time because all the hard work of the coffee plant is finally showing. The plant uses its energy to make the cherries perfect for harvesting. Once the cherries are ripe, you’ll know it’s almost time to pick them.
But that’s a story for another day. For now, enjoy seeing your coffee plant grow and the amazing cherry development process.
Harvesting and Processing Methods
Your coffee plants are ready, and now it’s time for you to harvest and process the coffee cherries. First, you’ll pick the ripe cherries by hand. A good picker can gather 100 to 200 pounds of cherries in a day.
Next, you need to choose how to process them to get the best taste. You have two main choices:
- Dry Method: Lay the cherries out in the sun to dry. This gives the coffee a fruity and complex flavor.
- Wet Method: Remove the pulp from the cherries before drying them. This makes the coffee taste cleaner.
The way you process the cherries will change how your coffee tastes, so pick carefully!
After choosing a method, the beans will go through hulling, polishing, grading, and sorting before they’re sent around the world.
If you use the Wet Method, dry the beans until they’ve 11% moisture. If you use the Dry Method, rake the cherries often while they dry in the sun.
Your choice and care during harvesting and processing will create the unique flavor of your coffee.
Drying and Milling the Beans
Now that your carefully picked and processed coffee cherries have reached the right moisture levels, it’s time to dry and mill the beans to get them ready for roasting.
This is where the magic happens! Drying is important to stop mold from growing and to keep the beans’ flavor. You should dry them to an 11% moisture level for storage. There are two common ways to dry the beans: sun-drying on surfaces or using a machine. Machine-drying is faster, but sun-drying is more traditional and better for the environment.
After drying, the beans are called parchment coffee because they still have the husk and parchment skin. Next, you need to grade and sort the beans by size and weight. This is when you remove the bad beans so only the best ones stay.
Preparing for Export and Shipping
After drying and milling, the green coffee beans are ready for export and shipping. To make sure only the best beans are sent out, they go through hulling, sorting, and packaging.
In this stage, the beans go through several steps:
- Hulling: removing the parchment layer to show the green coffee bean
- Sorting: workers handpick the best beans
- Packaging: placing the beans in sisal or jute bags for export
Once ready, these beans travel to many countries. More than a third of the world’s coffee goes to the United States.
Roasting and Brewing the Coffee
To get the best flavors from your green coffee beans, you need to roast them carefully. Roasting means heating the beans to about 550 degrees Fahrenheit in special machines. You have to keep the beans moving so they don’t burn and roast evenly. This step is important to bring out the tasty flavors and smells in your coffee.
After roasting the beans just right, it’s time to grind them. You need to choose the right grind size depending on how you’ll brew your coffee. Whether you use a French press, drip coffee maker, or espresso machine, the grind size is key to getting the best taste.
For example, espresso machines use high pressure (132 pounds per square inch) to get the flavors out of the ground coffee. With the right roast, grind, and brewing method, you can enjoy a perfect cup of coffee.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Life Cycle of a Coffee Bean?
Curious about your coffee? It starts as seeds, then grows into trees. The trees produce cherries that ripen and get picked. After harvesting, the cherries are processed and checked for quality. Finally, they become the tasty coffee in your cup!
What Is the Production Cycle of Coffee Beans?
Curious about how coffee beans are made? It takes 3-4 years from seed to shelf. Farmers carefully harvest, process, hull, sort, grade, and export the beans. It’s a lot of hard work, but it results in the coffee you love!
What Is the Life Cycle of a Coffee Tree?
A coffee tree lives for about 50-60 years. It spends the first 3-4 years growing before it starts to produce fruit. In another 5 years, it becomes fully mature.
What Is the Journey of a Coffee Bean?
Get ready to follow the journey of a coffee bean! It starts in a nursery, then moves through harvesting, processing, and export before ending up in your morning cup. It’s a fascinating adventure from start to finish!
