Processing Coffee - From The Root To The Fruit

It may come as a shock to you, but what you've probably have been calling coffee beans all of your life really isn't a bean. It is in fact the seeds that are produced from the coffee plant. These seeds are contained within what is called the cherry or the fruit of the plant and is the

substance of which we get our coffee.

The taste or flavor of your favorite cup of coffee is determined by the characteristic of the plant the seeds or beans came from. One of the more important things that determines it's taste is the amount of

caffeine present. Upwards of 80% of the coffee consumed in the world is from the Arabica species which contains .8 - 1.4% caffeine. Robusta makes up about twenty percent of coffee produced and has a caffeine content range of 1.7 - 4%. Brazil exports the most coffee in the world followed by Vietnam.

The processing of coffee is done immediately after harvesting to protect its flavor. There are two types of processing coffee which is a dry and wet technique. I want go into detail here but both involves a way of removing the seeds from the cherries as carefully as possible. The cherries are then sent to plants were they are used to make fertilizer. The seed is grounded for use in making your coffee, espresso, etc. There is a difference in beans used for coffee and espresso but the processing

is basically the same. The main difference is that espresso beans are a combination of beans.

The final taste of your coffee may have been influenced by flavoring oils. Today there is a demand for many flavors of coffee and natural oils are mostly used to achieve this. Some coffee take out

houses just use a regular roast and have the oils on hand for you to make the flavored coffee that suits your tastes.

Flavoring coffee is great but nothing can take away from the pure natural flavor of coffee. This is achieved by the farmers who carefully grow the crop and is greatly influenced by the weather in the region of the world in which it is grown. As stated earlier the particular beans that the coffee is derived from greatly influences it's final taste as well as the way it is processed. Last but not least is the roasting of the coffee which brings all the natural flavors together before it's ready to be consumed. Roasted (cooked coffee) has a shorter shelf life than unroasted (green) coffee so it is usually a process that is performed close to coffee distribution points. After this process is complete the coffee is canned and is ready for the end user to brew at home and in restaurants.

You now know the process by which coffee is processed and made ready for the end consumer. I hope this information will be helpful and helping you choose where your next cup of coffee will come from. Don't forget that the last step in this whole process is the brewing process. That's where you come in with the decision as to whether to buy a ready made cup of coffee or trying your hand at brewing the perfect cup of coffee at home.