Washed Coffee Is Not What You Think!

Once the coffee cherry has been de-pulped a sticky residue remains from the sweet pulp of the cherry that surrounds the coffee beans. Typically, the beans are left in water for 24 to 36 hours, as the fermentation loosens the pulp leaving the bean ready for drying. This process is known as "washing" as it helps liquefy the pulp which otherwise would be very difficult to remove.

The "washing" of the green coffee beans is traditional, and is the preferred process for removal of the pulp. However, what is not commonly understood is that the water becomes a contaminate and it is not normally disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. So this brings up how desirable it is to wash the coffee in the first place, since it can be processed unwashed.

Once the beans are dry, with no more than 12% humidity while in the pergamino stage, which simply means the "shell" has not been removed, they are then ready for the final process which is peeling the shell off as well as the thin, silver skin that is the last piece that needs to be removed to expose the green coffee.

Of course, there is much hand sorting and cleaning of dried cherry residue that gets mixed in with the beans when they are de-pulped. There is also the need to remove "peaberry" beans, which are those beans that were single in the cherry. These are seen as defects in Ecuador, while other countries offer these beans at a premium.

Then there is a great deal of difference in the size of the beans, and they are once again sorted to create a uniform size, usually what is known as a screen 18. Getting coffee ready for the last processes is done by hand and labor intensive for small farmers.

Once the green bean is exposed and the outer shell removed it should also have no more humidity than 12% to be ready for shipping. The green coffee at last is placed in sisal bags weighing 100 lbs. ready to be containerized for shipping by sea to ports in the U.S. such as New Orleans, Tampa, Miami, Oakland and others.

Once the green coffee enters the ports in the U.S. it passes through customs and goes to large, climate controlled warehouses where it stays until orders are received. Green coffee can last up to two years as long as climate is under control and it is not exposed to excessive heat or light, and pests of all kinds are kept under control. This becomes even more critical when the coffee has been certified "Organic," as no chemicals can be present in the warehouse.