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Coffee Facts |
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The coffee plant has one flowering and one crop per year. The annual harvest in Tropical Australia occurs between June and September. Initially the tree bears white flowers very similar to a jasmine. The coffee cherry sets in clusters along the branches of the bush. They are first green, ripen to a cherry red and if over ripe, turn black.
Information provided by The Coffee Works
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| The Bean .....
The coffee plant has one flowering and one crop per year. The annual harvest in Tropical Australia occurs between June and September. Initially the tree bears white flowers very similar to a jasmine. The coffee cherry sets in clusters along the branches of the bush. They are first green, ripen to a cherry red and if over ripe, turn black. |
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The coffee beans we roast are the seeds from the ripe red cherry. Each cherry contains 2 seeds, flat sides facing each other.
After harvest the cherries are processed by either DRY or WET PROCESSING to remove the seed (the raw green coffee bean) from the ripe red coffee cherry. |
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Wet Processing .....
Almost all of the "A grade" Arabica coffee grown worldwide is wet processed and is termed "Washed" Arabica bean. |
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Separating and Pulping
After harvesting green, red and black cherries are soaked in large tanks of water.
The black cherries are over ripe light weight and consequently float. They are skimmed off and sold as a different style of coffee known as "Bundi".
Red and green cherries sink into the tanks. The seeds of the ripe red cherries are then separated from the green cherries by pushing the mass of red and green cherries against a mesh screen.
Water pressure forces the red cherries softened by soaking to pop through the mesh screen away from the hard green cherries which are too large to fit through the mesh screen.
Pulped seeds from the red cherry are washed and dried in large grain dryers to a moisture content of approximately 11%. The dried seeds are hulled to remove the last final casing from the cherry and graded ready for sale on the world coffee market |
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Dry Processing .....
This traditional form of processing is used by countries which hand pick coffee. Coffee is mechanically harvested in Tropical North Queensland. |
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Red, green and black cherries are laid out in the sun to dry for 5-6 weeks.
The seeds within the dried cherries are removed by hulling the dried cherry casing from the seeds. Dry processed coffee is termed "Natural" or "Unwashed" Arabica green bean.
Dry processing is not the preferred method for mechanically harvested coffee because there is no way of separating the red, green and black cherries. This adversely affects the cupping quality of the end product, the coffee bean. |
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