For a coffee bean to become specialty-grade is no easy feat. From variety, origin, and microclimate to the careful cultivation of the coffee farmer, every step influences the final flavor. But even when plump red cherries are produced, not every single one can advance to specialty coffee status. Harvesting, judging ripeness, removing defects, and green bean processing—every hurdle must be cleared. This article takes you through the complete journey of this magical fruit, from branch to cup, so you can better appreciate how hard-won the coffee in your hands truly is.

When this bean has an excellent variety and is planted in a region most suited to nurturing aromatic spirits,

Different altitudes, soils, and microclimates, combined with the meticulous care of the coffee farmer, allow it to thrive and bear abundant fruit.

BUT! Not all red cherries can become a specialty coffee bean!

Today let's talk about what trials this magical fruit must go through to become specialty coffee!

Harvesting

First, it must be a ripe red cherry. If the coffee farmer, for convenience, picks all the cherries regardless of whether they are ripe,

the resulting coffee will be sour and astringent, because underripe coffee beans contain high concentrations of citric acid and chlorogenic acid.

Ripening

This is just like fruit—if eaten before it ripens, it will inevitably taste sour and astringent. Once ripe, the organic acids in the fruit convert into sugars, making it sweet and delicious.

The same principle applies to coffee cherries. In a ripe red coffee cherry, the sugars contained in the pulp and parchment have fully permeated into the bean, greatly enhancing the coffee bean's floral and fruity aromas. Sweetness is also higher, and sourness and astringency are less pronounced.

Removal

Once the coffee cherries are harvested, not a moment can be wasted—they must be sent to the processing plant the same day for a new round of removal. The simplest and most effective method is to pour all the cherries into a large water tank. Ripe red cherries and nearly ripe cherries are heavier and will sink to the bottom, while underdeveloped small cherries, overripe bad cherries, damaged rotten cherries, branches and leaves, and other lighter debris will float on the surface.

Processing

After this screening, the sunken beans in the tank—the better beans—enter the next stage of processing, namely sun-drying, washing, and other processing methods. (Want to know more processing methods? Reply "coffee beans" to view them.) As for which method to use, it depends on the local climate conditions. If the producing region has a dry climate and lacks water, the sun-dried or semi-sun-dried method is used. If the producing region is rich in water sources but has a humid climate prone to mold, the washed or semi-washed method is more suitable.

Structure

This magical red cherry, from outside to inside, can be divided into: skin, pulp, mucilage layer, parchment, silver skin, and coffee bean. The so-called sun-dried, washed, and other processing methods are all about removing the coffee cherry's skin, pulp, and mucilage layer together, extracting the pod that encloses the coffee, then drying and maturing it to stabilize the bean's character. Before export, the parchment is ground off.

Parchment

This seemingly simple step is actually the most difficult. Because the parchment is coated with a layer of transparent mucilage, which is rich in fructose, glucose, and sucrose. It is extremely sticky and does not dissolve easily in water. It can easily rot during fermentation and release a pungent odor, contaminating the coffee beans inside the parchment.

The critical importance of cherry-picking and bean-extraction techniques to specialty coffee is self-evident. When handled properly, the coffee bean's flavor is perfectly preserved within the bean. But once there is any negligence, even the best red cherries will turn into foul-smelling beans.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.