Coffee is an agricultural product grown seasonally in places not close to those of us who live far from the equator. Each bean has a long journey to travel with many stops along the way, and many iterations – seedling, tree, coffee cherries, green coffee, and finally ground coffee beans with tantalizing aromatics.
Nursery
Before a coffee plant is planted in the field, the seedling is nurtured in a nursery. Some coffee farmers maintain nurseries on their farms, while others purchase small coffee trees from nurseries.
Field
Once the coffee tree is planted in the field, it needs sunlight, shade, water, and nutrients to grow. This maturation period lasts at least 3 years before the tree is bearing enough fruit to be picked. The trees will eventually grow to be 8 to 10 feet tall. Before the fruit grows on the tree (the “coffee cherries”) the trees will blossom with white flowers and pollinate. This occurs yearly, and in some cases twice a year.
Processing Station
Once the cherries are ripe they are hand picked in most cases. The cherries are collected in bags and delivered that same day to a processing center. Here the cherries are depulped, exposing the seed surrounded by mucilage. This is then fermented and washed cleaned with water the following day. In the case of naturals, the cherries are simply laid out to dry. This step takes 1-2 weeks, but continues for a few months throughout the harvest season.
Dry Mill
The beans' next stop is the dry mill. It goes here once the moisture levels have dried out to below 12%. In order to prep the bean for export, the husk and parchment must be removed at the dry mill. Husk in the case of naturals, and parchment in the case of washed coffees. The green coffee is then bagged into grainpro lined burlap bags weighing 132-154 lbs. These sacks are stacked high in warehouses awaiting shipment. Coffee will begin shipping as soon as 2 months after it has been harvested.
Boat
Most coffee travels by way of boat in a shipping container. These containers can fit about 300 bags of coffee, all stacked to the brim.
Warehouse
After a few weeks' journey, the coffee is cleared through customs and unloaded. The receiving warehouses load the coffee onto pallets and stack it in their warehouse until us roasters place our orders to release the coffee. Our goal is to not have our coffee sit here for more than 6 months before we roast it.
Roastery
By way of semi-trucks, pallets holding 10 bags each deliver the coffee to the roastery. Here we take the green coffee and do what turns it into its final form that we know and love – roasted coffee beans. After taking a hot 14 minute tumble ride in our roaster, the beans come out toasty with tantalizing aromatics.
Your cup
We take these fresh roasted beans, package them up and ship them out to you to be enjoyed. They’ve endured a lot by this point, but when all goes right they still have a lot to give. Their greatest gift of all is the bouquet of flavor and aromas they give off when you grind and brew them – all thanks to everything done right proceeding that moment.
