The Process of Coffee Production

Coffee berries and their seeds undergo lots of steps before becoming the roasted coffee we are familiar with.

First, coffee berries are picked, generally by hand. Then, the flesh of the berry is removed, usually by machine, and the seeds, or beans, are fermented to remove the slimy layer of mucilage still present on the bean. When the fermentation is finished, the beans are washed with large quantities of fresh water to remove the fermentation residue. Finally the seeds are dried and sorted and labelled as green coffee beans.

The next step in the process is the roasting of the green coffee.

Coffee is usually sold in a roasted state, and all coffee is roasted before it is consumed. It can be sold roasted by the supplier, or it can be home roasted. The roasting process influences the taste of the beverage by changing the coffee bean both physically and chemically. The bean decreases in weight as moisture is lost but increases in volume, causing it to become less dense. The density of the bean also influences the strength of the coffee and requirements for packaging.

The actual roasting begins when the temperature inside the bean reaches 200 °C (392 °F), though different varieties of beans differ in moisture and density and therefore roast at different rates. During roasting, caramelisation occurs as intense heat breaks down starches in the bean, changing them to simple sugars that begin to brown, changing the colour of the bean. Sucrose is rapidly lost during the roasting process and may disappear entirely in darker roasts.

During roasting, aromatic oils, acids, and caffeine weaken, changing the flavour; at 205 °C (400 °F), other oils start to develop. One of these oils is caffeol, created at about 200 °C (392 °F), which is largely responsible for coffee's aroma and flavour.

Depending on the colour of the roasted beans, they will be labelled as light, cinnamon, medium, high, city, full city, French, or Italian roast. Darker roasts are generally smoother, because they have less fibre content and a more sugary flavour. Lighter roasts have more caffeine, resulting in a slight bitterness, and a stronger flavour from aromatic oils and acids destroyed by longer roasting times. A small amount of chaff is produced during roasting from the skin left on the bean after processing. Chaff is usually removed from the beans by air movement, though a small amount is added to dark roast coffees to soak up oils on the beans.

Decaffeination may also be part of the processing that coffee seeds undergo. Seeds are decaffeinated when they are still green. Many methods can remove caffeine from coffee, but all involve either soaking beans in hot water or steaming them, then using a solvent to dissolve caffeine-containing oils. Decaffeination is often done by processing companies, and the extracted caffeine is usually sold to the pharmaceutical industry.

Once roasted, coffee beans must be stored properly to preserve the fresh taste of the bean. Ideal conditions are air-tight and cool. Air, moisture, heat and light are the environmental factors in order of importance to preserving flavour in coffee beans.

Source: wikipedia