Coffee Production Process

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Elevation: 1,200 – 1,350 meters above sea level Temperature: 18° C

Average rainfall: 2,600 – 2800mm a year

Cultivar: Caturra, Red Catuai, Yellow Maracaturra Farm Size: 25 Hectares

Preparation: Washed, Natural

4.2 Coffee Production Process.

“Las Colinas Estates” will provide their international buyers high-quality coffee following two techniques washed and Natural. The former will be done in those varietal in which we are expecting to have a coffee cup grade between 80 and 85 according to the parameters established by the SCAA; the latter will be done in varietals such as Caturra, Catuai and Yellow Maracaturra in which we are expecting to get scores above 85.

4.2.1 Washed Coffee

Washed Coffee is the most common technique to process coffee in Central America. However, improvements in each step, quality control of the physical and chemical variables as well as the implementation of new technologies are now a trend among the coffee estates. The Washed Coffee process is described as it occurred in our Estates:

Harvesting – occurs between December and March when ripe cherries are meticulously handpicked by the collaborators that have been working with us since we owned the Estates.

The ripe cherries are deposited in a wet mill and then they are weighted.

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Ripe and unripe cherries classification – The ripe cherries are separated from the unripe ones by density in a tank with water. The former will precipitate and the later will float on the water.

Pulping – The selected cherries are then pulped using machinery designed exclusively for this process. These machines removes the skin from each cherry. The water used in this process is treated in oxidation ponds, and the pulp is used to make organic fertilizer. The coffee beans now are just covered by a substance called mucilage.

Fermentation – Mucilage is insoluble in water and clings to parchment too strongly which make the process to remove it from the coffee beans hard by simple washing. Therefore, after pulping, the coffee beans are sent to a fermentation tank. The coffee will rest for 24 hours, enough time for the mucilage to decompose into components easy to wash.

Washing – After the fermentation process is completed, the coffee beans are taken to channels where it is manually washed. During this process, coffee beans with defects will be separated by the action of the water. The water used in this process then will be treated in oxidation ponds.

Drying – The coffee after being washed, is sun-air-dried in the patios of the Estate. In this process, well-trained women carefully remove those coffee beans with imperfections. The coffee beans are dried until their moisture is reduced to 46%. This process can take from 5 to 8 hours. Once this process is completed, the coffee beans are transported to a Dry-Mill located 40 Km away from the Estates.

In the Dry Mill, the coffee beans are sun-dried until they reach 12% of moisture. Then the parchment of the coffee beans is mechanically removed. In this facility, the coffee beans are also classified by defects and non-defects, shape and weight. After these activities are done, the coffee beans are packaged and ready to export. “Las Colinas Estates” will outsource this process since we don’t have the facilities to do it. Nevertheless, the accomplishment of the quality standards of these processes will be ensured by hiring an intendant to supervise the activities.

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4.2.2 Natural Coffee

Naturally processed coffee implies that the whole cherry is dried together (pulp, parchment and bean). The entire hull (dried pulp and parchment) is then removed mechanically to obtain green coffee. This process is less common among the coffee Estates, but it is a secure source of Specialty Coffee.

Harvesting – The harvesting process for Natural Coffee is the same as it was explained for Washed Coffee in the previous section, but it has some differences. The ripe cherries must have 22 to 23 Brix degrees to be handpicked. Therefore, some test must be performed on the coffee cherries to decide the optimal time to proceed with the harvest.

Ripe and unripe cherries classification – The ripe cherries are separated from the unripe ones by density in a tank with water. The former will precipitate and the latter will float on the water. For the Natural process, this is a critical control point because it is strictly required that only ripe cherries with a homogenous color pass to the next step.

Ripe Cherries Drying process – The ripe cherries that present a homogenous color are then transported to the drying tunnel (facilities located in the Estate and that are built of transparent plastic to avoid the direct contact of the cherries with the sunlight) where the cherries will dry from the inside of the coffee beans to the outside. The cherries turn from red to brown to near-black, and the moisture drops to 12%. In the tunnels the temperature is kept between 28° and 30° C and this process will take between 15 and 20 days.

When the cherries reach the optimal moisture, the coffee is sent to the Dry-Mill where it is processed following the activities described before. In Figure 7 a flow chart summarizes the process explained for Washed and Natural Coffee.

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Figure 7. Flow Chart for processing coffee. Left: Washed Coffee. Right: Natural Coffee

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