“I would like to share with you a little information on what I have researched regarding coffee production. Being a certified coffee lover (I can’t live without it…hehe), I have every interest to learn significant information on how it is produced and become available in the market beyond just savoring its richness and aroma.
Varieties of coffee are robusta, arabica, excelsa and liberica. This crop requires rich soil, a well-distributed rainfall throughout the year and sufficient sunlight. Coffee may be propagated from seedlings or through asexual propagation. It is important to select the seeds of high-yielding trees in order to have the best yields. Asexual propagation is through the use of clones where part of the coffee plant is made to produce an offspring with exact qualities of the parent plant. This type of propagation offers a quicker return on investment. After a seedling is produced, it is now ready for transplanting, then, flowering occurs three to four years after. During this stage, proper care of the coffee tree is required. This includes fertilization, pruning before flowering and after harvest to provide better aeration and light penetration. To protect the crop, it is necessary to apply pest and disease control. At the time the coffee cherries are bright red, glossy and firm, it is now ready for harvest. Usually, this is done during the dry season.
Harvesting can be done in various ways: by handpicking, stripping or the use of a harvesting machine. However, individually handpicking is recommended to obtain the best coffee beans. The next step is pulping. In this stage, the green is separated from the ripe cherries with the use of the pulping machine. Then the pulped cherries are femented for 16 to 36 hours to remove mucilage before drying. Sundrying is essential to attain good coffee quality which is usually done in large patios. Dried parchment coffee has now an attractive golden yellow color which is known as the pergamino coffee. It will now be sorted by its color and density and graded according to the standards of a quality coffee.
This is how the best coffee beans are being produced. Simple as it may seem, yet, only a few knows about it. Hope you find it informative and useful. Enjoy!”
“All About The Coffee Tree” was originally posted by Jade Mae @ www.globalbusinesspoint.net on Sept. 6 ‘08.
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