Quality Processing Ensures Quality Coffee: How Processing Methods Alter The Taste of Coffee

 For hundreds of years, coffee growers have been processing their coffees in mechanical ways, choosing options that are efficient and practical, however, they do not always understand the effect they are having on their product.

Many of the processing practices they use create a quality product, hence why the specialty coffee market is quickly growing, but imagine the positive outcome that could occur if coffee farmers had the resources to care for and understand all the key aspects that are needed for quality processing.

The result: more beans would be treated well and higher quality coffees would be more abundant.

Quality of coffee can be altered based factors such as altitude, latitude, and the soil chemical make-up. Growing coffee outside the correct perimeters will drastically change the quality of the final outcome.

Generally, the best crops are produced at higher altitudes with rich soil, filled with phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium, and with temperate weather patterns. Without a quality bean, the hope of processing good coffee is impossible.

With all of these variables, a quality coffee crop is 80% a gift of God and 20% effort. The effort comes from the management of the plantation, fertilization of the soil, attention to details, planning for the surrounding environment, and then finally processing the matured cherries.

Each of these components are crucial and overlooking any of them could jeopardize the quality of the entire harvest.

The growth of a good crop is the most important factor when producing specialty coffee, but even the best beans can be ruined by poor processing. When using any grade of bean, good processing will only help to create the best cup of coffee possible.

When talking about different processing methods, there are three that hold the majority of the market: natural, washed, and honey process. There are other more experimental or hybrid ways to treat the coffee cherry depending where it originates from, but most coffee professionals stay true to the common three.

Natural process is the most common and the oldest version of processing in coffee world. Because of the fruity and sweeter notes that often indicate natural processing, it is currently the most popular in the specialty market. It is relatively simple in execution, but produces a complex flavor.

The order of operation begins with picking and sorting out the ripe and healthy cherries. They are then typically deposited on a raised bed to be raked and dried out. Once the cherry has been sufficiently dehydrated, without killing the embryo, they are taken to hulling for the skin and parchment to be removed.

The result is an outstanding bean that will have a complex profile of fruity and sweet notes with a round or creamy body. This combination is almost guaranteed to please any customer.

Washed process has been ruling the market for years. It consists of incredibly hard work, but has been known to produce worthwhile results.

Because of the water incorporated in the washed process, the coffee tends to have a cleaner and brighter taste than it’s natural counterpart. It begins the same way, by picking ripe cherries and sorting out the defects. After the cherries are sorted, they are mechanically depulped and fermented by sitting in water for anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The batch is then washed and put out to dry on patios or raised beds.

Many people prefer a washed coffee because of it is a reliably smooth cup of coffee with clean flavors and good acidity.

The final and least common processing method of the three is honey process. It is comparable to a half natural and half washed process, which results in an interesting and complex profile.

It is a relatively simple process that begins the same way. Ripe cherries are picked and sorted, depulped, and then are immediately taken out to dry. This allows for part of the cherry mucilage to remain on the bean until they are finally removed in hulling.

This results in a specific sweetness, a fruitiness of a natural, but the clean and stable acidic flavors of a washed coffee.

The world of coffee is expansive and complex, and there is much to learn and enjoy about this field. With more understanding of the coffee chain and the essential factors that go into creating a quality cup of coffee, the more likely it is that there will be a higher quality of execution and in the finished product.  

 Don’t stop drinking coffee and enjoy your moment.

The fourth generation of coffee growers – Nilton Perez

Do you like to do what you are doing now? What do you like, do not like, those questions are very subjective.

It’s like the coffee from different region has different flavor American, Asian, African, everyone has their own hobby horse.

It's not easy to conquer everyone's taste buds with just a cup of coffee 

Maybe because of many choices, the quality of coffee can never stop improving, getting better and better. 

Nothing is perfect, whether human being or coffee. Or being the one and only Mr/Ms Right. Compared to plants, people has the ability to think, to develop, to create, to change things.

Try your best to change from the thing you don’t like to whom you want to be. It is harder to keep the business than to start a business 

Today our coffee voyager, the third-generation coffee farmer from Guatemala is also a coffee planting nursery to share with us about how he grows in the coffee industry step by step and helps the family's estates to do better.

4th Generation Coffee Farmers

My name is Nilton Perez I am from Guatemala, I am fourth generation of coffeegrowers in Acatenango region, I have been related to coffee all my life, myfather move to the city with my mom so my brothers and I can study in a betterschool, when I finish my high school I enter to the university, to study Engineerin Agriculture, for 6 years, when I finish the university. 

I move to the farm to learn of my dad how to run a farm, he teach me all his knowledge of farming coffee. 

I was working in the farm for 5 years, and then I move to the city towork in a big company that has a lot of agricultural productions including coffee, so I notice that they produce a lot of coffee, but they don’t have any controlabout the coffee they were producing, so I propose to start a new project, of making a cupping lab and a roastery so we can have quality control and alsosell some roasted beans in the city.

So I start with the project and it was approved, so it was something new about thecoffee I didn’t know, so I hired a Cupper Master and he start teaching me allabout cupping coffee and Roasting coffee. 

I manage that project about eightyears when I receive an opportunity to move to another place a big andbeautiful farm in Antigua Guatemala to manage the quality control of the coffeeand the roastery so this was a beautiful experience. 

The Farm name was Filadelfia, a coffee resort that I always call theDisneyland of coffee farms,I was there for two years when I moved to the city to manage a cupping lab only for specialty coffees and micro lots, amazing coffees all around Guatemala, so I was working there when I receive a call from a good friend of mine so he ask me if I want to come to China to teach some coffee knowledge, and guess what was my answer? 

Now here I am working with coffee and having a great time sharing knowledge with different and friendly people that receive me very friendly way.

What were you doing before you ventured into the coffee industry?

I always have been involved in coffee, sobefore coming here I was selling roasted beans in the city from my farm and I’m still doing it and I was in charge of a cupping lab of quality control ofspecialty coffees of Guatemala, beans that where exported to different parts ofthe world

 Why “coffee”?

I think because is in my DNA all my family has coffee in our veins, for us islife. we love coffee and all the family is dedicated to coffee, my grandfatherstarts buying land to plant coffee and there was the beginning of a tradition. 

It’s been a beautiful experience working with coffee, giving work to a lot offamilies that depend on coffee, helping them to have better lives for theirfamilies, and working and believing that my family is blessed by God, to permit us to work with this amazing productthat is coffee. 

Not only to our families coffee is very important but for thehall Country is the main product that creates work and international incomes tothe country and also help the country environment because coffee farms are artificial forest that create a lot of pure oxygen and helps to the soil to keep it in good shape and for the water resources.

 I enjoy the roasting the most!

I think I love so much working with coffee but my favorite moment is when I’mroasting is the most relaxing and happy experience in coffee industry, I think all coffee chain is very important in all aspects but the part of the chain that I enjoy the most is roasting.

It is when coffee suffers a lot of changes and develop all the amazing characteristics it has inside is like he is sharing with us all the effort of the farmer and all the nature characteristics that God has created inside that beautiful bean, not only for the color the smelland all the sounds he make while the people is roasting the coffee, it’s nicejust by roasting you can tell that the coffee will give you all the amazingattributes that you can taste in a cup of coffee.

From your journey in the coffee industry, have you noticed anything that you would like to change?

Maybe some details related to standard things here everyone is toostrict with standards and sometimes with coffee we need to be more flexible and let coffee talk to us yes we need to understand coffee, is a natural productthat is constantly changing and the better way to understand coffee is to feel it, for an example when you are roasting coffee just to see the color sent the aroma you can notice that coffee is going to be good, a lot of changes areoccurring inside that bean and not always if works always the same way, so that’swhy I mean to be more flexible with standard and feel more the coffee.

 What would you be if everyone were to stop drinking coffee? why?

I would be roasting coffee and trying to convince people again that drinkingcoffee is not only a pleasure but a lifestyle. 

Also is very important to mention that we need to appreciate good coffees , weather is changing allaround the world and this is affecting a lot the quality for coffee, high temperatures, less rain water, not in time, diseases that were out of highland coffee farms now they are affecting quality in coffee.

So, in some years maybe in some countries is going to be hard to find specialty coffees so we need to appreciate the effort of all the people that is involved in the coffee chain because it really is a titanic effort to bring you a perfect and tasty cup ofcoffee.

Play football

I always like to practice some sports and my favorite sport would be play football with my friends.