FROM SEED TO CUP: FACTS & FIGURES

If you don't know beans about coffee, then “From Seed to Cup” is for you. In this section, you will come to learn coffee basics: What coffee is, how it is grown, harvested, processed, graded, roasted and blended. Also included are coffee trends and data on how Americans feel about coffee. 

WHAT IS COFFEE? 
                                                               
"Coffee" comes from the Latin form of the genus Coffea, a member of the Rubiaceae family which includes more than 500 genera and 6,000 species of tropical trees and
shrubs.

Eighteenth-century Swedish Botanist Carolus Linnaeus first described the genus but, to this day, botanists still disagree on the classification because of the wide variations that occur in coffee plants and seeds. Species of Coffea range from small shrubs to trees as tall as 32 feet high and the leaves can range in color from purple to yellow, however, green is the predominant color.

There are about 25 major species within Coffea, but the typical coffee drinker is likely to be familiar with two:  Coffea arabica (pronounced either a-rã-bik-a or ar-a-bë-ka and Coffea canephora (var. robusta).

Coffea arabica
Arabica represents approximately 70 percent of the world's coffee production. Arabica coffees are described either as "Brazils" (because they come from Brazil) or as
"Other Milds" which come from elsewhere. Typica and Bourbon are the two best known varieties of C. arabica, but many strains have been developed, including Caturra
 (from Brazil and Colombia), Mundo Novo (Brazil), Tico  (Central America), San Ramon and Jamaican Blue Mountain.

The arabica plant is typically a large bush with dark green, oval-shaped leaves that can reach a height of 14 to 20 feet fully grown. Its fruits are oval and usually contain two flat seeds.

After planting, arabica trees mature in 3 to 4 years, when they produce their first crop. The arabica plant can continue to produce fruits for 20 to 30 years. Arabica trees prefer a seasonal climate of 59-75 degrees Fahrenheit and an annual rainfall of 60 inches.

A hybrid of arabica, Maragogype -- called the elephant bean because of its large size -- originated from the Maragogype County in the Bahia state of Brazil. Today it is grown in Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil and Zaire.

Coffea canephora (C. canephora var. robusta)
Coffea canephora provides the robusta beans, the most widely grown variety of coffee. Robusta, which can grow up to 32 feet in height as a shrub or tree, has a shallow
root system. The fruits are round and take nearly a year to mature. The seeds are oval and smaller than the arabica beans. Robusta coffee is grown in West and Central Africa, throughout Southeast Asia, and parts of South America including Brazil, where it is known as Conilon.

Robusta trees produce their first crop 3 to 4 years after planting and they remain fruitful for 20 to 30 years. The trees prefer equatorial conditions with temperatures
between 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit and an annual rainfall of 60 inches.

The traditional way to grow coffee trees is to grow compatible trees nearby, to keep the coffee trees and their developing fruit from the sun. The modern techniques are to use irrigation systems and fertilizers. Coffee is grown on both large estates and in the smallest
of forest clearings.

THE 10 STEPS TO COFFEE 
                                                                 
There are 10 steps through which a coffee bean passes from seed to cup:

                           Harvesting the beans 
                           Processing the beans 
                           Drying the beans 
                           Hulling 
                           Polishing 
                           Grading and sorting 
                           Exporting the beans 
                           Tasting 
                           Roasting 
                           Grinding 


HARVESTING THE BEANS 
                                                                 
After three to four years, when they reach maturity, coffee trees bear fruit in lines or clusters along the branches of the trees. Referred to as a berry or cherry, this fruit turns red when it is ready to be harvested. Coffee beans are actually the seeds of these ripened
cherries. Most arabica cherries ripen after 6-8 months; robusta beans take between 9 and 11 months to ripen.

Beneath the cherries' red skin (exocar) is a fleshy pulp  (mesocarp), a slimy layer (parenchyma), and a parchment-like covering of the bean (endocarp). Inside these layers are usually two beans, which are covered by a thin membrane or coat. This membrane or seed skin (spermoderm), is referred to in the coffee trade as the “silver skin.”

Harvest times vary according to geographical zone, but typically there is only one harvest a year. North of the Equator, the harvest takes place between September and March. South of the Equator, the main harvest occurs in April or May, although it may last until August. In countries in which the division between wet and dry seasons is not clearly defined -- like Colombia and Kenya -- there may be two flowerings a year, therefore
permitting a main and a secondary crop. Equatorial countries can harvest fruit all year round.

The vast majority of coffee is harvested by hand in one of two ways: 1) strip picking or 
2) selective picking. Strip picking means the entire crop is picked in one pass.
Selective picking involves making several passes among the coffee trees at intervals of eight to 10 days so that only the fully ripe berries are taken. Selective picking is
more expensive and, when used, is used only for arabica beans.

On an average farm, pickers gather between 100 and 200 pounds of cherries per day. Of this total weight, 20 percent is actually bean (20 to 40 pounds). Coffee beans from the farm are bundled and shipped in 100 to 130 pound bags. Therefore it takes one picker three to six days to fill one bag.

PROCESSING THE BEANS 
                                                                 
Processing the beans, or preparing them for roasting, is done in one of two ways: 
) 	the dry method, 
) 	the wet method.

The Dry Method
This is the simplest, cheapest and most traditional method of processing coffee. The harvested cherries are spread over a concrete, brick or matting surface, ideally
in sunlight, and raked at regular intervals to prevent fermentation. If it rains or if the temperature falls, the cherries have to be covered for protection.

After about seven to 10 days, when the moisture content of each cherry will have fallen to about 12 percent, the cherries are dry. The outer shell will have become dark
brown and brittle, and the beans can be heard rattling around inside their husk.

The dried cherries are then stored in silos, where the beans continue to lose moisture.

The Wet Method
This method requires greater investment and more care than the dry method, but it causes less damage and helps to preserve the intrinsic qualities of the bean. The main difference between the two methods is that the wet method uses a procedure to remove the pulp from the bean within 12-24 hours of harvesting, instead of allowing the cherries to air dry.

Using a pulping machine, the beans are separated from the skin and pulp, which are washed away with water. The lighter, immature beans are separated from the
heavier, mature beans through specially designed washing channels or by an Aagaard pre-grader, a system involving shaking the beans through a strainer into a tank of water.

Next, the beans are stored in fermentation tanks for 12 to 48 hours, during which time enzymes work to naturally separate the slimy layer (parenchyma) from the parchment-like covering (endocarp). When the process is compete, the endocarp has a “pebbly” feel. Fermentation is usually carried out in concrete tanks, which vary considerably in size. The length of the fermentation process is based on the condition of the beans and the
climate's conditions. In regions of low altitude, fermentation time is short. At higher altitude, fermentation can take up to 48 hours.

DRYING THE BEANS 
                                                                
The endocarp must then be dried to retain about 11 percent moisture so the beans can be stored in a stable condition. The endocarp can be dried by the sun or by mechanical dryers. If drying is left to the sun, the beans are spread on concrete floors or on drying tables, and turned regularly. After 7 to 15 days, the beans are known as “parchment coffee,” and will ideally remain in this form until immediately before export.

HULLING 
                                                          
In wet processed coffee, hulling is used to remove the hull or dried parchment layer immediately surrounding the bean. Hulling dry processed coffee refers to removing the
husks or whole of the dried outer coverings of the original cherries.

POLISHING 
                                                            
Polishing beans is an optional process that is not always one. During the polishing process, any silver skin that remains on the beans after hulling is removed in a polishing machine. While polished beans are considered superior to unpolished ones, in reality there is little difference between the two.

GRADING AND SORTING 
                                                                 
Although coffee beans are of a fairly uniform size and proportion, they are graded first by size and then by density (the elephant bean is the exception).

Typically the size of beans is expressed on a scale of 10 to 20. The number represents the size of a round hole's diameter in terms of 1/64's of an inch. A number 10 bean would be the approximate size of a hole with a diameter of 10/64 of an inch and a number 15 bean, 15/64 of an inch. Beans are sized by being passed through a screener. Beans are also sorted by using an air jet to separate heavy and light beans (the pneumatic method).

Next, over-fermented or unhulled beans are removed. This is usually done by hand as the beans move along on a belt, but other methods include electronic color sorting.

Different countries grade their beans according to different systems. In general, however, there are six export grades, the top grade being SHB (strictly hard bean) or strictly high grown, which means that the coffee beans are produced at a minimum altitude, 4,000 feet
above sea level.

EXPORTING THE BEANS 
                                                                 
Between five and six million tons of “green coffee” (the term used to describe coffee beans before they are roasted) are produced each year. Beans are often kept and transported in coarse fiber bags made of jute or sisal. Beans are also shipped in bulk using bulk containers with plastic liners. The shipments are then sent to warehouses or directly to the roaster.

TASTING COFFEE 
                                                               
The tasting of coffee is referred to as “cupping.” Cupping coffee is a process by which coffee brew is slurped by an expert for the purpose of evaluating the brew and determining characteristics. The tasting of coffee is a rigorous and disciplined process. The taster (also known as the liquorer) first assesses the green beans for appearance. The green beans are then roasted in a small laboratory roaster and tested for flavor and aroma. After the coffee has been infused in water, the taster “noses” the brew. After three minutes, the brew is lightly stirred and smelled again. The resulting foam is removed and
the tasting begins. The cupper takes a spoonful of coffee into his/her mouth and “chews” it around before spitting it out. The procedure is repeated with all of the samples,
and notes are made as each brew is sampled.

Following is an example of 10 criteria that may be used to describe and categorize coffee:

Type -- robusta, washed, arabica
Taste -- Strictly soft, harsh
Body -- lacking, too heavy
Acidity -- some, too much at the top
Age -- old to fresh
Defects -- sour, grassy, musty
Cup -- roast, watery, burned, old
Overall assessment -- neutral, spicy, hard
Aroma -- weak to strong
Fullness -- slight to considerable

ROASTING COFFEE 
                                                               
Roasting is the heat treatment which transforms the green beans into the aromatic brown nuggets that we buy whole or ground.

Most roasters use air temperatures of about 550 degrees Fahrenheit. The beans are kept moving during the roasting process to keep them from burning. When the beans reach a temperature of about 400 degrees Fahrenheit, they start to turn a darker brown, and the oils (called coffee essence, coffee oil or caffeol) start to emerge. This process, called pyrolosis, is at the heart of roasting, as it produces the flavor and aroma of the coffee
we drink.

When the beans are removed from the roaster, they are cooled by air or water. Roasting is performed in the individual importing countries, because roasted beans must reach the consumer quickly to get the full coffee flavor.

GRINDING COFFEE 
                                                               
The objective of grinding coffee is to get the most flavor from the beans. This is done by infusing the ground beans in hot water. Generally, the faster the infusion, the finer the grind.

TRENDS IN COFFEE CONSUMPTION 

Coffee in the 90s
Coffee has become relevant and contemporary. Coffee houses or bars have strewn the country, making coffee an important part of social gathering places. In many
communities, coffee bars have become innovative: Some provide personal computers so that customers can surf the Net, while others provide match-making services.
There is a wide variety of coffee offerings, from size, flavor, preparation and toppings and plenty of gourmet and specialty shops to provide them.

Coffee in the Past
During this time, coffee was regarded as an “old fashioned” beverage for older people, with just two flavors: ”regular and decaf.” 

The National Coffee Association conducts an annual survey to measure trends in coffee consumption among Americans. More than 3,000 men and women were included in its 1997 Winter Coffee Drinking Study. Among the results:1

.	On a typical day, approximately 49% of the United States' population drinks coffee. 
.	On a per capita basis, men drink more coffee than women (1.7 cups per day vs. 1.5 cups).
.	Coffee drinkers consume on average 3.3 cups of coffee per day.
.	Thirty-seven percent of coffee drinkers drink their coffee black; while 63% add a sweetener and/or creaming agent.
.	Regular coffee accounts for 87% of all coffee consumed; instant (soluble) coffee accounts for 13%.
.	Fifty-seven percent of all coffee is consumed at breakfast; 34% between meals; and 13% at all other meals.
.	Women are more excited about coffee varieties currently available and a higher proportion of women indicated that drinking coffee is a good way to relax.
.	Women are more price conscious than men.
.	Men appear to more readily to attest that coffee helps them “get things done.”

PERCEPTIONS/ATTITUDES ABOUT COFFEE BY   AGE 
                                                                   
Ages 20-29: 
Generally satisfied with the quality of coffee they consume; more likely to perceive coffee to be a good value; more likely to be satisfied with the amount of coffee they consume; more likely to attest to the popularity of coffee; more likely to feel better about
drinking coffee; less price conscience; more likely to drink more coffee in the coming year; and more accepting of espresso based drinks.

Ages 30-59: 
Generally satisfied with the quality of coffee they consume; more likely to indicate that the amount of coffee they consume is about right for them; more likely to attest to the popularity of coffee; less price conscience.

Age 60+: 
Less satisfied with the quality of coffee they consume; more likely to indicate that the amount of coffee they consume is about right for them; more likely to indicate that coffee is a good way to relax; more concerned about news/medical reports about caffeine;
more price conscience; less excited about the variety of coffee available; and less interested in espresso based beverages.