Coffee picking and handling-Kenya Coffee picking season

Coffee picking and handling-Kenya Coffee picking season

A large part of the coffee is picked by hand, which requires a lot of seasonal work, and pickers should be careful not to pick coffee beans that are not ripe, bad or too ripe. Because they affect the overall quality of the coffee harvested. Coffee beans that are not so good are classified as "ordinary", "sour" or "fermented", and the last one is very bad.

Picking: usually picked by machine.

Drying: you can use sunlight to dry the fruit, or use a dryer to dry. Store in the cellar when the humidity reaches 12%.

Shelling: use a special sheller to remove the fruit shell.

Polishing: coffee beans retain the silver skin on the outside of coffee beans before they are exported. It will be removed only after the export order is placed and can be shipped abroad after polishing.

Coffee beans processed by this process are called "dried beans", or "natural beans".

one。 Mechanical picking

Mechanical picking is suitable for coffee gardens with flat land and large areas of plantation. afterwards, it is necessary to check the coffee beans picked by the machine and pick out the leaves and branches that have fallen in the funnel. This method is often used in Brazil.

Advantages: low cost and high efficiency

Disadvantages: the coffee beans picked are uneven and of poor quality

two。 Hand picking

Selective picking, that is, walking between trees several times at intervals of 8-10 days and picking only those ripe red berries, higher quality coffee beans are used.

Advantages: the picked coffee fruit is uniform in size, similar in maturity and free of other impurities, which is beneficial to post-processing.

Disadvantages: high cost

There are two ways to prepare coffee beans for the baking process. The method chosen has a significant impact on the final value and quality of coffee. The cheapest method of processing is called "drying", which is used for lower-grade coffee beans, while higher-quality coffee beans are processed by "wet treatment". Drying is used for unwashed coffee beans. Wet treatment is used for thoroughly washed or semi-washed coffee beans. Except for the more common use of drying in Brazil and Ethiopia, most Arabica coffee beans are processed by wet treatment. Some robastian coffee beans are also processed by wet treatment.