The final stop of Coffee

A large scale drum roaster in Panama, this place did everything.

Recently, Starbucks introduced a new line of their "blonde roast", but what does a "roast" really mean? Also, how does a green bean turn into a productive morning? When we last talked about coffee, it had been hand picked, pulped, dried and bagged. Now, it's bound for the US, where it's final stop will be in a coffee shop near you.

Once the coffee arrives here, it's sent to a roasting house. Most of the coffee arrives here green, so when you hear the term "green coffee", it's not that it was environmentally friendly, rather, it just wasn't roasted. Very few cafes actually roast their own coffee anymore. Rather, they are sent to these big roasting houses, the largest roasting over one million pounds annually.

What do all those roasting terms mean?


French Roast? Cinnamon Roast? Vienna Roast? what all does it mean? Serious coffee drinkers have a certain roast that they prefer, and the industry itself has designed different levels. The style of roast is determined by the temperature and duration of roasting. Another indicator that is used is often the "cracking" of the bean. The first and second crack separate out varieties. Each type of roast gives the coffee a unique flavor, whether it's a caramelized hint or a charcoal blast. To learn more about the roasting phases, and to figure out what all those roasting styles are, I've found that this website has a nice pictorial of the phases. (everyone loves pictures).

Onto grinding and blending


Once the coffee "bean" has been thoroughly scorched, it's onto be pulverized into a coarse powder. It's in this grinder that different blends are made too. Many coffee experts believe that a single roast style isn't complex enough for our taste buds. Blending is also done to balance the flavor profile, to make for a smoother drink. Some people like a comprehensive breakfast blend, that hits on hints of chocolate with a burnt cherry wood. For me, I simply don't have that refined a palate, but it is an interesting science behind it.

One distinct memory I always had in college was going to Manndible Cafe and I never knew what kind of coffee to get. I would read descriptions about them, and I could never decide what sounded better. And after agonizing over what tone, balance, taste, and finish I wanted, I would undoubtedly go with what I knew, either a coffee from Panama of Guatemala.

Home roasting, a new trend


Home roasting is trend that is growing in the US. People can actually buy in green coffee and roast it in their own home. This can become a serious hobby for some, including some doctors my mother works with. You can buy specialized equipment, or in many cases, you can use household items to complete the roasting, including a popcorn air popper and even a skillet.

A quick recap


Starting in the fields of South America, or Africa, or Asia, coffee is handpicked, pulped, dried, and bagged. Then, it's shipped to the final destination, in this case the US, roasted, ground, and blended. Needless to say that the journey of coffee has a lot more stops than meets the eye.

A second cup of coffee

This is what a pile of dried green coffee looks like

When we last visited the coffee plantations, workers were dumping full baskets into large bins, once this bin is full, coffee begins its second phase of becoming your morning motivation. Processing.

With the "beans" neatly tucked inside the pulp of a cherry-like fruit. They use a process known as pulping (makes sense right?). This is either done by hand by squeezing the fruit at one end to eject the seed out the opposite end. Or, this can also be done by a pulping machine. Just as picking, it's a very labor-intensive process.

The place we visited used a dry method of processing. There's an excellent video of wet processing which can be found here. After the seed has been removed from the cherry-like fruit, the seed still has a layer of mucilage (goo) and a paper seed coat (known as the hull). This layer protects the seed, and must be removed before roasting. The dry method simply involves spreading the seeds out in the sun (see below).

Coffee seeds being dried on a platform in the sunshine

After about a day of drying, the paper-like seed coat is brittle with the goo being dried. Just as sundried taste different than fresh tomatoes, this sun-drying creates chemical changes which gives coffee a unique taste. In many regions, the coffee is graded using a process known as elutriation. This process simply separates high quality seed from low quality seed. The high quality seed sinks, and the lower quality (along with all the other garbage), known in the industry as "floater coffee" is sieved off and sold.  Interesting fact, the #1 and #2 buyer of floater coffee in the world is Folgers and Nescafe respectively. I guess the old adage, "you get what you pay for" holds true. At this point, the hull is removed in a dryer, and the seed is bagged. The next step in the journey of coffee is the US, Europe, or Asia.

Not until I've had my first cup of coffee...

Our Panamanian guide next to a demonstration coffee plant

Coffee, it's "essential" for many of us to get our day started, but where does it actually come from? What does it look like growing? This is part one of a multi-part journey based on the drink we all need to get going in the morning, or an afternoon pick-me-up, or to burn the midnight oil.

The coffee plant is in the family Rubiacea; popular relatives include: Quinine (that's what gives tonic water it's taste) and West Indian Jasmine. And while people often use the term coffee beans, the botanical term is a bit off, the coffee you drink is actually the seed of a fruit. Beans tend to be associated with the pea family (Fabaceae), but that's enough botany for one day.

Legend has it that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder by the name of Kaldi. While out herding his goats, when he noticed that they were more energetic than usual. Curious, Kaldi noticed that they were chewing on this bush with what looked to be cherries on them. Being the brave, adventurous man he was, Kaldi also tried some of the red berries from the shrub, and was delighted to see that the berries gave him a boost of energy. Coffee is believed to be first cultivated in Yemen around 575 AD. From it discovery, coffee growing has taken two very different avenues of production. We start our journey in the fields of Brazil, Colombia, or in the case of all these photos, Panama.

This is what the coffee plant looks like. It's a shrub, but can reach heights of 25 feet.

There are two major species grown commercially. The first is Coffea arabica, which prefers higher altitudes, 900 feet or higher. This species is described as "delicate". Coffea arabica is the original domesticated variety, and tends to be more prone to heat and disease. Additionally, the flavor in arabica tends to be finer, with less caffeine content per bean. The arabica plant is typically grown under shade, as to alleviate excessive heat. Traditionally, they growers have used trees to provide shade, which was employed well before the advent of shade-houses, or shade cloths. This created what is known as a polyculture. A polyculture is when more than one crop is grown in a region at the same time. This is beneficial for many reasons, polycultures have fewer pest problems, and tend to be less damaging to the environment. In a polyculture, songbirds can still nest in the trees, this was a big selling point for smaller growers of shade coffee. This is also a good way for small growers to hedge their risk. If the coffee fails, they can always harvest the timber. Small growers also pick the fruit by hand. This is great when demand is low, but when demand increased, people needed a better way to produce coffee.

Presenting, Coffea canephora var: "robusta", commonly called robusta. This was a variety that was developed much later, around 1850, and addresses many of the shortcomings of arabica. Robusta coffee has much more tolerance to heat and disease; however, most of the alluring traits of arabica simply aren't there. Robusta coffee is, as the variety name suggests, a more robust bean, containing more caffeine, and what experts call a harsher taste, including more astringency and bitterness. Given the nature of this species, it does not have to be grown under shade, so, just like many of the other commercially produced crops, this species can be grown as a monoculture, more commonly called sun coffee by industry officials. A monoculture, as the name suggests, is a system where only one crop is grown at a certain period of time. This can lead to a more precarious state for profits, if a fungal pathogen comes in and wrecks the entire crop, there's no safety net. However, the payoff is a more efficient system to harvesting coffee. More efficient harvest can lead to more product to sell.

Sun coffee can be seen growing on the hillside in Cerra Punta, Panama 

Coffee is grown in several tropical and subtropical nations, with the largest producers being Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Ethiopia in that order. A more extensive list can be found here. In 1996, the world production of coffee was estimated to be 13.6 billion pounds. During this same time period, approximately 26.8 million acres were dedicated to coffee production.

Most of the coffee in the world is still hand harvested. For many in these regions, coffee harvest is a way of life. Workers are typically paid by the basket, known in the US as piecework. Entire families will show up to these plantations during harvest to earn a living. In many cases, being paid one dollar for a basket full of ripe cherry-like berries is the only means of income for families. For every dollar spent on coffee in the supermarket, about 8 cents goes to the farm labor, and 5 cents goes to the grower. So the next time you claim that you NEED coffee, just remember that a world away, there's a family that needs coffee as well, but for a totally different reason.

Further Reading:

One large resource throughout my research was The Coffee Book, available on Amazon, or at your local library.

These are excellent websites, and you will most likely see resources in others parts. Coffeescience.org has all sorts of facts on the health benefits of coffee. Coffeegrail also has a lot of information, including on some southeastern Asian coffee, which we almost never see in the US or Europe.