OUR PROCESS

Starting from the ground up our highly experienced farmers take a truly holistic approach to coffee cultivation. Preparing the young coffee bean sprouts in nurseries off site from the growing fields ensures that only the highest quality sprouts make it into the soil. After selecting the seeds our farmers then return to the plantation to plant the sprouts. The Coffee plants take anywhere from 3 to 5 years to begin producing fruit and can produce for anywhere between 50 & 60 years.

With the flowering of our coffee plants in early May to the ripening of the coffee fruit as early as October and as late as March, it is very important to us that our farmers harvest the cherries at the correct time. It is essential that the coffee berries are allowed to ripen on the vine, and then when at their peak of ripeness are handpicked making sure to leave any unripe berries behind to be harvested later. Uniformity in berry size is also very important to us as removal of the pulp around the coffee bean uses a machine calibrated to size and any changes in size can affect the amount of pulp removed & consequently the quality of Coffee.

After the beans have been picked at their peak ripeness the process of removing the fruit and washing the beans starts. There are two different ways to do this and each different method affects the flavor profile of the bean, they are referred to respectively as the “Wet” & “Dry” process. 

Wet vs Dry Processed Coffee Beans

Wet Processing

Wet-processed coffee is a relatively new method of removing the four layers surrounding the coffee bean.  This process results in a coffee that is cleaner, brighter, and fruitier.  Most countries with coffee valued for its perceived acidity, will process their coffee using the wet-process. This method is called wet process because water is the primary means to both moving the coffee through the process and for making the extraction of the seed possible. After picking, the berries are first sorted in a large machine to parse out any of the smaller, less desirable berries.  After sorting and cleaning, the pulp is removed from the cherry. This operation is the key difference between the dry and the wet methods, since in the wet method the pulp of the fruit is separated from the beans before the drying stage. If the pulp does not come off in this step, then it is not completely ripe and is hand sorted out and used in the lesser quality coffee. After the berries have had the pulp removed, they must go through a process of washing and sieving to remove any remaining pulp and skin.

At this point, all that remains surrounding the two beans is parchment and mucilage. Mucilage, composed of natural sugars and alcohols, plays a crucial role in developing the sweetness, acidity and overall flavor profile in the coffee beans

Dry Processing
The dry process is a simpler, natural method of processing coffee beans. The dry-process is often used in countries where rainfall is scarce and long periods of sunshine are available to dry the coffee properly.  Most coffees from Indonesia, Ethiopia, Brazil, and Yemen are dry-processed. Naturally processed coffees typically have heavier mouth feel, lower acidity levels and intense, exotic flavor profiles. The cherries are dried with the beans inside, like drying a grape into a raisin. The beans are dried with all of their layers intact, including the coffee cherry and mucilage. As the cherries dry, they are raked or turned by hand to ensure even drying. It may take up to 4 weeks before the cherries are dried to the 12.5% maximum moisture content, depending on the weather conditions. Typically, after about 20 days, the berries are dry and resemble dark nuts. The fruit dries onto the parchment that surrounds the seeds. The coffee beans are left to rest inside the cherry pods before being peeled (hulled) and prepared for shipment. At this stage the cherry is the texture of fruit leather. The drying operation is a crucial stage of this process, since it affects the final quality of the green coffee result is the dense heavy body and exotic, wild berry flavors that have become synonymous with natural processed coffees.

After the beans have been washed and processed they are then ready to be bagged and prepared for export. Typically the bags are anywhere from 130 to 150 pounds depending on the plantation, once bagged the beans are then loaded onto pallets and then onto containers and are shipped via container ship to the various ports of entry around the world. Our ports of entry are typically, Portland, Seattle & Oakland & the entire process is handled by our professional importers Sustainable Harvest & Royal Coffee Company.

Once the green bean arrives at our warehouse in Bend, it is then offloaded and stored in a cool dry place until it’s ready to be roasted. Kevin Bryan is our lead roaster and has been practicing his craft under the tutelage of Peter West (formally of BackPorch Coffee Roasters) who has been roasting for over 7 years. 

We at Coffee4kids prefer to use a small artisanal drum roaster to roast our coffee as we believe it brings out more of the coffees body and flavor nuances due to the amount of control (direct control of the flame) Kevin has during the roast. We use a Diedrich IR-2.5 Drum Roaster which is excellent for small batch Coffee Roasting.

After the coffee has been cooled we then bag it into 12 0z, 1lb and 5lb bags depending on the orders we have, all coffee is roasted to order as freshness is our highest priority!