The Farm

The farm is the true birthplace of quality coffee. If grown in the wrong place, cultivated poorly, or processed without care, no amount of roasting skill can fix a bad coffee. Great coffee can only be grown at the greatest farms.

The first criterion for a great farm is location. High Altitude and low light intensity (shade) seem to be two of the most important aspects. Coffea Arabica can only produce beans with ample acidity when grown at elevation, and shade promotes a longer ripening cycle which allows more time for flavor development. Soil composition also plays a role, with high fertility and adequate drainage as necessities. Even within a given farm, different plots of land can produce distinctively different coffees. Every hillside has its own micro-climate, each with its own unique combination of sun exposure, grade, drainage and elevation.

In any location, coffee requires attentive cultivation to attain the best quality. Farmers must fertilize carefully, prune their trees with skill, and make sure that their crop is harvested at ideal ripeness. Every branch of a coffee tree has dozens of cherries, each ripening at it's own pace. Skilled labor is essential, as only the ripest cherries should be picked. Under-ripe cherries yield beans with tart, harsh acidity and under-developed flavors. Over-ripe cherries can have off flavors of rotted fruit or mold, and lack acidity.

Once picked, the cherries are sorted a second time to remove sticks and other artifacts, and to screen out less than ideal fruit. They can then be processed in one of several fashions. The simplest method is known as the natural or dry process, and often takes place on the farm. The ripe cherries are sun-dried on tables or patios over a period of one-four weeks. The fruit is raked frequently by hand to insure even drying and to prevent mold from forming. Improper dry processing leads to a moldy, offensively earthy flavor profile, but when executed well, can produce some of the most fruity and complex coffee imaginable.

The second method is known as the wet process, which usually takes place at a processing mill away from the individual farms. In this process, the beans are removed from the fruit before drying. First, the outer skin is stripped from the cherry by pressing the fruit through a screen with running water. The remaining fruit pulp is removed either mechanically, or enzymatically through fermentation in large tanks of water. Once the fruit pulp is freed from the bean, the coffee is dried in a manner similar to dry processing, leaving the last layer of parchment intact. When done properly , the wet process results in a classic clean and bright flavor profile. If mistakes are made, however, the resulting coffee can have a variety of taste defects.

After the wet or dry process is complete, the remaining layers of dried fruit or parchment are removed, and the coffee is sorted. On some larger farms, machines detect and remove defective beans, but in most cases this is done by hand. Broken, discolored, undeveloped, misshapen, and insect damaged beans are just some of the defects that are usually removed.

Different origins have different standards for sorting. Dry processed Yemens, for example, are usually left with a large percentage of defects, while a washed coffee from Guatemala will be meticulously sorted to produce a very homogeneous lot with very few defects. In some origins, certain defects are appreciated for their distinctively wild flavors, but in a coffee striving for purity and cleanliness, they are entirely unacceptable.

Once sorted, the green coffee is bagged for shipping in a large burlap sack, usually weighing about 150 pounds. Some quality concerned processors have begun packaging their coffees in a plastic bag with a one way valve, but this is far from common. The air tight bags keep the coffee tasting its best for a significantly greater amount of time, but is more expensive than the standard burlap.