By Carol Namono
It’s not as hard as it looks-all you need to have is the right equipment, sometime have patience and love for the perfect cup of coffee. Processing coffee from green beans to ground coffee involves a few steps that should not be over looked.
Coffee beans are like little miracles, transforming from humble beans, crushed or powdered to a rich, aromatic and complex beverage.
HERE ARE PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW;
Wet processed, shoed dried Arabic coffee beans are sorted to remove affected and unhealthy beans
Healthy and an affected bean are then hard roasted using charcoal stove or firewood
The roasting takes several stages, different temperatures and color changes
The coffee beans color changes constantly with increase in the thermodynamic temperatures and involves the following characteristics.
Figure 1: Raised tables for drying Coffee(Courtesy Photos)
| ROAST | CHARACTERISTICS |
| Light | Very light still developing at the first crack |
| Medium light | Light brown,1-2 minutes past first crack |
| Medium (city roast) | Medium brown color, not shiny ,just before the beginning of the 2nd crack – balanced Acidity |
| Medium dark | Rich even brown color-Acidity begins to mute |
Other different roasts and characteristics are caused with adjourn temperatures. Yet as an organization “Medium-Dark” is more preferable to the tastes and preferences of the daily consumers.
The medium dark roasted coffee beans are allowed to cool by constant stirring to avoid compaction which could leave the coffee beans still roasting while not on fire then winnowed.
The cooled coffee beans are transferred to the thermoter (Crusher/Electric Mill) for crushing.
Coffee Grinding Machine(Courtesy Photo)
Several textures are involved but here are some;
| GRIND SIZE | CHARACTERISTIC |
| Fine | Very fine coffee powder |
| Medium | Fine with small particles |
| Coarse | Semi-big particles |
Other grid sizes can be achieved depending on consumer needs.
Many weights can be taken but referring to TRIDI, there are two major weights i.e. 200g and 400g.
During packaging stickers are placed onto the packets to differentiate Mayi’s Coffee from other producing companies, Weights are noted onto the stickers.
Weights are taken using the weighing scale and the package is sealed using film sealer to avoid scent escape and contamination, the coffee is ready to for sale or consumption
Compiled By Carol Namono P.R.O TRIDI
