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of picking they were harvested with.
Then, all batches of the foraged fruits un-
dergo a rigorous filtering process where
all foreign matter is removed. Since both
methods of picking the berries also bring
in contaminants, such as unripe fruit
and tree debris, such filtering is vastly
important in delivering high-quality cof-
fee beans. Thus, every stage of process-
ing the coffee beans includes a separate
filtering process. After the harvested
coffee cherries undergo a preliminary fil- Using vapors, the dryer can completely
tering, they are further filtered through dry out the parchment layer of the cof-
the wet process, which immerses the fee berry. The internal temperature of
fruits in water, allowing bad and unripe the dryer is somewhere between 40 to
fruit to rise to the surface while good 60 ํC. The temperature and drying time
and ripe fruit sink to the bottom. This for each batch is determined on the
allows for coffee berries that are not moisture level of the beans in the dryer,
visibly unripe to be easily removed. If which is checked every 30 minutes. The
the ripe fruit are to undergo the “natural dryer used in this process is different
process”, they are then removed from from other dryers in that the heat source
the water and moved to an African bed, is from the steam of boiling water. This
a patio or a dry mill in order to be dried. is important as the steam provides heat
Alternatively, if the ripe fruit are to un- while also preventing the beans from
dergo the “pulped natural process”, the roasting in the high temperatures. The
In addition to these farms, fruit are first partially dried in a dry mill dried beans are then divided according
O’Coffee also has various miscellaneous and then moved to an African bed or a to what species of coffee trees they were
plots of land. Some land serves as a test patio to be dried once more. We were not harvested from and what method was
lot, where new species of coffee are test- able to personally witness all the coffee used to harvest them. Afterward, the
ed. Other plots of land are dedicated for cherries drying after being laid out in categorized batches are stored in one of
nurturing young seedlings. There is even a panorama on the vast patios since we the 31 specially designed silos. The silos
a piece of land to raise goats and horses. visited O’Coffee farms in mid-July and not only prevent any light from entering,
Thus, it is not an exaggeration to state all the harvesting and processing were but also maintain a 12% moisture ratio in
that one cannot see the entire boundary completed by then. However, we were the parchment layer of the coffee beans
of O’Coffee’s lands from a single outpost. able to get a glimpse of the process as until the day they are delivered. After
The sheer scale of enormity of O’Coffee we were able to see the berries from seeing how much effort and energy was
helped us realize that Brazil’s reputation the Micro lot being dried on the African put into all stages of processing in order
of being the number one producer of cof- beds and the green houses. The drying to achieve a phenomenal standard of
fee is well-deserved. process on the patios in the sun can take taste and quality, we realized that we
up to 3 to 4 days. Afterwards, the final have been taking the high-quality coffee
From Harvest to the Processing drying process is completed in a dryer. that we drink every day for granted.
The O’Coffee farm is not only
well equipped with large tracts of land.
It is has the necessary equipment and
systems in place in order to be fully self-
sufficient from foraging the berries to
processing and roasting the beans. The
entire process starts with the seedlings.
It takes approximately a year for a seed-
ling to grow into a coffee tree and be
ready for harvest on the O’Coffee farm.
However, once any coffee tree is 15 years
old, it is cut down completely in order
to make room for a new seedling. In
the tenth year of this 15-year cycle, the
tree is pruned to allow more berries to
grow. On the Micro lot of the farm, the
fruits are picked using the strip-picking
method while the fruits on the Commer-
cial lot are picked using heavy machinery
to shake the trees. Once harvested, the
fruits are then categorized by which farm
they were grown in, what species of cof-
fee tree it came from, and what method
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