Green Coffee Processing
May 2, 2026
Coffee Knowledge
During harvest season, ripe coffee cherries are carefully picked by hand and then sorted. In a water container or large bucket filled with water, these cherries are inspected for defective beans, such as those with only half a seed, underdeveloped seeds, or rotten seeds. These float to the surface of the water and are immediately removed. The cherries are stirred by hand several times until no more coffee cherries are floating.
In the next step, the selected coffee cherries are fermented for 3 days in airtight containers. To do this, our farmers place the coffee cherries in a plastic bag and insert a tube. This tube leads into a plastic bottle filled with water, allowing the gas produced to escape while preventing oxygen from entering.
The initial moisture content of 60 to 65% slowly decreases until it reaches 14%. This process depends on the number of hours of sunshine and can take up to 1 to 2 months. At the end of the drying process, the cherry skin is black and crumbly. To prevent contact with the ground, a plastic tarp and often a mat made of natural material are used.
In this form, the farmers store their coffee individually in their homes until a potential buyer (such as us) contacts them. After that, the hulling machine is used to separate the green beans from the pulp and the parchment layer. The beans are then sorted by hand again to ensure that only the best beans remain as specialty coffee.
Due to the manual nature of the process (which leaves room for human error), it is possible that farmers may overlook up to 2 to 3 defective beans per 100 g in the “Specialty” grade.
Finally, the coffee beans are dried to a moisture content of 11.0 to 12.0%. Since the 2024 harvest, farmers have been using moisture meters for this purpose. Sorting continues here as well. The beans are then packed in special plastic bags (GrainPro) to protect them from moisture and other external influences.
This process was first learned and gratefully implemented by a few farmers during the 2022 harvest season. The result is a wine-like, fermented aroma.
